7.1 | / 10 |
Users | 0.0 | |
Reviewer | 3.5 | |
Overall | 3.5 |
A criminal, shoots and kills a painting restorer during a bungled burglary, and shoots her daughter as well. Twenty years later, the daughter has been left mute and with a mental age of a child, spending most of her time in a mental home.
Starring: Karra Elejalde, Lio, Ramón Barea, Ana Álvarez, Elena IruretaForeign | 100% |
Drama | 61% |
Thriller | Insignificant |
Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Video resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 2.35:1
Original aspect ratio: 2.35:1
Spanish: LPCM 2.0
English
Blu-ray Disc
Two-disc set (1 BD, 1 CD)
Region A (B, C untested)
Movie | 3.5 | |
Video | 4.5 | |
Audio | 4.0 | |
Extras | 4.0 | |
Overall | 3.5 |
They may seem positively quaint in a way to modern sensibilities, but when John Fowles' original source novel from 1963 and then the 1965 film version of The Collector came on the scene, they were both rather controversial in their depiction of a weird loner who kidnaps a woman and then keeps her a literal prisoner in the baroque mansion he has in rural England. The Collector may or may not have inspired some of the plot mechanics of The Dead Mother, but one way or the other, it's probably seriously doubtful if someone fifty or sixty years down the line ever considers this film to be quaint in any way. One of the things Fowles' original story did was to divide his tale into two sections, one from the perspective of the captor and one from the point of view of the captive, and that gave his piece an inherent dialectic that was both fascinating and often quite unsettling. The film version couldn't really indulge in that kind of artifice, but it still managed to create a rather odd and frankly disturbing reaction in the viewer where it was obvious the imperiled female was a sympathetic character, but where the villainous male was also bizarrely "relatable". Co-writer and director Juan Manuel Bajo Ulloa attempts to do something quite similar in The Dead Mother, but he is perhaps hampered by a plot that starts with a thief named Ismael (Karra Elejalde) breaking into the flat of an art restorer, quickly shooting her dead as she comes out in the dark of night to see what the noise is all about, and then even more horrifyingly, shooting the restorer's little daughter, who has also been awakened by the fracas. If this second shooting is not overtly depicted, its effects certainly are, when the story segues forward a couple of decades to find the little girl now a mentally impaired adult named Leire (Ana Álvarez), who has been institutionalized since she's mute and has the mental capacity of a toddler.
The Dead Mother is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Radiance Films with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 2.35:1. Radiance's insert booklet provides the following information on the transfer:
The Dead Mother was restored from a 4K scan of the 35mm negative. This work was carried out at Cherry Towers lab in Madrid, Spain. The colour grading was carried out on Davinci Resolve on a frame by frame basis. The restoration was carried out on Digital Vision Phoenix via automatic and manual processes to elminate all negative defects. All these works were supervised by Juanma Bajo Ulloa, and keeping in mind the previous colour process made for the DVD in 2008, by the director and Javier Aguirresarobe.This is a first rate looking transfer of a film that has a number of visually unsettling moments, beginning but certainly not limited to the shocking murder that opens the film. A lot of the story is bathed in shadow in what had this been shot in black and white might be thought of as a traditional chiaroscuro approach typifying noir entries. But even with some really gorgeously suffused hues throughout the film, there's still that kind of "dark" approach to the imagery not necessarily limited to lighting conditions. The color timing is rather interesting and I'd say perhaps favors red and purples just a bit at times, leading to some slightly flushed looking flesh tones on occasion (pay attention to some of the institution scenes for some examples). Detail levels are typically excellent, and grain, while somewhat variable, resolves without any real issues.
The Dead Mother features a nicely expressive LPCM 2.0 track in the original Spanish, with Bingen Mendizábal's string and oboe drenched score receiving a really nice rendering (aside and apart from the included soundtrack CD). The film offers problem free support for what is alternately talk heavy and then relatively wordless. Ambient environmental effects are also realistic if not especially widely imaged. Dialogue is rendered cleanly and clearly throughout. Optional English subtitles are available.
The Dead Mother is often very stylish, but it perhaps can't quite escape (no imprisoned female pun intended) from some of the more troubling aspects of its plot, notably that very imprisoned female, who in this instance is developmentally disabled. This is still a thought provoking story that Radiance offers with secure technical merits and appealing supplements. With caveats noted, Recommended.
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