We have started a Patreon page with the hopes that some of our followers would be willing to donate a small amount to keep DVDBeaver alive. We are a tiny niche, so your generosity is vital to our existence.

We are talking about a minimum of $0.10 - $0.15 a day, perhaps a quarter (or more) to those who won't miss it from their budget. It equates to buying DVDBeaver a coffee once, twice or a few times a month. You can then participate in our monthly Silent auctions, and have exclusive access to many 'bonus' High Resolution screen captures - both 4K UHD and Blu-ray (see HERE).

To those that are unfamiliar, Patreon is a secure/verified third-party service where users can agree to a monthly donation via credit card or PayPal by clicking the button below.


 

Search DVDBeaver

S E A R C H    D V D B e a v e r

(aka 'Just Desserts' or 'Punchdrunk Knuckle Love' or 'Untitled P.T. Anderson Project' or 'The X-4 Project')

directed by Paul Thomas Anderson

USA 2002

During the press conference in Cannes after the screening of "Magnolia", Paul Thomas Anderson was asked, what his next project would be. The answer: "I'm gonna make a 80 minute comedy with Adam Sandler". Everyone laughed, but once he actually did, he had the last laugh.

To Paul Thomas Anderson, it was impossible to follow up on "
Magnolia". It was the most complex narrative he ever had written and in structure an advancement to both "Boogie Nights" and "Hard Eight". He felt trapped, he felt that he had reached a dead end, he felt stereotyped by the press as "the boy wonder who makes complex collective narratives". So in order to get away from the stereotype, to get some artistic creativity and freedom, Paul Thomas Anderson destroyed the path he was walking and made himself a new one with the help of friend Adam Sandler. Adam and Paul were close friends and had for some time been discussing a project together. Especially Adam Sandler would like to do serious acting and the timing was perfect for Paul Thomas Anderson.

Where the three former films all had fancy montages, he devised the mise-en-scene with cinematographer Robert Elswit to be deep compositions, attacking the integrity of the frame and the conventions of space. Using a special stock that is very sensitive to light, Elswit shot most of the film underexposed to give shadows more room to play. The cinematography and special composition in "Punch Drunk Love" is nothing less than stunning: And possible some of the most original and best cinematography to come out of Hollywood in years (Look at the grabs to view how Elswit and Anderson composed in space). It is also the first film by Paul Thomas Anderson, where he actively uses colors as here: Especially Blue and Red are worth a close examination.

The story is deceptive simple. Barry is sociophob and suffers from a few other emotional disorders as well, which he tries to keep at bay, when not being harassed by his seven sisters. One day he meets Lena and he falls in love. Now he just has to accept the emotion and win Lena's heart.

Once again, Paul Thomas Anderson demonstrates what great director he is. Alone that he manages to keep Sandler under control should say it all, but it is far more interesting to look at how wonderful he makes Emily Watson appear. Also the sequences where he uses overlapping dialogue are so free and natural. He was rightfully awarded for his efforts in Cannes, where he received the "Best Director" award.
out of

Henrik Sylow

Posters

Theatrical Release: 19 May 2002 (Cannes Film Festival) (premiere)

Reviews                                                                       More Reviews                                                  DVD Reviews

 

Comparison:

Columbia Tri-Star - Region 1 - NTSC vs. Criterion - Region 'A' + 'B' - Blu-ray

Columbia - Region 1 - NTSC LEFT

Criterion Region 'A' + 'B' - Blu-ray RIGHT

 

 Box Covers

 

   

Also available from Criterion on Blu-ray in the UK one week later:

Distribution

Columbia Tri-Star

Region 1 - NTSC

Criterion Collection - Spine # 843 - Region 'A' + 'B' - Blu-ray
Runtime 1:35:03 1:35:19.755
Video

2.35:1 Original Aspect Ratio

16X9 enhanced
Average Bitrate: 7.58 mb/s
NTSC 704x480 29.97 f/s

2.40:1 1080P / 23.976 fps Dual-layered Blu-ray

Disc Size: 46,207,788,529 bytes

Feature: 28,855,412,736 bytes

Video Bitrate: 34.77 Mbps

Codec: MPEG-4 AVC Video

NOTE: The Vertical axis represents the bits transferred per second. The Horizontal is the time in minutes

Bitrate:

.

Bitrate: Blu-ray

.

Audio 5.1 Dolby Digital English, 6.1 DTS English, 5.1 Dolby Digital French DTS-HD Master Audio English 3541 kbps 5.1 / 48 kHz / 3541 kbps / 24-bit (DTS Core: 5.1 / 48 kHz / 1509 kbps / 24-bit)
Subtitles English, French, None English (SDH), None
Features Release Information:
Studio: Columbia Tri-Star

Aspect Ratio:
Widescreen anamorphic - 2.35:1

Edition Details:
• 12 page art booklet
• 3 Theatrical trailers
• Deleted scenes
• Mattress Man commercial
• 12 Scopitones
• Additional artwork by Jeremy Blake

DVD Release Date: June 24, 2003
Custom Case (2 Disc)

Chapters 22

Release Information:
Studio: Criterion

 

2.40:1 1080P / 23.976 fps Dual-layered Blu-ray

Disc Size: 46,207,788,529 bytes

Feature: 28,855,412,736 bytes

Video Bitrate: 34.77 Mbps

Codec: MPEG-4 AVC Video


Edition Details:

