Review by Gary Tooze

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Description: In this modern day re-imagining of Sleeping Beauty, a disillusioned musician named Robert (Zalman King) obtains a carnival act from a sleazy carny and brings home a young girl (Tisa Farrow) who has been asleep for many years. After bringing her to his secluded castle and awakening her with a kiss, Robert tries to introduce her to his strange and magical world, but as their relationship develops Jennifer begins to pine for a life that is more complex than Robert can offer.

Director James B. Harris (Cop, Fast Walking) combines magical realism with sumptuous visuals by cinematographer Mario Tosi (Carrie, The Stunt Man) and a haunting score by Richard Hazzard (Xanadu, Terms of Endearment) to create a poetic love story like no other. Etiquette Pictures brings this forgotten masterpiece to Blu-ray and DVD for the very first time, in a new, Director & Cinematographer approved 2K restoration from the 35mm camera negative.

 

 

The Film:

Excerpt from TV Guide located HERE

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

Some Call It Loving comes to Blu-ray from Etiquette Pictures which seems to have some relationships with the chaps at Vinegar Syndrome - who are frequently releasing curious titles to 1080P. Likewise, this is a very clandestine film, perhaps unfairly dismissed initially but a highly interesting work to explore - now 40 years later. It's modest budget, and age, belies the visual quality - adeptly transferred via a dual-layered disc with a supportive bitrate. The presentation attributes include the heavy textures (plenty of consistent grain) and deeper, richer colors than SD could relate although there may be some shifting and less-noticeable bleeding. The image is a shade inconsistent improving quite a bit as the film runs and the outdoor sequences show some depth. This Blu-ray image seems to be a reasonable facsimile of what it was probably like theatrically and I found the heavy textures quite, film-like, and appealing. It is described as a "Director & Cinematographer approved 2K restoration from the 35mm camera negative."

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

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The film's audio is fairly unremarkable but transferred via a DTS-HD Master 1.0 channel mono track at 1077 kbps. The scattering of the dialogue is more in-line with the production limitations and the score by Richard Hazard (Bela Lugosi Meets a Brooklyn Gorilla - an extra on Grindhouse Releasing's Massacre Mafia Style) is passive, for the most part. There is other music; the Sleeping Beauty theme by Bob Harris and you will catch some of Nat 'King' Cole's The Very Thought of You. My Oppo has identified it as being a region FREE disc playable on Blu-ray machines worldwide.

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BOTTOM LINE:
On the surface Some Call It Loving doesn't seem to offer much - but looking deeper I can see this has some very interesting themes explored.  It may be advantageous to see it all as a dream about innocence, maturity, desire etc. I wouldn't day it's a masterpiece but it does deserve at least a few spins to capture the subtext's essence. The Etiquette Pictures Blu-ray has value, if primarily to see the film. It won't be on any 'demo' lists for the a/v but it probably won't look any better than it does. I think a significant number of people will appreciate what Harris was attempting - and, in many respects, achieving. Recommended! 

Gary Tooze

July 6th, 2015