Review by Gary Tooze

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THE FIRST FIVE FILMS BY HELENE CATTET & BRUNO FORZANI (WITH INTRODUCTORY NOTES FROM THE FILMMAKERS)
• CATHARSIS (2001 - 3:02 in 480i)
• CHAMBRE JAUNE (2002 - 7:38 in 480i)
• LA FIN DE NOTRE AMOUR(2003 - 9:56 in 480i)
• L’ETRANGE PORTRAIT DE LE DAME EN JAUNE (2004 - 5:34 in 480i)
• SANTOS PALACE (2006 - 15:00 in 480i)
TWO THEATRICAL TRAILERS (1:03 in 1080P + :50 in 480i)
ONE THEATRICAL TEASER (:27 in 480i)

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Description: An eroticized homage to 1970s Italian giallo horror films… Hélène Cattet and Bruno Forzani’s pastiche tour-de-force plays out a delirious, enigmatic, almost wordless death-dance of fear and desire. Its three movements, each in a different style, correspond to the childhood, adolescence, and adulthood of its female protagonist. Drawing its stylized, hyperbolic gestures from the playbooks of Bava, Leone, Argento and De Palma and taking them into a realm of near-abstraction. Amer has genre in the blood. Its bold widescreen composition, super-focused sound and emphatic music (lifted from original giallo soundtracks), and razor-sharp cuts make for an outrageous and intoxicating cinematic head-trip. Featuring music from composers Stelvio Cipriani, Bruno Nicolai and the legendary Ennio Morricone.

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Three decisive episodes define Ana's life--all of them of a sensual nature. When she is a young girl, she has her first... confrontation with the world of adults. Ana brings her dead grandfather back to life and her parents make love. In puberty, she discovers the terrifying power of decay and sexuality. And in the final episode, she wrestles with loss, death and loneliness when she returns to her parents' home, now derelict.

 

 

The Film:

Excerpt from David Graham at Eye for Film located HERE

Image :    NOTE: The below Blu-ray captures were taken directly from the Blu-ray disc.

Amer has plenty of eye close-ups and unique visuals that are definitely benefited by the Blu-ray transfer from Olive films.  This is only single-layered but detail can have impressive moments in 1080P. There is good grain and a bit more noise than I would appreciate but overall the image is acceptable - buoyed by the cinematography and intriguing shots. This Blu-ray seems to be faithfully reporting the film's visual attributes without any digital manipulation that I can determine. There is some interesting tinting and colors are not unnaturally vibrant. This Blu-ray probably looks like the film Amer or as close as we are likely to find for our home theater. It is not crisp or pristine but supports the stylistic film's textures well enough to provide a better-than-average presentation.

CLICK EACH BLU-RAY CAPTURE TO SEE ALL IMAGES IN FULL 1920X1080 RESOLUTION

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We get two tracks - both DTS-HD Master in original French - one 5.1 at1987 kbps and a, more staid, 2.0 channel at 1566 kbps. There area couple of surprising separations but the Ennio Morricone et all score was the most defining in establishing the film's Giallo moods. I'm no expert on the genre but I definitely had some Deja-vu by hearing the score. There is some depth and tightness in the higher end - but generally it sounds wonderful. There are non-removable English subtitles and my Momitsu has identified it as being a region FREE disc playable on Blu-ray machines worldwide.

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BOTTOM LINE:
This is kinda cool - it began to irritate me after a fashion - and then I wanted it to continue endlessly. Amer is definitely an acquired taste that those with Giallo leanings will probably appreciate much more. The eroticism sneaks up on you and the, very visual, film speaks volumes at its genre-homage core. It is certainly unique and for that I give it credit. Those with more mainstream tastes should probably steer clear. Others may wish to give this Blu-ray an enthusiastic spin one late night! 

Gary Tooze

September 22nd, 2011