The Suspect Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		4.0
Video		4.0
Audio		4.0
Extras		4.0
Overall		4.0

The Suspect Blu-ray Movie Review

Round Up the Unusual

Reviewed by Michael Reuben July 21, 2014

The 2013 American film The Suspect shares its title with at least four other films, including a 1944 film noir starring Charles Laughton, a 1975 Italian political thriller, a 1998 Hong Kong action film and a South Korean spy thriller. First-time writer/director Stuart Connelly and his producer/wife Mary Jo Barthmaier are so cinematically literate that they were no doubt aware of the previous uses, but chose to risk the confusion because the title fits their film so perfectly. Like the film itself, the title is deliberately ambiguous, but the ambiguities aren't immediately obvious.

The Suspect stars Mekhi Phifer, who made his feature debut at age 20 in Spike Lee's Clockers and has worked steadily ever since in such films as Shaft and Dawn of the Dead (both remakes) and TV series that include ER, Lie to Me, Torchwood and House of Lies. When The Suspect played the American Black Film Festival in 2013, producer Barthmaier relates how the audience began shifting uncomfortably in their seats during the opening, because the film was known as "the Mekhi Phifer project", but the star doesn't appear until several minutes into the movie, after a prologue in which every character is white. They thought they'd come to the wrong screening room. That reaction encapsulates the most daring element of Connelly's film, which is its deliberate confrontation of racial stereotypes, in both the audience and the characters. Connelly isn't the first filmmaker to take on this radioactive subject, but he's the first I've encountered who's been bold enough to treat it as a MacGuffin rather than a morality lesson. For a very long time, The Suspect appears to be all about race in America, though from perspectives that keep shifting as layers of the story are peeled back. By the end, however, The Suspect has turned into something else altogether, and race is a secondary concern (if, indeed, it's a concern at all).

If all that sounds vague and mysterious, then I've succeeded in avoiding anything spoiler-ish. The Suspect has been designed for repeat viewing, with lines and performances that gain new meaning when you know the rest of the film, and tiny background details that go by too quickly to be noticed on a first viewing. But it would be unfair to deny new viewers the pleasure of discovering Connelly's well-crafted "reveals" on their own. The description below will have to be brief.

After the prologue noted above, which features an unidentified woman (Rebecca Creskoff) receiving an envelope by courier, The Suspect flashes back two months earlier to the small town of Midland in "Carolina". (The commentaries confirm that the decision not to specify "North" or "South" was deliberate.) Sheriff Dixon (William Sadler) enters his station, where Deputy Riley (Derek Roché) is setting up a video camera to record an interview with a handcuffed suspect (Phifer) arrested in connection with a brazen armed robbery of the local bank that morning. The suspect, who initially refuses even to give his name, protests that there was no reason to arrest him. He was in town looking at some property that he was considering buying in a bank foreclosure, but his car broke down, which is why he was walking along the road toward town, his clothes dirtied from digging on the property. Politely, but with many embarrassed pauses and hesitations, the sheriff explains that the bank was robbed and the suspect fits the description of the masked thief, i.e., he's African-American, which is all they know (presumably from the voice). You see, Sheriff Dixon explains, no African-Americans live in Midland, and it's unlikely that two would be here from out of town on the same day.

In fact, though, there is another black male nearby, who is listed in the credits as "The Other Suspect" (Sterling K. Brown, Army Wives). We will eventually see him at a nearby motel with the money from the robbery, but before that the story has taken the first of several odd turns. One week earlier, a similar scene played out in the small town of Pulaski, Minnesota, except that it was The Other Suspect who sat handcuffed across from the local sheriff (James McCaffrey, Rescue Me) being interrogated about a bank robbery. He told much the same story as The Suspect now held in Midland. He even gave the same name that the current suspect eventually provides: Freeman Finch. (The oddity of the first name is a source of comment, and its irony should be obvious). A connection clearly exists between these two men, but is it part of an elaborate scheme to get away with robbery, or is it something else?

Both suspects treat the sheriffs with resentment, protest that they've been profiled and accuse the officers of racism at every turn. The Pulaski sheriff behaves very much like a stereotype, but Sheriff Dixon is something of a wild card (as memorably revealed in an exchange about Kafka). During the course of the day, other unanticipated events will cause the Carolina investigation to play out differently than the previous one in Minnesota. But that is all I can say without revealing more than anyone should know going into the film for a first viewing.