• Blossoms & Blood, a short 2002 piece by Anderson featuring Adam Sandler and Emily Watson, along with music by Jon Brion (11:58)
• New interview with Brion (27:19)
• New piece featuring behind-the-scenes footage of a recording session for the film’s soundtrack (9:56)
• New conversation between curators Michael Connor and Lia Gangitano about the art of Jeremy Blake, used in the film (20:25)
• Additional artwork by Blake (2:42)
• Cannes Film Festival press conference from 2002 (37:43) Interviews at cannes (7:02)
• NBC News interview from 2000 with David Phillips, the “pudding guy” (5:04)
• Twelve Scopitones (6:20)
• Deleted scenes (The Sisters Call - 7:18,  "Are You From California - 2:23)
• Mattress Man commercial (0:52)
• Trailers (theatrical - 2:27, Jeremy's Blake's Love - 1:24, Eat Tomorrow - 0:33)
• PLUS: An essay by filmmaker, author, and artist Miranda July


Blu-ray Release Date:
November 15th + 21st, 2016
Transparent Blu-ray Case

Chapters 10

 

 

 

Comments

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

ADDITION: Criterion Region 'A' - Blu-ray - October 2016: Criterion's 1080P transfer is "supervised by director Paul Thomas Anderson". It's a textbook improvement across the board with the richness of the colors (Barry's blue jacket) standing out prominently as a huge example of the higher resolution superiority. Skin tones warm. Detail significantly tightens and there is now depth to the visuals. It looks fabulous on a dual-layered disc with a max'ed out bitrate.

For the audio Criterion use a robust DTS-HD Master 5.1 surround at 3541 kbps (24-bit) and the film's effects are deep and dialogue crisp and even. The addictive score by Jon Brion (Synecdoche, New York, Andersons Magnolia and Hard Eight) sounds tremendous in the lossless. The film's music is augmented by Ladies K performing Waikiki, the frequent refrain of He Needs Me performed by Shelley Duvall and Conway Twitty's Danny (Lonely Blue Boy). There are optional English (SDH) subtitles on the Region 'A' Blu-ray disc - but this is being released in region 'B' Blu-ray one week later.

Blossoms & Blood is a 12-minute short 2002 piece by Anderson featuring Adam Sandler and Emily Watson, along with music by Jon Brion with plenty of Jeremy Blake digital art. There is a new 27-minute interview with composer Jon Brion and also presented is 10-minutes of footage from one of the orchestra recording sessions for Brion's score. There is a new 20-minute conversation between curators Michael Connor and Lia Gangitano about the art of Jeremy Blake, used in the film . Blake (1971-2997) was a noted digital artist and painter, who created the abstract imagery featured in Punch-Drunk Love. In the conversation bewteen Connor and Gangitano they discuss Blake's work on the film and his career as a whole. Also presented are some additional artwork Blake created for Punch-Drunk Love that runs as a slideshow for under 3-minutes. We get the interesting Cannes Film Festival press conference from 2002 (37:43) and 7-minutes of group interviews with Sandler, Watson, Hoffman and Anderson. Repeated from the 2003 DVD release is the 5-minute NBC News interview from 2000 with David Phillips, the “pudding guy”, the Twelve Scopitones, 2 deleted scenes (The Sisters Call - 7:18, "Are You From California" - 2:23) and the Mattress Man commercial with Hoffman. There are trailers and the package has a liner notes booklet with an essay by filmmaker, author, and artist Miranda July.

I've been re-watching and talking about Punch-Drunk Love for 10 years. I've shown it to dozens of friends. It's such a quirky masterpiece. Brilliant filmmaking by Anderson and this Blu-ray package is surely a must-own for film fans. Our highest recommendation! 

***

ON THE DVD: While the Superbit DVD as always is perfect in sound and vision, especially the DTS track is nothing less than amazing, this DVD is simply to weak. As a 2 Disc SE, one would expect more than 3 trailers, a 14 minute featurette and a few deleted scenes to fill out an entire DVD. Where we have grown accustomed to warm and intelligent audio commentaries from PTA, we get nothing here.

Get the single Disc edition, which is the exact same as Disc 1 and save $10, unless you want everything this Superbit DVD has to offer.

 - Henrik Sylow

 


DVD Menus

 

 

Criterion Region 'A' + 'B' - Blu-ray


 


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

 

Screen Captures

 

Columbia - Region 1 - NTSC TOP

Criterion Region 'A' + 'B' - Blu-ray BOTTOM

 


Columbia - Region 1 - NTSC TOP

Criterion Region 'A' + 'B' - Blu-ray BOTTOM

 


Columbia - Region 1 - NTSC TOP

Criterion Region 'A' + 'B' - Blu-ray BOTTOM

 


Columbia - Region 1 - NTSC TOP

Criterion Region 'A' + 'B' - Blu-ray BOTTOM

 


Columbia - Region 1 - NTSC TOP

Criterion Region 'A' + 'B' - Blu-ray BOTTOM

 


Columbia - Region 1 - NTSC TOP

Criterion Region 'A' + 'B' - Blu-ray BOTTOM

 

 

More Blu-ray Captures

 

 

 Box Covers

 

   

Also available from Criterion on Blu-ray in the UK one week later:

Distribution

Columbia Tri-Star

Region 1 - NTSC

Criterion Collection - Spine # 843 - Region 'A' + 'B' - Blu-ray

 


 




Hit Counter


 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

DONATIONS Keep DVDBeaver alive:

 CLICK PayPal logo to donate!

Gary Tooze

Thank You!