ADDITION: (September 2018) Second Sight - Region 'B' - Blu-ray: Second Sight bring us Lech Kowalski's "D.O.A. - A Right of Passage" on a dual-layered Blu-ray. This documentary was shot in 16mm - hand held by Kowalski. The film is notable for 'chronicling the rise and fall of the punk movement' and the resulting explosion of youth culture with concert footage and a rare interview footage of Sid Vicious and Nancy Spungen. Some may recall director Lech Kowalski from the Criterion commentary on Sid and Nancy. The image quality is what it is - mostly dark and muddy - but brought up looking vérité via the higher resolution to be very watchable guerrilla filmmaking.

The Second Sight Blu-ray offer a linear PCM track in 2.0 channel mono (16-bit). There are live performances and music from The Sex Pistols (Holidays In The Sun, Bodies, Anarchy In The U.K., Pretty Vacant, New York, Liar and God Save The Queen) Terry and The Idiots, Dead Boys, Generation X, Rich Kids, X-Ray Spex, Sham 69 and additional music from The Clash and Iggy Pop but the audio quality is, predictably, modest - a function of the recording process. Punk bands typically produced short or fast-paced songs, with hard-edged melodies, hollering singing styles, bare instrumentation, and with shocking, political, anti-establishment lyrics. These expressions come through - via the lossless - even with the grassroots production limitations. There are optional English subtitles, with a funky colored font for the song lyrics (see sample below,) for the hard of hearing on this Region 'B'-locked Blu-ray.

There are some valuable supplements - notably the nearly 2-hour, 2017, documentary Dead on Arrival: The Punk Documentary That Almost Never Was produced by Richard Schenkman and featuring exclusive new interviews with Punk magazine founder and Ramones cover-artist John Holmstrom, co-director & music journalist Chris Salewicz, photographer Roberta Bayley, Sex Pistols’ historian Mick O’Shea, former Rich Kid guitarist Midge Ure and original D.O.A. crew members David King, Mary Killen, Rufus Standefer plus never-before-seen interview footage with Malcolm McLaren. It is described on IMDb as "in-depth look at the auspicious production of D.O.A. A Rite of Passage" and is transferred here in 1080p / 24 fps. Also included is the 27-minute D.O.A. – A Punk Post Mortem - a brand-new exclusive interview with co-director and music journalist Chris Salewicz. The package has a second disc DVD and a 16-page limited edition booklet written by Tim Murray with additional article by Phelim O’Neill.

D.O.A. impressively captures some dying moments of the punk subculture that was clinging to its aggressive distaste for the mainstream. It's a fascinating cultural journey for anyone - but will have an essential appeal for punk rock, and especially Sex Pistols, fans.  Second Sight present the film on Blu-ray with the productions 'warts and truth' in a fully stacked package with the extras. Surely a must-own for those involved, or fascinating spectators, of the movement.   

Gary Tooze