The audience's understanding of the two suspects, their relationship, their undertaking and their ultimate goal is repeatedly redefined as The Suspect proceeds. The ultimate resolution may baffle some viewers initially, because it's based on carefully planted hints whose significance may not be fully apparent until a second (or even a third) viewing. Is the story realistic? Probably not, but Keyser Söze doesn't exist in real life either—and who cares?

The Suspect Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

According to information provided by cinematographer Eric Giovon, whose assistance is gratefully acknowledged, The Suspect was shot digitally with a Red One Epic MX camera. On the commentary track, Connelly thanks Giovon, as well as his other department heads, for collaborating to help him achieve the look he wanted, either "on the day" or in post-production, which was sometimes necessary to correct the lighting due to weather conditions.

Image Entertainment/RLJ's 1080p, AVC-encoded Blu-ray, which was presumably sourced from digital files, provides a fine rendition of Giovon's efforts. Detail is superior, the image is sharp and clear, colors are appropriately understated for the neo-noir style favored by Connelly, and the blacks, so crucial for the night scenes late in the film, are solid and true. Some minor banding can be observed at scene transitions, but this is the only artifact I observed. Image has used a BD-50, no doubt due to the substantial supplementary content, but the average bitrate is still an underwhelming 21.98 Mbps. Given the letterbox bars and the film's digital origination, it's a good enough bitrate for the material, but certainly nothing to brag about.

The Suspect Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

The 5.1 soundtrack for The Suspect, encoded on Blu-ray in lossless DTS-HD MA, does a fine job of rendering the actors' dialogue and providing subtle environmental background for various locations. There isn't a lot more for the sound designers to do, except in a few brief scenes in the film's latter half and one extended scene that forms its dramatic climax; in these moments, we get major activity that expands the track's dynamic range and takes greater advantage of the surround array. Unfortunately, I can't be more specific without giving away too much of the plot. The moody score was composed by Stephen Coates of the band The Real Tuesday Weld, which performs several songs heard in the film (also composed by Coates).

The Suspect Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Commentaries


• With Director Stuart Connelly: The film's writer/director provides a detailed account both of the nuts-and-bolts of making the film and of its meticulous construction from a screenwriter's point of view. Along the way, he points out numerous small details that were planted to be discovered on repeat viewings and speaks about his many influences (which include TV's The Twilight Zone).


• With Producer Mary Jo Barthmaier: Producer commentaries can be disappointing, but Barthmaier spent considerable time on the set, in addition to living with her husband, Connelly, throughout the writing process and post-production. Her stories and perspectives complement her husband's without major overlap. As a producer, she is especially knowledgeable about locations and logistics.



• Conversation with Director Stuart Connelly (1080p; 1.78:1; 28:56): This interview probes further insight into Connelly's background and influences and the inspiration behind The Suspect.



• Happy Endings Music Video—The Real Tuesday Weld (1080i; 2.24:1; 3:44).



• Extended Scenes (720p; 2.24:1; 17:14): In his commentary, Connelly discusses several of these longer scenes and the reasons for shortening them.



• Making a Scene (720p; 1.78:1; 7:52): This featurette shows excerpts from the film's elaborate conclusion, alternating among storyboards, on-set footage and the finished product, with several versions often overlapping.



• Trailer (1080p; 2.24:1; 1:51): This well-constructed trailer gives away nothing and ends on Phifer's critical line to Sheriff Dixon: "You have no idea what this is about."

The Suspect Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

If The Suspect has a weakness, it's the cerebral, calculating element that never lets you forget you're being manipulated at every moment. One of the triumphs of The Usual Suspects, another of Connelly's inspirations, is how it lulls and misdirects the viewer into believing everything that will ultimately be called into question. Once Connelly chose to shift the perspective repeatedly within the same film, he gave up any hope of letting the viewer relax into a single point of view. Very quickly in The Suspect, you learn to distrust whatever you're told, which creates a sense of distance between the characters and the viewer. As a counterbalance, though, Connelly has effective and charismatic performances from actors like Sadler, Phifer and, in a small but crucial role, newcomer Lizzy DeClement, who plays Sheriff Dixon's office assistant and, to the sheriff's surprise, suddenly speaks up for what's right. Moments like these remind us that even the twistiest thrillers always have a clear sense of morality, no matter how deeply it may be buried. The Suspect is no exception. Highly recommended.