Rating summary

Movie		3.0
Video		5.0
Audio		4.0
Extras		4.0
Overall		3.5

The Passion of Darkly Noon Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman March 19, 2020

If you were asked to completely identify a filmmaker whose visual sense was extremely acute and who sported Ridley as one of his names, chances are the vast majority of you would probably instantly opt for Ridley Scott, and maybe some of you would even ask, "Well, who else is there?" And yet there is another claimant to that particular “prize”, though my hunch is relatively few have even heard of Philip Ridley, let alone seen one of his (only three — so far) feature films. When I read the plot summary on the back cover of The Passion of Darkly Noon, a film I frankly had never heard of prior to it arriving in my mailbox, I was of course intrigued by the obviously over the top title, but then kind of had to laugh when I discovered that Darkly Noon is the name of a character (played by Brendan Fraser). That's a name choice that made me wonder if I was about to wander into something akin to a parody of a Tennessee Williams play on The Simpsons (kind of like their now famous “musical”, Streetcar!). The “over the top” ambience of this film’s title is only the tip of the veritable iceberg, so to speak, as The Passion of Darkly Noon documents the kind of quasi-Southern Gothic adventures of a wandering stranger named, yep, Darkly Noon who collapses on a back road in a dusty rural environment where he’s discovered by a local guy named Jude (Loren Dean).

After first coming close to running over him (with a truck that delivers coffins, for those of you who like foreshadowing and symbolism and all), Jude rescues the near comatose Darkly and delivers him to the nearby house of Callie (Ashley Judd), who begins to nurse Darkly back to consciousness. It turns out Darkly is a refugee in a way from a kind of Branch Davidian cult which has been slaughtered by police. Darkly divulges that his first name stems from the famous Bible quote also referenced in Ingmar Bergman’s totemic Through a Glass Darkly, even if it's misattributed here to the "wrong" Corinthians, as Ridley mentions in his commentary. He soon struggles with his ultra conservative upbringing when the sight of Callie starts to stir something primal in his soul (and maybe some other parts), a budding “romance” of sorts that hits a stumbling block when Callie’s boyfriend Clay (Viggo Mortensen) returns after a long absence. You can probably guess the general trajectory of the story if we add in the additional implied element that a man like Darkly, already obviously suffering from post traumatic stress syndrome of several types, might be prone toward acting out, though The Passion of Darkly Noon goes almost Grand Guignol in its depiction of Darkly giving in to, well, his dark side.

Now that above general plot summary is really all you need to know about the story (there are a couple of other tangential characters who crop up), but it barely begins to hint at Ridley's presentational antics (for want of a better term) in this film. As both Ridley in his commentary and some of the other supplementary material get into, Ridley, who is as they say a "multi-hyphenate", got his start in the art world in London, and that painterly bent certainly is on display throughout The Passion of Darkly Noon. Saliently, though, he also tended to drift toward surrealism, and as some of the supplements on this disc argue, The Passion of Darkly Noon has surreal elements, though I might tend to quibble with that attribution, at least in terms of some of the visuals. There's definitely a hyperbolic tendency to much of the imagery, but it often seemed strangely anchored in the real to me, as in some frankly hallucinogenic shots which were either accomplished with a split diopter or composited together to appear so, and which are weirdly framed but otherwise "normal" in terms of the objects or people they're presenting. There are other probably more "traditionally" surreal elements like a sneaker evidently borrowed from the old Irwin Allen series Land of the Giants which shows up in a river and later is set aflame as part of a funeral pyre. However, here's the punchline in terms of that particular astounding image: Ridley actually attempts to give a fairly prosaic explanation for it late in the film, which may strike some as unnecessary and maybe even unhelpful.

No matter how you choose to describe some aspects in the film, The Passion of Darkly Noon kind of starts out semi-rationally, if over heatedly, but then begins to break down in terms of its more naturalistic tendencies as Darkly begins to unravel emotionally and psychologically. As the video essay by James Flower on this disc mentions, it may be best to approach this film (and actually the two others by Ridley according to this piece) as the cinematic equivalent of a dream, though I'd add that it might be helpful to think of it as a dream that slowly morphs into a nightmare. The visuals here are often very lush, however, and for those who simply are willing to experience the film on that level, there’s a lot to like. Ridley and cinematographer John de Borman do some very evocative work here, even if some of the screenplay and performance choices may tip this piece perilously close to camp.

