Two Men in Town Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		3.5
Video		4.0
Audio		4.0
Extras		1.5
Overall		3.5

Two Men in Town Blu-ray Movie Review

What's Emily Smith, chopped liver?

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman May 20, 2015

Two Men in Town may retain the (Anglicized) title of Deux hommes dans la ville, the 1973 French-Italian co-production which provided the inspiration for the tale of a long incarcerated criminal attempting to return to some semblance of a normal life after having been paroled, but in Rachid Bouchareb’s interesting if problematic reboot, some viewers may feel it's the woman in the story who should have been at least mentioned in its appellation. While the focus of the story is ostensibly on William Garnett (Forest Whitaker), a middle aged man who has spent close to the past two decades in stir for having killed a New Mexico sheriff’s deputy, much of this film’s interest is actually generated by Garnett’s parole officer, a no nonsense woman named Emily Smith (Brenda Blethyn), a career law enforcement official who has just moved to the barren environment of the American Southwest, a place where she listens to French cabaret music while cleaning her impressive pistol on the porch of a farmhouse which would have been right at home in any John Ford western. There are actually several intersecting subplots (and characters) in Two Men in Town, something else which makes the curiously limited name of the film seem even less descriptive. Along with Garnett and Smith there is also Sheriff Bill Agati (Harvey Keitel), equally as no nonsense as Smith herself, but also a guy who doesn’t let go of a grudge very easily, especially when that grudge concerns the long ago murder of his deputy at the hands of Garnett. Garnett’s return to “society” (if the sparse surroundings of the New Mexico desert can be called that) is also hampered by his former (literal) partner in crime, nefarious local bad guy Terence (Luiz Guzmán), someone who has evidently simply been sitting around waiting for Garnett to be sprung from jail so that he can offer the now ex-con “employment” in the underworld again. Garnett therefore finds himself as the uncomfortable fulcrum of sorts, albeit one in a vice grip caught between twin oppressions, one from Agati, the other from Terence. The fact that the film begins with a rather provocative scene depicting a rather brutal killing by Garnett and then goes to great lengths to detail the character’s anger management issues perhaps telegraphs the arc of this at times unexpectedly beautiful looking film too explicitly for its own good.

Bouchareb wastes little time in introducing three of the four principal characters (though eagle eyed viewers will probably notice the fourth character showing up as well). On top of witnessing the shocking murder which opens the film, we’re also given quick overviews of both Sheriff Agati and Emily Smith. Smith is seen moving into her completely isolated farmhouse (and then somewhat later cleaning that gun to the unlikely soundtrack). Agati on the other hand is seen patrolling the border between the United States and Mexico, ultimately showing up to berate some civilian vigilantes who have “arrested” three illegal immigrants who had been attempting to cross over into New Mexico. “You can’t uphold the law by breaking the law!” Agati screams at this private “militia,” in what turns out to be a somewhat ironic statement of principles, considering how Agati himself begins behaving once he learns of Garnett’s release from prison.

Ultimately these strands are woven together once Smith becomes Garnett’s parole officer and it becomes clear that Garnett’s long ago murder victim was in fact Agati’s deputy. Smith attempts to build a bridge of trust with her “clients,” though she’s certainly nobody’s fool and doesn’t suffer rule breakers gladly. Agati is more or less incensed that Garnett has managed to finally get out of prison, feeling that he deserved to rot in stir for the rest of his supposedly miserable life. Agati is also somewhat less convinced than Smith that Garnett’s conversion to Islam (a potentially provocative subplot which is never completely developed) has curbed his anger issues.

Garnett does manage to find some work for himself and he even begins forging a romantic relationship with local bank loan officer Teresa (Dolores Heredia), in a bit of plot mechanics which doesn’t ring especially true and is probably overly sanguine for the rest of this film’s rather dour, gritty ambience. By the time Terence shows up to try to recruit Garnett back into a life of crime, pressures have already begun building on the hapless ex-con, and the writing seems to be on the wall that a major eruption is due, though it’s at least a bit unclear who will be the target of the outburst.

