6.5 | / 10 |
Users | 3.8 | |
Reviewer | 4.0 | |
Overall | 4.0 |
This angst-filled tale of three Irish-Catholic brothers explores men's relationships with women, with each brother finding his life at a turning point in the search for love and happiness.
Starring: Jack Mulcahy, Michael McGlone, Edward Burns, Connie Britton, Maxine BahnsDrama | 100% |
Romance | 65% |
Comedy | 24% |
Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Video resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 1.85:1
Original aspect ratio: 1.85:1
English: DTS-HD Master Audio Mono
Spanish: Dolby Digital Mono
French: Dolby Digital Mono
English SDH, Spanish
50GB Blu-ray Disc
Single disc (1 BD)
Slipcover in original pressing
Region A, B (C untested)
Movie | 4.0 | |
Video | 4.0 | |
Audio | 3.0 | |
Extras | 3.0 | |
Overall | 4.0 |
The 1990s were a fertile decade for independent film and spawned numerous stories of determined auteurs living on crackers and ketchup and maxing out credit cards to get their vision onto the screen. Two famous examples of hits made on shoestring budgets that led to major careers came from filmmakers who couldn't be more different: Robert Rodriguez with El Mariachi (1993) and Edward Burns with The Brothers McMullen. Rodriguez proved that you could make a suspenseful and entertaining crime/adventure film without money or stars. Burns did the same thing for engaging, relatable character drama that spoke to a broad audience. He also managed to get laughs out of simple props like a banana (and not just the peel). The Brothers McMullen is the ultimate demonstration of the adage that a good script is the only true essential to a successful film. Burns made the movie without a crew, without hair and make-up, without licenses for locations, without any ability to pay his actors (his mom provided lunch), without a regular shooting schedule (they shot on weekends and whenever Burns had time off from his job as a production assistant at Entertainment Tonight), and without light other than what nature provided. He didn't even have "real" film. To save costs, Burns used what are known as "short ends", which are the unused portions of film reels that have already been exposed and can therefore be bought cheaply, because the buyer takes them "as is". What Burns did have was an interesting story, vivid characters and sharply written dialogue. And because money was tight and he couldn't afford to waste film on "coverage", Burns had pre-edited the movie on paper, determining exactly what shots he'd need for each scene—a process that ensured there was no fat in the script by the time the actors showed up for work.
The presentation on Fox's 1080p, AVC-encoded Blu-ray will separate those who know film (and, specifically, The Brothers McMullen) from those who only know hi-def video. If you belong to the former group, you will recognize the Blu-ray as a first-rate job; if you belong to the latter, you will complain (as one user review already has) that this is "NOT an HD transfer". The Brothers McMullen was shot on 16mm film (not even Super16, as Burns notes in his commentary), using "short ends" film stock, which delivers inconsistent quality at best. No dailies were processed to be reviewed, and even if they had been, there was no opportunity for reshoots. If a take came out fuzzy or grainy, it didn't matter; that's what had to be used. The crew consisted of four people at most, and no lights or lighting rigs were available. The cinematographer was a video technician named Dick Fisher, who also edited and co-produced the film. The result was a finished product that varies wildly from shot to shot. Some scenes look clean and smooth; others pulse with grain. Some have excellent delineation of detail, even in shadows. Others are dark and show major black crush that swallows up detail. Colors can be reasonably strong in scenes where natural light provides effective exposure for the film; in others, especially indoors, the colors look weak and washed out. (All of the locations, both indoors and out, were used as they were found; there was no art direction or set dressing.) The important quality for purposes of a technical review is that everything in the film, warts and all, has been rendered as is, and you can't ask for more from a Blu-ray presentation. Don't like the film's low-budget aesthetic? Fine, but that's a matter of taste, not a technical flaw. To change the look of this film via digital manipulation would be an act of revisionism that would be a disservice not only to Burns's achievement but also to viewers who enjoyed The Brothers McMullen precisely because it's such a triumph of content over form—a demonstration that a great script and sincere performances shine through even when the image is rough and continuity is all over the map (a subject that Burns discusses at length in his commentary). Indeed, only an HD transfer could handle grain of the thickness that appears in some scenes of McMullen. A low-resolution, low-bandwidth format like DVD would probably choke, because the graininess is the equivalent of constant motion in every part of the frame. Fox should be congratulated for taking the right approach, neither stripping away the grain (and picture detail with it) nor trying to soften or freeze it into unnatural patterns. Instead, for better or worse, they've given us The Brothers McMullen as it would appear on a 35mm blow-up projected in a movie theater. And that's a good thing.
The DTS-HD MA 1.0 track delivers the dialogue clearly, although the post-production looping is sometimes unavoidably obvious. Even though it's limited to one channel, Seamus Egan's terrific Irish folk-inflected score has good presence and dynamic range, and Sarah McLachlan's vocal for "I Will Remember You" (which she co-wrote with Egan) sounds almost as good over the closing titles as if it were in stereo.
While my personal favorite amongs Burns's films remains She's the One, The Brothers McMullen holds up as an engaging entertainment because it feels authentic. The people, their conflicts, their concerns, their mistakes, everything still rings true. It's hard enough to get that sensation into a film when making it is your full-time job, but harder still when you're doing it on the sly with no money and no support. Burns earned his career the hard way, and this Blu-ray from Fox is an apt record of the struggle. Highly recommended.
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