7.1 | / 10 |
Users | 0.0 | |
Reviewer | 3.5 | |
Overall | 3.5 |
Paul Verhoeven's Showgirls (1995) was met by critics and audiences with near universal derision. You Don't Nomi traces the film's redemptive journey from notorious flop to cult classic, and maybe even masterpiece.
Starring: Elizabeth Berkley, Gina Gershon, Kyle MacLachlan, April Kidwell, Gina RaveraDocumentary | 100% |
Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Video resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 1.78:1
Original aspect ratio: 1.85:1
English: DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1
English
Blu-ray Disc
Single disc (1 BD)
Region A (locked)
Movie | 3.5 | |
Video | 4.0 | |
Audio | 4.0 | |
Extras | 0.0 | |
Overall | 3.5 |
Why are flops often more interesting to discuss than successes? In the world of Broadway, there are two really great reads about groups of shows that either never quite achieved hit status or were indeed outright debacles, William Goldman’s The Season and Ken Mandelbaum’s Not Since Carrie, and in the film world, there are a number of great tomes which at least tangentially address notable bombs like Doctor Dolittle and Heaven's Gate. While I frankly can’t think of any major documentaries about Broadway flops, there have been a number of documentaries about various films with troubled reputations, including efforts like Lost Soul: The Doomed Journey of Richard Stanley's Island of Dr. Moreau. Some might include Francis Ford Coppola’s Hearts of Darkness: A Filmmaker's Apocalypse (included in Apocalypse Now) in that list, though of course the focal film wasn’t really a flop, even if its production caused untold emotional issues for Coppola. Into this small but captivating arena comes You Don't Nomi, an appealing if perhaps occasionally shallow exploration of the history of Paul Verhoeven's once derided and now at least at times loved (or at least tolerated) Showgirls (note that the link points to an out of print edition which is now pretty pricey, since that edition has a review, though there is also this edition, which also seems to be out of print but which is at least not quite as pricey).
You Don't Nomi is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of RLJE Films with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in a variety of aspect ratios, though as can be seen in several screenshots accompanying this review, with 1.78:1 offering the fullest use of a 16:9 display. This is another documentary that has been cobbled together from any number of different sources, and so a heterogeneous appearance was probably unavoidable. The many clips from Showgirls (in 2.40:1) look nicely sharp and well detailed, and they offer at times an almost lurid palette. There's really no on screen interview material at all, and so the rest of this documentary is culled from a huge glut of other films, including some Verhoeven outings, but also a bunch of other stuff ranging from the sublime (All About Eve ) to the ridiculous (Plan 9 from Outer Space). The bulk of the film clips actually look at least decent, and often quite good, but the same cannot be said of some of the archival video, including some pretty ragged looking sequences from Berkley's old Saved by the Bell series.
You Don't Nomi features a DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 track that probably attains its most noticeable surround activity in the musical sequences from Showgirls it features. Otherwise, this is a documentary driven by voiceover, and even when there are film snippets playing the background, whatever focal voice is speaking at the moment is mixed forward (as it should be), meaning immersive capabilities of the track definitely ebb and flow. Fidelity is fine throughout, though, and even some of the archival elements sound surprisingly spry.
There are no supplements offered on this Blu-ray disc.
You Don't Nomi is kind of ironically a reassessment of a reassessment of a reassessment of Showgirls, and as such any "conclusions" it comes to may be questionable, but it's still an invigorating documentary that covers a huge amount of material with a fair amount of efficiency. Technical merits are generally solid given an understanding that there's a huge variety of source material on display here, and You Don't Nomi comes Recommended.
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