Wakefield Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		4.0
Video		4.5
Audio		3.5
Extras		0.5
Overall		3.5

Wakefield Blu-ray Movie Review

"What is so sacrosanct about a marriage and a family that you should have to live in it day after day?"

Reviewed by Dr. Stephen Larson August 2, 2017

That chameleonic thespian Bryan Cranston is at it again, portraying a difficult character in a challenging role. This time he stars in writer/director Robin Swicord's Wakefield, a small indie that sadly only played in a maximum of thirty commercial cinemas during its domestic nine-week theatrical run. Cranston plays Howard Wakefield, a Manhattan litigator who is going through a midlife and experiencing marital problems with his younger wife, Diana (Jennifer Garner). En route home from his Manhattan office, Howard boards his usual subway, which gets delayed due to a power outrage. He takes the long walk home to his suburban neighborhood in Westchester County and upon reaching the driveway, he spots a racoon by the garbage. Howard tries to shoo it away but the pesky creature leads him up the steps from the garage and into the attic. Diana appears worried and calls her husband repeatedly on his cell phone but Howard refuses to answer. Howard can see his wife and their two twin daughters in the Wakefield's kitchen across the way through an 18th century French ocular window. Although he notices that Diana is concerned about the fact that he isn't officially "home," Howard is still bitter about their arguments and decides to spend the night in the attic. Howard doesn't really know it at the time but this garret will become his living quarters for a prolonged period as the days and weeks turn into months.

Wakefield possesses rather acute literary qualities and also delivers an uncommon mode of storytelling. Swicord's screenplay is based on the short story, Wakefield, by the late great writer E.L. Doctorow (Daniel; Ragtime). It was originally published in The New Yorker in a January 2008 issue and later reprinted in a collection of Doctorow's short works entitled All the Time in the World. Doctorow himself drew inspiration from Nathaniel Hawthorne, who wrote an 1835 story also about a man named Wakefield. Unlike the later versions, the main character takes up an apartment room from across the street. Also, Hawthorne doesn't give Wakefield a backstory. Those who have read Doctorow's piece and seen the adaptation note that the movie holds a strong fidelity to its source material. Swicord employs an unusual form of storytelling that literary theorist Gérard Genette would call autodiegetic narration, which is a branch of homodiegetic narration. This means that the story's main protagonist is also its central narrator.

Wakefield is the film's autodiegetic narrator because his onscreen narration, point-of-view, and memories are filtered through his character's prism. The movie's focalisation and perspective comes through Wakefield. He watches his own house as visitors come and go. These include Babs (Beverly D'Angelo), Howard's mother-in-law, and Ben Jacobs (Ian Anthony Dale), a handsome friend of Diana's. A significant chunk of Wakefield's narrative is Howard trying to read the lips of his wife and her guests. Cranston plays the part in a self-deprecating way but he's also crude and critical of what he thinks his wife is saying and doing. The only parts of the film that we're privy to hearing Diana and nearly all of the other characters is through flashbacks, which reveal Howard and Diana's petty and sexually motivated jealousies. In the film's present, Howard frets that his former friend, the younger Dirk Morrison (Jason O'Mara), is having an affair with Diana. In one flashback, we see Howard and Dirk get in a little barroom scuffle. Later on, Dirk arrives at Diana's place long after a missing person's report has been filed on Howard.

Howard Wakefield tries to enjoy a sandwich on a park bench.

Howard turns into a peeping tom (e.g., watching his wife undress in an open window) and a surveillance freak. Early on in his hermitic state, he comes back into the house to shave and shower after Diana and the kids have left for the day. But he becomes feral, growing long hair and a scruffy beard. He sifts through garbage cans and dumpsters, foraging leftovers and looking for shoes. Why does Howard put himself through all of this? He seems to have grown tired of his daily routine and transforms into an anti-capitalist. He stops caring about material goods. But Howard is also very selfish. His wife used to always check on him and he wants to turn the tables on her. There's also a key flashback scene in the kitchen where Howard is getting ready for work but Diana and the children don't pay any attention to him. Howard sort of builds a surrogate family with two mentally challenged kids, Emily (Pippa Bennett-Warner) and Herbert (Isaac Leyva), who know Howard's living in the attic but promise not to tell anyone. Bennett-Warner and Leyva are both wonderful and their scenes with Cranston are heartwarming. Thankfully, they don't become saccharine and one wishes that Swicord developed Cranston's relationship with them even more. At 106 minutes, Wakefield can be an endurance test considering the belabored narration and unsavory qualities of the title character. But Cranston makes Wakefield as interesting as he can and the movie should be seen because of his transformative performance.

Wakefield Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Wakefield makes its global debut on Blu-ray courtesy of Shout! Factory on this MPEG-4 AVC-encoded BD-25. This is a BD/DVD combo release and comes with a slipcover. I wish that Shout! had given the movie a maxed out bitrate but the picture looks clean throughout sans any artifacts. The main feature carries an average bitrate of 20494 kbps, with the entire disc clocking in at 26.90 Mbps. The movie appears in its original filmed and exhibited ratio of 2.35:1. Wakefield's transfer is a bit hard to evaluate because there are many POV shots seen through windows which contain small grids all the way around. It can look a bit soft also because Howard's vantage point is from a distance. Skin tones appear natural with no tinkering on Shout!'s part evident. Since much of the film takes place at night, it looks dark with fill light added in places. Detail on close-ups and extreme close-ups is very good (see the wrinkles and creases in the middle of Cranston's face in Screenshot #14).

Shout! has given the feature its standard of twelve scene selections.

Wakefield Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Shout! has supplied a DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 Surround (3039 kbps, 24-bit) and a DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 Stereo (1636 kbps, 24-bit) as the two sound track options. Cranston's voice is the movie's preponderate vocal element and its inflection sounds crisp on both tracks. Subway/train/car noises, footsteps, and f/x in general come across as clean and authentic. The 5.1 mix has a steady and consistent balance. Composer Aaron Zigman delivers a subtle score that while heard occasionally on the satellite speakers, doesn't intrude on the main action.

Shout has provided the option for either English SDH or Spanish subtitles for the feature.

Wakefield Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Theatrical Trailer (2:04, 1080p) - IFC Films' original and official trailer for Wakefield presented in 2.35:1 anamorphic widescreen with DTS HD MA 2.0 Stereo. It includes reviewers' quotes and portions of Debussy's "Clair de lune." In English, not subtitled.

• Previews - Bonus trailers of Band Aid (2:33) and Queen of the Desert (2:32) load before reaching Wakefield's main menu. The previews can be skipped.

Wakefield Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Wakefield may be about an unlikable character but it shows through his physical transformation and the time away from his family a self-fulfilling journey that will lead him to some unexpected discoveries and the people/things he values most. Cranston is the movie's pillar and the restricted narration probably would not have worked without his presence or been as effective with a different actor. Viewers may be off-put with Swicord's unconventional style of storytelling as it requires patience and time to get used to (maybe too long for some). Shout! Factory delivers a rock-solid video presentation and above-average lossless audio. Extras are basically non-existent. One craves commentaries with Cranston and Swicord as well as interviews with other cast/crew members. But until we get a "Collector's Edition" hopefully at some point, this BD is the best way to experience Wakefield. RECOMMENDED.