Stars:
Willem Dafoe, Susan Sarandon, Dana Delany, David Clennon, Mary Beth Hurt, David
Spade, and Sam Rockwell
Writer:
Paul Schrader
Director:
Paul Schrader
Feature
length: 103 minutes
Languages:
English Dolby Surround 2.0
Subtitles:
English Closed Captions
Packaging:
Keep Case
Chapter
Stops: 29
Sound:
Dolby Stereo Surround Sound
Year
of Theatrical Release: 1991/DVD Release: 2002
Home
Video Distributor: Artisan Home Entertainment
MPAA
Rating: R
Reviewer:
Mark A. Rivera
Willem
Dafoe gives a great performance as John LeTour, a drug dealer working for a
woman (Susan Sarandon) who is going legitimate. Faced with the prospect of
taking a straight job, John becomes all the more conscientious as he tries to
figure how he will tie up loose ends, make amends for past mistakes, and find
direction in his life on the gritty streets of New York. Along the way he
becomes associated with the homicide of a woman he was once close to and
believes was murdered by one of his clients. Between the police cracking down on
his business and his own life spiraling out of his control, he resolves to try
and redeem himself one way or the other and at a high cost.
Paul
Schrader does a fine job emulating the mean streets of early 1990s New York City
and gets great performances from his entire cast. Though this is a dark film, it
has an edge to it that makes it standout from the crowd and I personally think
it is a very good film.
Unfortunately
Artisan Home Entertainment has done little to make this DVD worth seeing because
it has one of the worst transfers I have seen this year. Full of grain and
noise, I think anyone who even rents this film will be terribly disappointed by
the transfer, which is presented in the (1.33:1) aspect ratio in which the film
was shot. At least that is what the packaging states, but whether or not a
matted widescreen presentation would have been preferred, the fact is that this
film looks terrible on this DVD. An English Dolby Surround 2.0 and English
Closed Captions are encoded.
The
main menu is animated, but there are no extra features on this DVD. Not even a
trailer is included. I have to wonder why anyone would bother with making an
animated menu when the picture quality is so poor?
I
wish I could recommend this DVD, but I can’t. I do recommend seeing the film.
It is just a shame a better transfer was not created for this DVD release.
©
Copyright 2002 By Mark A. Rivera
All Rights Reserved.