There are a number of really interesting elements in Two Men in Town, but at least some of these exist mostly to provide color to the story rather than being well woven into the overall structure of the piece. What, for example, is the emphasis on the border issues between Mexico and the United States doing in this film? Are they there simply to provide a window into Agati’s soul, one where the character is shown to indeed have an empathetic side, instead of the almost obsessive mien he adopts with regard to Garnett? And what of the aforementioned passing depictions of Islam? There’s perhaps undue emphasis made on this aspect from the get go, and the film pauses repeatedly (as in repeatedly) to show Garnett’s observance of daily prayer rituals, but other than acting as an indicator of the character’s quest for redemption, why make such an issue out of a particular religion, especially one so fraught with subtext in our contemporary environment?

If structurally and even dramatically there are a few hiccups to encounter along the way, from a performance perspective Two Men in Town is often extremely compelling. Whitaker’s doleful expression helps to make the anguish of Garnett almost palpable at times, and if Keitel is stuck with a more one note character, he manages to wring some real emotion out of a couple of key scenes (some actually not involving Garnett but more skewed toward the illegal immigrant problem). The real “star” of Two Men in Town, though, is that sadly neglected woman (in the title at least), Brenda Blethyn as the fascinatingly steely but surprisingly vulnerable Emily. Blethyn, an actress “of a certain age” who hasn’t always been offered the meaty roles her experience (and Academy Award nominations) should provide, makes Emily the emotional center of this sometimes too overstuffed offering. Bouchareb and cinematographer Yves Cape makes the most of the southwestern locale, offering a spare but achingly beautiful landscape which seems to mirror both the anxiety and hope for redemption that reside simultaneously in Garnett’s soul.

Two Men in Town Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Two Men in Town is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Cohen Media Group with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 2.39:1. The IMDb lists this as having been shot digitally with the Arri Alexa Plus 4:3, so it appears that perhaps Bouchareb and cinematographer Yves Cape may have opted to introduce "artificial" grain into some of the shots, providing a bit more texture and depth than is typically the case with digitally shot features. (It's very fine at times, but quite noticeable in some expansive exterior shots where it's quite visible against open skies.) As should be expected, the brightly lit outdoor sequences offer the most pop, with vividly saturated and accurate looking colors and some wonderful depth of field in wide shots. Close-ups offer superb fine detail, though overall this is just a tad softer looking than other Arri shot features. There are one or two brief issues with noise (the scene where Garnett is released from prison being one notable example), as well as similarly brief bouts of banding when the camera is aimed squarely at the sun, but this is generally a solid, artifact free presentation that offers some sumptuous if barren southwestern beauty.

Note: For those concerned with such things, this is the first Cohen release I've personally reviewed that does not feature either the orange or black and white color scheme for the cover insert.

Two Men in Town Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Two Men in Town features a generally very immersive lossless DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 track, one which provides ample space for wide open panning effects when Garnett gets a taste of freedom on his motorcycle or when Sheriff Agati flies over the wall built to keep Mexicans out of the United States. The bulk of the film, though, plays out in rather intimate dialogue scenes, where dynamic range is somewhat restrained and surround activity limited to things like ambient environmental effects. Fidelity is excellent on this track which presents no problems of any kind to warrant concern.

Two Men in Town Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• The Fence: The Making of Two Men in Town (1080p; 54:49) is a really interesting piece which features good interviews with Rachid Bouchareb and some interesting information about what informed his filmmaking process. (Largely in French with forced English subtitles.)


• TV Spots (1080p; 1:06)

Two Men in Town Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Two Men in Town has three really compelling characters, plus Terence as a sort of necessary (if cartoonish) appendage, put there seemingly just in case the tension with Sheriff Agati wasn't enough to sustain the picture. Performances are superb (including a cameo by Ellen Burstyn as Garnett's estranged adoptive mother), and there's a feeling of desolate beauty running through the film which is rather remarkable. Too many loose ends and some overly facile plot machinations may temporarily turn some viewers off, but taken as a whole and considering this Blu-ray's generally excellent technical merits, Two Men in Town comes Recommended.