Tyrel Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		1.5
Video		2.5
Audio		3.0
Extras		1.0
Overall		1.0

Tyrel Blu-ray Movie Review

Get Out (if someone invites you over to watch this).

Reviewed by Randy Miller III April 10, 2019

The title of Sebastián Silva’s Tyrel (2018) sums up the film perfectly: it makes a big deal out of very little. There’s a throwaway line early on when affable Tyler (Jason Mitchell, best known as “Eazy-E” in 2015’s Straight Outta Compton), newly introduced to one of several white frat boys, is referred to as that name and immediately brushes it off. The line’s delivery and context imply that it’s closer to casual racism than an innocent mistake (which it clearly is), but Tyrel doubles down hard on its supposedly scathing portrait of American race relations during its bloated and uneventful 86-minute lifespan. It desperately wants to show us the horrifying experience of a black man surrounded by liberal white guys in the middle of nowhere…but all I see is a bunch of dumb college-aged kids drinking too much.

The setup is that Tyler and his pal Johnny (Christopher Abbott) arrive at a friend’s remote cabin in the Catskills; technically, it’s a weekend birthday party for Pete (Caleb Landry Jones, Get Out), but really it’s just a thinly-veiled excuse to smoke weed and drink for a few days. Predictably, the party spirals downward as the weekend progresses and more guests arrive; there’s probably a dozen or so total but, aside for obnoxious Pete, older gay man Dylan (Roddy Bottum, keyboardist for the band Faith No More) and rich Alan (Michael Cera), no one makes any kind of impression on the viewer. It’s established early on -- right around the time Tyler gets his nickname, which is mentioned exactly twice and immediately forgotten -- that our leading man is all kinds of uncomfortable because he's the only black guy there. Like any good introvert (regardless of color), Tyler latches onto the cabin owner’s dog Cosmo, but can’t play fetch all weekend. That, combined with the fact that his car is out of gas and there’s no phone reception for at least a quarter mile, means that poor Tyler is pretty much stuck there until the party’s over.

And what an annoyingly loud, stupid party it is, but I fail to see how at least 90% of what happens to Tyler -- which turns out to be very little, despite what the trailer suggests -- is racially motivated. His skin color has almost zero impact on the proceedings, as Tyrel really seems to be more about (a) the dangers of heavy drinking and (b) why social events are an introvert’s worst nightmare. Is Tyler ostracized a few times? Is his manhood challenged? Does he feel completely out of his element? The answer to all three is clearly “yes”, but not for the reasons that Tyrel implies. While it obviously wants to be considered in the same league as Get Out (it was even marketed as such), the only strength it shares with that film is the decent performance of its lead actor. Other than that, Tyrel is a purely amateur effort that wants to be so much more than it actually is. The film’s promising start quickly devolves into mediocrity before spinning its wheels and, once the non-ending lands with a thud, you’ll be just as glad the party’s over.

While it's obvious I didn't care for Tyrel very much, this was anything but a knee-jerk reaction: it's fundamentally flawed in lots of basic areas, from the story, dialogue, and characters all the way down to the film's off-putting cinematography (discussed in great detail below). The film's lack of plot, not to mention its complete non-ending and extremely narrow target audience, don't make Tyrel a very accessible production to anyone but those suckered in by its surprisingly respectable cast. But even if by some miracle you actually enjoyed the film, that still doesn't make Magnolia's Blu-ray package a worthy purchase: even high definition can't save the film's lackluster A/V presentation, while the skimpy bonus features won't win over anyone stuck on the fence. Let's get this over with, shall we?

Tyrel Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Presented in an unusually wide 2.65:1 aspect ratio (which may or may not be original, but more on that below), Tyrel is nowhere near what I'd call a visually appealing production. For starters, many shots suffer from a slightly distorted appearance around the left and right edges that's similar to a fish-eye lens; it's not always noticeable but becomes very distracting once you're looking for it. This was presumably done to make viewers feel disoriented (I guess it worked?) and, combined with that absurdly wide aspect ratio, creates an claustrophobic and off-putting atmosphere that gets old quickly. Combine those problems with Tyrel's poor indoor lighting and low-quality digital camerawork and you've got a recipe for one bad-looking movie. As for the included screenshots, it was extremely challenging to capture usable ones: almost anything shot indoors at night is a blurry, noisy mess with extremely soft edges, poor depth, and almost no shadow detail. Compression artifacts, mosquito noise, and other small anomalies run rampant, although these don't appear to be disc authoring issues. Outdoor scenes fare much better and are highlighted by improved color saturation, accurate skin tones, and even a few noticeable textures, but still barely surpasses what you might get from a decent-looking DVD. Although I habitually attempt to capture the most attractive images possible, I split the difference here and included a number of poor-looking ones to give readers a better idea of what to expect.

