Rating summary

Movie		4.0
Video		4.5
Audio		5.0
Extras		3.5
Overall		4.0

Sidewalk Stories Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Dr. Svet Atanasov October 22, 2014

Winner of Winner of the Prix du Public at the Cannes Film Festival, Charles Lane's "Sidewalk Stories" (1989) arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Carlotta Films U.S. The supplemental features on the disc include a new trailer for the recent restoration of the film; Charles Lane's short film "A Place in Time" (1977); audio commentary with the director/actor and composer Marc Marder; and brand new featurette produced by Allerton Films. Region-Free.

The Artist

The main protagonist in Sidewalk Stories is a young artist who spends most of his time in the financial district of New York City. He draws sketches of strangers and with the money they give him he buys food and water. He sleeps in an abandoned building somewhere on the outskirts of the city.

The artist’s life changes dramatically when he witnesses the murder of man in a black alley. Next to him he discovers his little daughter and hides her from the killers. When the police arrive, he quietly leaves with her.

The man plans to leave the girl on a busy street so that someone else can take care of her, but changes his mind and brings her to his place. Then, despite the bitterly cold weather, he begins taking her with him to the financial district. Her drawings prove hugely successful.

Around the same time the artist befriends the kind owner of a tiny clothing store. She quickly falls in love with the couple and invites them to have dinner with her. The artist visits her place and for a short period of time imagines being in a serious relationship with her, but then realizes that she belongs to an entirely different world.

Directed by Charles Lane in 1989, Sidewalk Stories is a charming silent film which falls somewhere between Charlie Chaplin’s classic The Kid and Michel Hazanavicius’ recent Oscar winner The Artist. Though not as well polished and inventive as these celebrated films, it very much matches their energy and sense of humor.

Lane steps in front of the camera and plays the homeless artist whose life is suddenly redirected when he decides to bring home the little girl. At times it is quite obvious that he tries to imitate The Tramp, but his body movement and facial expressions are certainly unique. There is terrific chemistry between him and the little girl as well, which makes the film quite fascinating to behold. (The girl is played by Lane’s real-life daughter).

Marc Marder’s excellent jazzy score gives the film its true identity. Specific instruments are used to perform different themes attached to different characters and they evolve with the characters and their relationships. The music is also used in unique ways during transitions or to alter the rhythm of entire sequences.

It is not difficult to tell that the film was shot with a small budget, but Bill Dill’s lensing frequently makes it look notably elegant. It should also be said that a number of the locations Lane and his team selected are very good.

Lane edited the film with the assistance of Ann Stein (assistant sound editor on Alan J. Pakula’s Sophie's Choice and Brian De Palma’s Scarface).

Sidewalk Stories was recently restored by French label Carlotta Films with the support of Centre national du cinéma et de l'image animée (CNC) from the original camera negative preserved at Duart and Video. The film was scanned and restored in 2K at L'Immagine Ritrovata of Bologna.

Sidewalk Stories Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Presented in an aspect ratio of 1.86:1, encoded with MPEG-4 AVC and granted a 1080p transfer, Charles Lane's Sidewalk Stories arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Carlotta Films U.S.

Recently restored in 2K by Carlotta Films, with the restoration work carried out by L'immagine Ritrovata in 2013, Sidewalk Stories looks rather lovely on Blu-ray. Excluding some gentle noise corrections, none of which have affected the integrity of the image, the film looks notably healthy (there are a few areas where some softness is visible). Indeed, detail and clarity are consistently pleasing, while overall image stability is excellent. Contrast levels remain stable. There are no traces of sharpening adjustments. Generally speaking, the blacks, whites, and nuanced grays appear well balanced. Lastly, it is quite easy to see that debris, scratches, cuts, damage marks, stains and all sorts of other age-related imperfections have been carefully removed. All in all, this is a very technical presentation of Sidewalk Stories which makes it very easy to enjoy the film. (Note: This is a Region-Free Blu-ray release. Therefore, you will be able to play it on your PS3 or SA regardless of your geographical location).

Sidewalk Stories Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

There is only one standard audio track on this Blu-ray release: DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0. There are no optional subtitles because the film is does not have any dialog.

The lossless track is excellent. The different theme featuring lovely sax and bass solos, for example, sound terrific -- there is plenty of depth and clarity is outstanding. On the other hand, the quieter piano themes are beautifully balanced. There are absolutely no pops, cracks, audio dropouts, or digital distortions to report in this review.

Sidewalk Stories Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Audio Commentary - a wonderful and very enthusiastic audio commentary with Charles Lane and composer Marc Marder. The two gentlemen discuss how key sequences were shot and how they were scored, the interactions between the different instruments (there are unique themes that are attached to specific characters), the film's sense of humor, etc.

• Vibrations - presented here is a filmed conversation with Charles Lane and Marc Marder conducted by film historian Greg Ford. Charles Lane explains how Sidewalk Stories came to exist (it was inspired by Charlie Chaplin's The Kid and J. Lee Thompson's Tiger Bay), and discusses the film's visual style and some of its social overtone. Marc Marder also addresses the scoring of the film. The featurette was produced exclusively for Carlotta Films by Allerton Films. In English, not subtitled. (29 min).

• "A Place in Time" (1977) - presented here is Charles Lane's first short film A Place in Time. The film, whose main protagonist is again a street artist played by Charles Lane, was scored by Marc Marder. Music only. (Mono/35 min).

• Trailer - new trailer for the recent 2K restoration of Sidewalk Stories. Music only. (2 min, 1080p).

Sidewalk Stories Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Carlotta Films deserve a lot of credit for restoring this wonderful little film directed by Charles Lane and bringing it to Blu-ray in the United States, Canada and France. I think that it is incredibly charming and really wonderfully scored. I enjoyed it a lot and I am convinced that you will as well. Consider adding it to your collections, folks. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.