7.8 | / 10 |
Users | 3.5 | |
Reviewer | 4.5 | |
Overall | 3.9 |
In 1930s New Jersey, the quiet Cecilia escapes from her sad and tedious life, including an unfaithful husband, through the magic of movies. In a magical twist, a character in a film sees her through the screen, falls in love, and enters the real world to be with her. The ambitious actor who portrays the character comes to the small town to convince his creation to return through the screen.
Starring: Mia Farrow, Jeff Daniels, Danny Aiello, Edward Herrmann, John Wood (I)Romance | 100% |
Comedy | Insignificant |
Fantasy | Insignificant |
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 (48kHz, 24-bit)
Music: DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 (48kHz, 24-bit)
English SDH
25GB Blu-ray Disc
Single disc (1 BD)
Region free
Movie | 4.5 | |
Video | 4.0 | |
Audio | 4.0 | |
Extras | 2.5 | |
Overall | 4.5 |
The Purple Rose of Cairo, Woody Allen’s paean to the escapism motion pictures offer the world, as well as his trenchant critique of the disconnect between illusion and reality, may itself not be able to escape the intrusion of an “extracurricular” reality, namely Allen’s spate of family dysfunction bad publicity, on its own very unique illusion, at least for some who can't completely divorce an artist from his art. The Purple Rose of Cairo rather brilliantly depicts both the allure and danger of cinema, an “alternate reality” that audiences willingly enter into, at least for an hour and a half or so, hopefully leaving the petty concerns of their own lives behind. It’s Allen’s gambit in this film that the longing of Depression Era waitress Cecilia (Mia Farrow) seemingly reaches into the film she keeps returning to at her local theater, ultimately drawing one of the characters in the film, a dashing archaeologist named Tom Baxter (Jeff Daniels) right out of the screen and into Cecilia’s life. This intriguing reversal plays incredibly smartly on the very concept of finding an escape in the movies, for there are strata of escapes in this one defiance of the laws of physics (not to mention rationality) alone. Cecilia may indeed find an escape from her humdrum and perhaps abusive life at home when Tom emerges from the screen to stand by her side, but it’s Tom who has actually left his environment, in a whimsical formulation that ends up having unexpectedly profound emotional implications for all involved.
The Purple Rose of Cairo is presented on Blu-ray with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 1.85:1. There is quite a bit of passing element damage, including dirt and white flecks, but overall this has a pleasingly organic look, though one with a very heavy grain field. Colors are nicely suffused and accurate looking, though grain can tend to overwhelm darker parts of the frame as can be seen in some of the screenshots accompanying this review. There's moderate crush in a couple of scenes (even Aiello's basically brown hair almost disappears into the background in one apartment scene). The black and white sequences have a few "built in" oddities (like supposed frame skips), but look quite nice, with well delineated gray scale and consistent blacks. Close-ups offer commendable fine detail (see screenshot 1).
The Purple Rose of Cairo's lossless DTS-HD Master Audio Mono track is perhaps intentionally shallow, evoking the sort of tinny, boxy sound of vintage films (the film in fact opens with Fred Astaire crooning "Cheek to Cheek"). Dialogue comes through just fine, but after having luxuriated in the isolated score track (see below), I couldn't help but wish Allen had mixed Hyman's music up louder.
Typically films that reside upon a surplus of whimsy tend to simultaneously divorce themselves from any real feeling human emotion. An ability to join those two elements so seamlessly may be The Purple Rose of Cairo's ultimate achievement. The ménage à trois at the core of this story is one of the most unique in the annals of film, and Allen writes each of the three principal roles with a lot of snap and a surprising lack of neurosis. Technical merits are generally strong, the isolated score is a total treat, and The Purple Rose of Cairo comes Highly recommended.
Limited Edition to 3000 - SOLD OUT
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