Suture [Blu-ray]
(Scott McGehee, David Siegel, 1993)
Review by Gary Tooze
Production: Theatrical: Kino Korsakoff Video: Ar row Video
Disc: Region: FREE (as verified by the Oppo Blu-ray player) Runtime: 1:35:58.294 Disc Size: 48,813,279,934 bytes Feature Size: 30,096,122,304 bytes Video Bitrate: 37.95 Mbps Chapters: 13 Case: Standard Blu-ray case Release date: July 4th-5th, 2016
Video: Aspect ratio: 2.35:1 Resolution: 1080p / 23.976 fps Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC Video
Audio: LPCM Audio English 1536 kbps 2.0 / 48 kHz / 1536 kbps / 16-bit Commentary: Dolby Digital Audio English 192 kbps 2.0 / 48 kHz / 192 kbps
Subtitles: English (SDH), none
Extras: • Audio commentary with writer-directors David Siegel and Scott McGehee
•
Lacerations - The Making of
Suture (32:25) with
all-new interviews with
Siegel, McGehee, executive producer Steven Soderbergh, actor
Dennis Haysbert,
cinematographer Greg Gardiner, editor Lauren Zuckerman and
production designer Kelly McGehee Second disc DVD
Bitrate:
Description: A THRILLER WHERE NOTHING IS BLACK AND WHITE!
The Film: Suture, Scott McGehee and David Siegel's self-conscious exploration of identity and individuality, evokes a flashy remake of Edward D. Wood Jr.'s Jail Bait. Dennis Haysbert and Michael Harris play half-brothers Clay and Vincent Towers. Clay travels to Phoenix to meet with Vincent, whom he hasn't seen in years. Upon seeing one another, they are amazed at their resemblance to each other. Clay remarks, "Isn't it remarkable how much we look alike?" The problem is they look nothing alike: Clay is a black man who could pass for a Dallas Cowboys linebacker, while Vincent resembles Ralph Nader. Nevertheless, after their reunion, the characters in the film have trouble distinguishing between the two, which is good for Vincent. Responsible for a murder, Vincent decides to fake his own death by substituting Clay for himself -- since no one will notice the old switcheroo. Vincent arranges for Clay's body to be discovered in the aftermath of an automobile explosion. Then Vincent can flee and start a new life. Unfortunately for Vincent, Clay survives the accident. Swaddled in bandages and ointments, Clay is attended to by the beautiful Renee Descartes (Mel Harris), a plastic surgeon who busily reconstructs his face. At the same time, his psychiatrist Dr. Max Shimono (Sab Shimono) tries to reconstruct his memories. Before the healing process ends, Vincent tries to get to Clay and make sure that this time he really dies! Excerpt from MRQE located HEREVincent (Michael Harris), a wealthy sophisticate, and Clay (Haysbert), a construction worker, have met only once, at their father's funeral. So when Vincent asks his half-brother to visit him in Phoenix, Arizona, then disappears on a business trip, Clay is perplexed. But that's only the start of his worries. After dropping Vincent at the airport, the car Clay is driving explodes, leaving him burnt beyond recognition and with amnesia. Then, when psychoanalyst Shinoda (Shimono) and plastic surgeon Renée Descartes (Mel Harris) start piecing his mind and body together, as if they were (the now missing) Vincent's, Clay's enjoyment of his newly acquired riches is tempered by the fact that, as Vincent, he's suspected of murder. This first feature is a witty, imaginative noir thriller exploring questions of identity, memory, and the duality of mind and body. In this last respect, the seemingly perverse decision to have Vincent and Clay played, respectively, by a white and a black actor makes perfect sense, complementing the balanced ironies and structural antitheses of the narrative. Most impressive. Excerpt from TimeOut located HEREImage : NOTE: The below Blu-ray captures were taken directly from the Blu-ray disc.
This is the another Arrow Blu-ray release that is being simultaneously released in both region 'A' (US) and 'B' (UK). It is the exact same package on both sides of the pond to the best of our knowledge.
NOTE: As Michael Brooke informs us on Facebook in regards to Day of Anger: 'As the producer of Arrow's release, I can confirm first hand that the UK and US discs are absolutely identical: we only paid for one master, so there's no doubt about this at all! Which means that no matter which package you buy, the discs will play in any Region A or B setup (or Region 1 or 2 for DVD - and in the latter case the video standard is NTSC, to maximise compatibility). The booklets are also identical, but there are minor cosmetic differences on the disc labels and sleeve to do with differing copyright info and barcodes, and the US release doesn't have BBFC logos.' Suture the same situation.
Suture gets an impressive transfer to Blu-ray from Arrow. It is dual-layered with a max'ed out bitrate for the 1 1/2 hour feature. The black and white film has marvelous contrast and consistent textures supporting the presentation as extremely film-like. The 1080P is 'Director Approved' and in the original 2.35:1 frame. It's very clean with a no damage, speckles or scratches. This Blu-ray probably looks like exactly the theatrical version of the film. It provides an impressive video viewing.
CLICK EACH BLU-RAY CAPTURE TO SEE ALL IMAGES IN FULL 1920X1080 RESOLUTION
Audio :Audio is transferred via a faithful linear PCM 2.0 channel track at 1536 kbps in the original English. It's a fairly passive film with only a couple of more dramatic incidents (explosion, gunfire). The unique score is by Cary Berger - who has done mostly short films - but it does a good job of supporting the film in the uncompressed transfer. There are optional English (SDH) subtitles and my Oppo has identified it as being a region FREE.
Extras : Arrow include an audio commentary with writer-directors David Siegel and Scott McGehee plus a new 1/2 hour featurette entitled Lacerations - The Making of Suture with all-new interviews with Siegel, McGehee, executive producer Steven Soderbergh, actors Dennis Haysbert, Sab Shimono, cinematographer Greg Gardiner, editor Lauren Zuckerman and production designer Kelly McGehee and Kino Korsakoff. There are also three, short, deleted scenes with optional filmmaker's commentary. Birds Past is Siegel & McGehee's first short film, running 27-minutes - about two young San Franciscans who journey to Bodega Bay along the path set by Tippi Hedren in Hitchcock's classic, The Birds. We get both the US and European theatrical trailers and the package contains a reversible sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by maarko phntme A DVD is also included (NTSC for both packages) signifying it as 'Dual-Format'.
BOTTOM LINE: Gary Tooze July 17th, 2016
|
About the Reviewer: Hello, fellow Beavers! I have been interested in film since I viewed a Chaplin festival on PBS when I was around 9 years old. I credit DVD with expanding my horizons to fill an almost ravenous desire to seek out new film experiences. I currently own approximately 9500 DVDs and have reviewed over 5000 myself. I appreciate my discussion Listserv for furthering my film education and inspiring me to continue running DVDBeaver. Plus a healthy thanks to those who donate and use our Amazon links.
Although I never wanted to become one of those guys who
focused 'too much' on image and sound quality - I
find HD is swiftly pushing me in that direction. 60-Inch Class (59.58” Diagonal) 1080p Pioneer KURO Plasma Flat Panel HDTV PDP6020-FD
Oppo Digital BDP-83 Universal Region FREE Blu-ray/SACD
Player APC AV 1.5 kVA H Type Power Conditioner 120V Gary W. Tooze ALL OUR NEW FORMAT DVD REVIEWS
|