6.2 | / 10 |
Users | 0.0 | |
Reviewer | 2.5 | |
Overall | 2.5 |
New parents Adrienne and Matteo are forced to reckon with trauma amidst their troubled relationship. They must revisit the memories of their past and unravel haunting truths in order to face their uncertain future.
Starring: Sienna Miller, Diego Luna, Beth Grant, Vanessa Bayer, Brett RiceDrama | 100% |
Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Video resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 1.85:1
Original aspect ratio: 1.85:1
English: DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1
English SDH, Spanish
Blu-ray Disc
Single disc (1 BD)
Digital copy
Slipcover in original pressing
Region A (B, C untested)
Movie | 2.5 | |
Video | 4.0 | |
Audio | 4.5 | |
Extras | 1.0 | |
Overall | 2.5 |
What Dreams May Come attempted to paint a picture (in more ways than one, if you've seen the film) of what the so-called "afterlife" might be like, at least for the focal character played by Robin Williams. In that regard, though, the audience knew that the Williams character had indeed died, and was going through some sort of personal Purgatory on his way to — well, somewhere. Wander Darkly attempts to do something at least somewhat similar, except in this case writer and director Tara Miele wants to keep her cards more or less glued to her chest, refusing to explicitly detail what exactly is going on with married couple Adrienne (Sienna Miller) and Matteo (Diego Luna) after a horrifying car accident. According to the making of featurette included on this Blu-ray disc as a supplement, Miele based the film on a real life incident she experienced where after a devastating auto collision she was temporarily blinded and could only hear her husband gasping that he couldn't breathe. That of course would be enough to provoke nightmares instead of dreams in many, maybe most, people, but Miele attempts to "develop" that foundational experience of hers into a dissection of a relationship and a kind of elegiac retrospective that is obviously hinting at questions of mortality and how that certain finality puts a new "spin" on things.
Wander Darkly is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Lionsgate Films with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 1.85:1. The IMDb lists Arri Alexa Minis and a 2K DI as relevant data points. This is one of those exercises in "style" where any number of deliberate choices can tend to make the imagery inchoate, fuzzy, and even out of focus at times. As a result fine detail levels can spike and then falter, and even the palette can ebb and flow, though perhaps to less immediate and obvious effect. In relatively more "normal" moments, detail levels are frequently very appealing, and grading and lighting choices support a naturalistic ambience. A lot of the imagery, though, is intentionally skewed in any number of ways, including uses of different lenses, pushed contrast, and near Impressionistic flashes of light and the like that give the presentation an admittedly dreamlike atmosphere, but one that may not simultaneously provide consistently excellent clarity and detail.
I was actually perhaps more taken with Wander Darkly's DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 track than I was with the generally excellent video side of things. The sound design has been assembled rather artfully to feature a lot of near hallucinatory effects, including voices and ambient environmental effects kind of washing through the side and rear channels and providing an off kilter listening experience, at least at times. A wide variety of outdoor sequences also offers good placement of ambient sounds. The string drenched score also is nicely spacious almost all of the time. Dialogue is rendered cleanly and clearly throughout this problem free track. Optional English SDH and Spanish subtitles are available.
Wander Darkly can frankly be a rather intriguing, near hallucinatory, viewing experience, but there's only so much stumbling through memory that many viewers will be able to take before they'll be wanting a clearer explanation of what exactly is actually going on. It's understandable why Miele structured the film this way, as the mystery at least provides a reason to keep watching, but in some ways Wander Darkly is one of those who, to purloin a phrase and twist it slightly, is one who wanders and who is lost. Technical merits, especially audio, are generally excellent for those who are considering a purchase.
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