The Passion of Darkly Noon Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

The Passion of Darkly Noon is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Arrow Video with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 2.35:1. Arrow's insert booklet contains the following verbiage on the restoration:

The Passion of Darkly Noon has been exclusively restored by Arrow Films and is presented in its original aspect ratio of 2.35:1 with 5.1 and 2.0 stereo audio. This new restoration was fully supervised and approved by director Philip Ridley.

The film was restored at Pinewood Studios, London. The original 35mm camera negative was scanned in 2K resolution on an Arriscan. Color grading was completed on a DaVinci Resolve and picture restoration was completed using PFClean software.

Additional grading and image processing was completed under Philip Ridley's supervision at Silver Salt Restoration.

Audio remastering was completed at Pinewood. All materials for this restoration were made available by AMBI Distribution and Lionsgate/Summit via Technicolor.

Whatever you may think about The Passion of Darkly Noon's general plot and performances, not to mention its overheated emotional tenor, there's no denying that Ridley offers some gorgeous visuals throughout this film, even when things are tipping over into Grand Guignol territory. As can probably easily be gleaned from many of the screenshots accompanying this review, the imagery has been variously tweaked in post, with unabashed emphases toward yellows and blues at various times, with with all sorts of other tweaks like pushed brightness and contrast to the point that selected moments almost look like bleach bypass. This high definition presentation is a real knockout, able to deliver sometimes surprising fine detail levels throughout many of these changes. I wouldn't expect to see much if any major damage in a film of this relatively recent vintage, and I noticed none, and Arrow's compressionist has also delivered a nicely organic and problem free presentation.

The Passion of Darkly Noon Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

The Passion of Darkly Noon has a really interesting soundtrack which features some evocative underscore by Nick Bicât as well as a couple of songs co-written by Ridley (like I said, he's one of those "multi-hyphenates"). Vast sections of this film play outside and there are well rendered ambient environmental sounds dotting the side and rear channels in the surround track. Dialogue and the occasional boisterous effect are delivered with clarity and nice fidelity on this problem free track.

The Passion of Darkly Noon Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Audio Commentary by Writer / Director Philip Ridley


• Isolated Score Track is presented in LPCM 2.0 and contains some extended and unusued cues from Nick Bicât's moody score, as well as the two songs from the film.


• American Dreams: Inside the Mind of Philip Ridley (1080p; 20:43) is an interesting visual essay by James Flower which is advertised as dealing with Ridley's first two features (i.e., The Reflecting Skin and this one), but which does also deal with Heartless (note that the link points to a UK release). Those who tend to have more conservative religious and/or political views (who may not exactly be the target audience for a film like this) may find some of Flower's assessments of those views questionable.


• Eyes of Fire (1080p; 22:14) is an interview with cinematographer John de Borman.


• Sharp Cuts (1080p; 16:08) is an interview with editor Les Healey.


• Forest Songs (1080p; 19:43) is an interview with composer Nick Bicât.


• Dreaming Darkly (1080p; 16:14) is an archival piece from 2015 featuring interviews with Philip Ridley, Viggo Mortensen and Nick Bicât.


• Unreleased Demos are initial pieces done by Nick Bicât before filming had started:

  Callie #1 (5:57)

  
  

  Darkly (11:34)

  
  

  Callie #2 (5:08)



• Theatrical Trailer (1080p; 2:48)


• Image Gallery (1080p)

Additionally, Arrow has packaged this release with a reversible sleeve and its typically nicely appointed insert booklet.

The Passion of Darkly Noon Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

The Passion of Darkly Noon may be one of those entries where the sum of its parts is greater than the whole. There are some really ravishing visuals here, with dappled light in forests and some fascinating framings that continually create interest, but the underlying drama is so exaggerated that the film can be hard to take seriously at times. Those who delight in stylists running amok will probably really enjoy The Passion of Darkly Noon despite any perceived shortcomings. As usual, Arrow has provided a package with outstanding technical merits and some very enjoyable supplements.