Row 19 Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		2.0
Video		4.0
Audio		4.0
Extras		0.5
Overall		2.0

Row 19 Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman May 26, 2022

Katerina (Svetlana Ivanova) is perhaps appropriately a traveler who goes where no (wo)man has gone before, which may explain why some may sense what might be termed echoes of, or at least tangential references to, both/either Star Trek The Original Series and/or Star Trek: The Next Generation - The Complete Series if they watch this supposed supernaturally suffused thriller. A few years before he attained a certain type of immortality as one James T. Kirk in the original Star Trek, William Shatner appeared in the memorably spooky Nightmare at 20000 Feet * episode from The Twilight Zone: Season 5, and for one of those aforementioned echoes, I'd simply refer you to this film's key art, reproduced on the cover image linked to above. Kind of weirdly, another episode from the fifth season of a long running series provides the other echo, in this case the equally memorable The Inner Light episode from Star Trek: The Next Generation, Season 5, where Jean-Luc Picard (Patrick Stewart) suddenly finds himself living the entire life of a character named Kamin for reasons which are detailed in the closing "Moishe the Explainer" moments of the story. Those might seem like almost preposterously variant "echoes", but that in and of itself may help to elucidate why Row 19 is such a strange and ultimately unsatisfying tale.

*Somewhat hilariously (at least for those of us with jaded senses of humor), this film's tagline as reproduced under the title on the front cover is "Evil at 30,000 Feet", as if the creative staff were telling Rod Serling and Richard Matheson, "Hold my beer".

Row 19 quickly documents a harrowing plane crash as the film opens which left Katerina as a young girl the only survivor. A frankly confusing credits sequence which seems to interpolate actor's names into supposed "news coverage" of the aftermath of the crash and Katerina's understandable celebrity suggests that Katerina is a sterling example of grit and internal fortitude allowing someone with significant trauma to overcome that affliction. After the bizarre credits sequence ends, the story segues to Katerina as an adult, about to board a plane with her own sweet little girl, Diana (Marta Kessler, billed as Marta Timofeeva). To paraphrase a certain Margo Channing in All About Eve, "fasten your seat belts, it's going to be a bumpy night and/or flight".

Virtually the entire rest of the admittedly pretty brief running time of Row 19 is devoted to this new if not exactly improved air journey, with Katerina battling both her inner demons and what appear to be supernatural forces that are intent on — well, there's the rub, as this film's "Moishe the Explainer" moment that comes in its closing moments is spectacularly illogical and frankly uninformative. Suffice it to say that pretty much everything that has been depicted in that admittedly pretty brief running time may not have been the "truth".

Now there probably was an interesting film to make about an adult woman whose devastating childhood trauma comes back to haunt her when she revisits particularly troubling aspects of that trauma, and at certain points in Row 19, you can almost feel that movie poking through increasingly improbable elements. What never quite gels here is the obviously intentional decision to try to meld a relatively realistic "psychological" element with what turns out to be a supernatural plot point that is alluded to in the early imagery but which when "fully" detailed late in the film just doesn't make a whole bunch of sense. Also arguably left at least partially unexploited is the ambiguity about what exactly Katerina is experiencing, especially as she seems almost magically able to "escape" the airplane into what might be termed alternate realities.

There's some underlying subtext here that I would say tries to "define" a so-called Russian Soul, but there's also at least the perception of a kind of science versus religion dialectic, considering the cause of Katerina's "issues". The penchant toward the Russian brand of mysticism is a fascinating sidebar here and one that might have benefitted from more than just a kind of passing montage and quick allusive dialogue.

Row 19 Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Row 19 is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Well Go USA with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 2.39:1. I haven't been able to find any authoritative data on the shoot, and the IMdb unfortunately doesn't offer any, but this is a competently captured feature that I assume had a 2K DI. The biggest deficit here is probably in the CGI, which is reasonably effective, but has a few "iffy" moments. Otherwise, though, the imagery is typically sharp and clear with some nice fine detail levels (look at the headrest linen in screenshot 1, just for one example). While the interior of the fuselage gets lit in any number of peculiar ways, actual grading is minimal and helps to give the palette a natural look. I noticed no compression anomalies other than what looks like slight artifacts in some of the CGI.

Row 19 Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Row 19 follows Well Go USA's frequent tradition of offering DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 and Dolby Digital 2.0 options in both the original language (in this case Russian) and an English dub. I toggled between the DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 tracks and noticed no differences between mixes other than language, but I spent most of my time on the original Russian mix. This has some nicely robust moments, though they can be intermittent. As Katerina seems to be experiencing a mental breakdown, there are some quasi-hallucinatory audio effects that ricochet through the side and rear channels and help to achieve a kind of subliminal eeriness. The plane crash is largely elided, but there are some other moments of brief LFE that can provide something akin to startle effects. Dialogue is rendered cleanly and clearly throughout. Optional English subtitles are available.

Row 19 Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Trailer (HD; 2:09)

Additionally, packaging features a slipcover.

Note: As tends to be the case with Well Go USA Blu-ray releases, the disc has been authored to automatically move on to trailers for other Well Go USA releases after the trailer for this film plays. Those trailers for other Well Go USA releases also play automatically at disc boot up.

Row 19 Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Vis a vis any perceived "Russian" angle to this film, kind of interestingly and to my memory uniquely in my reviewing life, Well Go USA actually reached out to me (and I assume every other reviewer on their PR list) to ask that their release of The Pilot: A Battle for Survival not be covered in the wake of Russia's invasion of Ukraine. I guess maybe that makes sense in that The Pilot: A Battle for Survival glorifies a Russian World War II hero, but in a way I'd argue that there's perhaps more of a "Russian Soul" at play just beneath the surface of Row 19 than is in The Pilot: A Battle for Survival (which I had actually watched before I got Well Go USA's request). Unfortunately that element is flummoxed by a confusing, inadequate screenplay that ends up leaving more questions than answers by the time the expected "big twist" is doled out. Technical merits are generally solid for anyone who may be considering making a purchase.