Rating summary

Movie		3.0
Video		3.0
Audio		3.5
Extras		0.0
Overall		3.0

When the Gods Fall Asleep Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman January 17, 2024

Note: This film is available on Blu-ray as part of the Inside the Mind of Coffin Joe collection from Arrow Video.

If you know about Coffin Joe, no introduction is necessary, and if you don't, no introduction could probably ever suffice. That said, for those who aren't aware of this weirdly iconic Brasilian character, he (it?) sprang from the febrile imagination of one José Mojica Marins, a writer and director who in addition to those tasks in fact played Coffin Joe in several films aggregated in this gonzo new collection from Arrow Video. Rather interestingly, and perhaps saliently, one supplement in this immense set has the redoubtable Stephen Thrower refusing to call Marins "insane", despite the fact that other pundits have described Marins as meeting that clinical definition, while another supplement is devoted to Marins as a "neuro divergent" and at least possibly ADHD afflicted filmmaker. That rather wide gamut of reactions will probably be matched by the general public, though if Marins was "crazy", he was crazy like a fox, as they say, and his films, while intentionally provocative and rather frequently horrifyingly graphic in terms of bodily immolations and the like, generally have rather impressive production values, which suggests a certain competency at least. One way or the other, virtually all of Marins' films are suffused with mood, even if narrative structures can be on the wobbly side. This is another impressive effort from Arrow Video that is obviously designed to cater to a cult audience, but that particular demographic should find themselves very well served by this release.

When the Gods Fall Asleep might have been better paired on one disc with The End of Man, since it is a sequel to that film, and in that regard, I tried to stay away from a spoiler regarding a late revelation in that film in my The End of Man Blu-ray review, but can't help but mention it in this review for some hopefully obvious reasons, and so those concerned about coming to this offering "cold", so to speak, are advised to skip down to the technical aspects of the review, below.

The "none too surprising" denouement to The End of Man revealed that Finis Hominis (José Mojica Marins), the quasi-Messianic figure at the center of both films, was in fact an escapee from a mental institution, and this film finds him back in "captivity", though that hasn't kept him from reacting to "world events", nor has it in fact kept the world from reacting to him. Once again, Finis Hominis manages to break free and traipse among the unwashed masses, where almost by accident he manages to make things better, in what I might call a further presaging of some of the Being There-esque elements I mentioned in the The End of Man Blu-ray review. This continues the somewhat deadpan humor of The End of Man, but probably doesn't have the same impact, as once again Marins seems to like to "recycle" things.

When the Gods Fall Asleep Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

When the Gods Fall Asleep is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Arrow Video with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 1.37:1. Arrow's insert booklet offers some general information about all of the transfers, followed by more individualized information about this particular film, as follows:

The Coffin Joe films by José Mojica Marins have been exclusively restored by Cinecolor, in cooperation with One Eyed Films and Arrow Films. All restoration work was overseen by producer Paulo Sacramento in collaboration with Arrow Films.

The original film elements sourced for this project represent the best existing film elements available, and while every effort has been made to present these films in the highest quality possible, some instances of damage remain, in keeping with the condition and age of these materials. Likewise, the audio soundtracks which at times have a slightly rough quality of are in keeping with their production origins. In places audio synch will appear loose as very little audio was ever recorded live and the mixes were generally recorded and created in post-production.

When the Gods Fall Asleep / Quando os Deuses Adormecem is presented in its original 1.37:1 aspect ratio with mono Brazilian Portuguese audio.

The film was scanned and restored in 4K resolution from an original 35mm print, the only known existing film element for this title.

The audio was remastered from this original 35mm print.

Additionally, a prefatory text card offers the following further information:

2023 4K restoration executed at Cinecolor Brazil Lab with the support of Arrow Films and under the supervision of Mojica's last producer, Paulo Sacramento.

Digital restoration done from the only existing 35mm print scanned by Cinemateca Brasileira.

The audio files were restored from the preexisting telecine of a 35mm print.

This presentation, while certainly more than watchable, can't help but suffer when stacked up against some of the other transfers in this set, due to some recurrent and unignorable damage that the source print element had and which whatever restoration gauntlet was undertaken has not addressed. While the palette is still really nicely suffused and quite vibrant, and is arguably one of the stronger things about this transfer, as can easily be seen in several of the screenshots I've uploaded to this review, there is rampant scratching, including some that cover the full vertical length of the frame and can be quite long lasting. Other, perhaps slightly less problematic, age related wear and tear also shows up. Detail levels are still relatively intact even given some of the masking the damage does. Grain can be on the slightly gritty side, but has no major resolution issues. My score is 3.25.

When the Gods Fall Asleep Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

When the Gods Fall Asleep features LPCM Mono audio in the original Portuguese. This is another somewhat boxy and hollow sounding presentation, and as with some of the other audio tracks in this collection, there can be slight but still discernable flutter in some music cues, as well as a kind of brash high end that is again perhaps most noticeable in the musical moments. Dialogue and narration are presented without any major issues. Optional English subtitles are available.

When the Gods Fall Asleep Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

Arrow has packaged When the Gods Fall Asleep and The Strange Hostel of Naked Pleasures together on one disc, with the following supplements:

• The Demonic Surrealism of Coffin Joe (HD; 25:42) offers Virginie Selavy discussing parallels between Marins' films and various surrealist movements.


• Delirium, Surrealism, and Vision (HD; 13:33) features Jack Sargeant discussing Marins' filmography.
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• Apostle of Evil (HD; 10:46) offers Dennison Ramahlo talking about his connection to Marins and Coffin Joe.


• Mojica in the Snow: Tonight I Incarnate at Sundance! (HD; 15:11) was a lot of fun for this native born Utahn to watch, but even non- Utahns should get a kick out of Marins traveling to the Sundance Film Festival in 2001.


• A Blind Date for Coffin Joe (HD; 9:42) is a comedic short starring Raymond Castile ("Young" Coffin Joe in Embodiment of Evil), built around the premise of Coffin Joe trying to find his perfect female courtesy of something like internet dating. This is probably not quite as funny as the premise might suggest, but it's still kind of goofily enjoyable.


• Trailer The Strange Hostel of Naked Pleasures (HD; 4:03)

When the Gods Fall Asleep Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

When the Gods Fall Asleep might have a whiff of that oft quoted "sophomore slump", when contextualized as the second Finis Hominis film. Video is pretty badly scratched a lot of the time, but is still watchable, and this disc offers more really appealing supplements, for anyone who may be considering making a purchase.