Swedish House Mafia: Leave the World Behind Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		3.5
Video		4.5
Audio		4.5
Extras		0.0
Overall		3.5

Swedish House Mafia: Leave the World Behind Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman September 2, 2014

My college bound eldest son delights in belittling my more than abundant ignorance when it comes to various branches of electronic music. If for example I misidentify something as trance when it’s really progressive house, storm clouds are almost certainly a-brewin’. The fact that I studied with Vladimir Ussachevsky, one of the fathers of modern electronic music (back when patch cord synthesizers took up entire rooms), matters not one whit, for in the words of a wise man, “That was then, and this is now.” So I won’t attempt to properly categorize Swedish House Mafia beyond the generic EDM (Electronic Dance Music), the acronym which accompanies several descriptions of the band released with this new Blu-ray. As fans of the band know, despite enjoying untold success, the DJ trio decided to part ways while also giving aficionados “one last tour” to celebrate. This combo documentary- concert piece doesn’t really offer many insights into what went wrong (things are alluded to pretty discursively), and it also doesn’t offer much in the way of complete performances, but for the truly faithful, there’s more than enough here to warrant a look.

Director Christian Larson evidently had unrestricted access to the band not only for their final tour, but for a good bit before that, which is one reason some may wonder why the band's breakup isn't dealt with more forthrightly. The most interesting bits here are not necessarily the rave like megaconcerts the band gives as it hops the globe one last time, but more intimate moments that see various members playing with their kids or trying to figure out how to structure "Don't You Worry, Child". This kind of odd amalgamation of semi-confessional material with equally redacted concert fare may not totally please anyone with a preference for either type of approach, but when taken as a whole, Leave the World Behind gives an interesting if incomplete view into a band that took the world by storm when they themselves never expected to.

Swedish House Mafia: Leave the World Behind Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Swedish House Mafia: Leave the World Behind is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Shout! Factory with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 2.34:1. The film exploits a number of different approaches, with everything from black and white to a brief animated sequence being employed to bring the story of the three guys to life. Generally speaking, things are incredibly sharp and well defined here, no matter what tweaks have been applied in post. A lot of the concert footage suffers just slightly from crush and less than optimal shadow detail, but other than that niggling concern, the image here is stable, precise and inviting.

Swedish House Mafia: Leave the World Behind Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Both the DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 and LPCM 2.0 mixes offer a thumping good time here, though the 5.1 mix is decidedly more aggressive on the low end, something that house aficionados are probably going to want to prefer, at least for the concert segments. The film is actually in several languages, though the guys tend to speak Swedish with each other. Dialogue is always very cleanly presented, and there are no problems of any kind here to address.

Swedish House Mafia: Leave the World Behind Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

There are no supplements on this Blu-ray disc.

Swedish House Mafia: Leave the World Behind Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Those wanting a straightforward documentary may be desiring more actual insight into these three guys, and specifically why they chose to break up at the height of their fame and fortune, while those wanting a straightforward concert video are probably going to be frustrated by the lack of any complete tunes on this piece. Those willing to take a little from Column A and a little from Column B will most likely find enough here to enjoy. Technical merits here are very strong, and Leave the World Behind comes Recommended.