While the majority of Tyrel looks extremely amateurish, the possible saving grace of Magnolia's 1080p transfer is that most or all of its problems may very well be source material issues. I didn't notice any obvious compression artifacts, aliasing, excessive noise reduction, or any other obvious digital tinkering, so it very well might be an accurate presentation of the film. (Technical specs and details were almost nil during my fruitless research of its visual origins, but I'd gladly post an update if better information surfaces.) Either way, I can't give any movie that looks this mediocre more than a 2.5/5 in good conscience, and I've got to wonder what in the world cinematographer Alexis Zabe -- mostly known for music videos -- was thinking here. Point blank, it's just an unattractive film.

A word about the aspect ratio: I was unable to confirm the film's OAR, which is either closer to 2.49:1 (as seen in promotional clips, including Magnolia's official trailer) or 2.65:1 as seen on both this Blu-ray and images included with Magnolia's press release. I've no reason to believe there's any foul play here, but this is such an unusual formatting choice that it only adds one more layer of confusion to the proceedings. Can we move on to the audio now?

Tyrel Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Although I'm also inclined to think that this DTS-HD 5.1 Master Audio is true to its source, this is likewise a very limited effort that won't push the limits of your home theater setup. Tyrel is an almost entirely dialogue-driven affair; all of it sounds recorded on-set with no overdubs, and the majority of music is diegetic as well. Rear channels are used very sparingly and are usually limited to echoes, activity in other rooms, and the aforementioned on-set music. Continuing the claustrophobic atmosphere, much of Tyrel's dialogue is limited to the front channel with an overall narrow sound stage and very little separation. While there's proportionately less to write about as its video presentation, the same judgment applies here: most, if not all, problems are likely limited to the source material.

Optional English (SDH) and Spanish subtitles are included during the main feature only. These are clean and legible with no sync issues and, surprisingly, placed within the narrow 2.65:1 frame.

Tyrel Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Interview with Writer/Director Sebastián Silva (14:18, 1080p) - This covers a decent amount of ground, including most of the expected areas: the story's origin (which took place during a trip to Cuba), shooting in the Catskills, casting the film with friends and regular collaborators, drawing a line between victims and bullies, maintaining restraint, casual racism in America and abroad, developing the screenplay, playing drunk, an outsider's perspective vs. cultural appropriation, Straight Outta Compton, and more. I'll admit that this is an enjoyable interview despite my feelings about the film, although I can't say it changed my mind.

• Theatrical Trailer (2:23) - It's both spoiler- heavy and slightly misleading, but otherwise this trailer captures the film's overall ambitions well enough. I blame both the pull quotes and the audio mix, which collectively make Tyrel sound a lot more exciting than the end product actually ends up being.

Tyrel Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Sebastián Silva's Tyrel is not a great movie. It's not even a good one. Its ham-handed statements about American race relations never hit home, the setup feels extremely forced, and its non- ending doesn't help matters either. Just about the only thing Tyrel has to show for its surprisingly padded 86-minute lifespan is a few decent performances…but even then, I'd caution fans of the cast to know what they're getting into. Although I was tempted to take it easy on Tyrel for falling victim to bad marketing -- which made it out to be some kind of "answer" to Get Out, a laughable comparison at best – the director is clearly riding that film's coattails and it would likely not have seen the light of day in any other era. I've seen worse movies this year, but none as pointless. Magnolia's Blu-ray doesn't help matters, either: the film's lackluster A/V presentation can't be saved by high definition, while the bonus features won't do anything to win you over. Needless to say, it's not worth the blind buy, especially if the trailer looked interesting.