More about this DVD  •  DVD Info  •  Movie Main Page  •  Message Board

This film reminds me of others, not in tone or content, but in the artful imagination of lovely images, of fantasy, of surrealism. Perhaps The Cell or What Dreams May Come begin to approach the visual creativity of director Tarsem Singh’s visions. It was filmed over the course of four years in many international locations including India, the Andaman Islands in the South Pacific, Argentina, Bali in Indonesia, Brazil, Cambodia, Cape Town in South Africa, Prague in the Czech Republic, Chile, China, Egypt, Fiji, the Himalayas in Nepal, Hollywood, Italy, Maldives, Namibia, Paris, Romania, and Turkey. I can’t imagine the cost, and the production investment isn’t listed on the IMDB.

The film works on several levels. It’s the story of a heartbroken and physically injured Hollywood stuntman, Roy Walker (Lee Pace, who has gone on to star in a very entertaining television series that also has surrealistic elements, Pushing Daisies). Depressed, he manipulates a six-year old girl named Alexandria (Catinca Untaru), a fellow hospital patient with a difficult to recognize accent (it’s Romanian), into stealing morphine for him from the dispensary. He charms her with a complex tale of despotism, revenge, love, betrayal, death, and high adventure.

The cast of Walker’s characters includes the Bandit (Lee Pace - each actor plays a dual role, one in the real world and one in Walker’s fantasy), a bomb-throwing Italian anarchist named Luigi (Robin Smith), the evolutionist Darwin (Leo Bill) with a knapsack full of a monkey named Wallace, escaped African slave Otta Benga (Marcus Wesley), and the Indian warrior (Jeetu Verma). Each has been terribly wronged by a cruel tyrant named Governor Odious (Daniel Caltagirone). And each has sworn to track Odious down and kill him. So odious is Odious that the Earth itself wishes him gone.

The real- world timeframe is early in the Twentieth Century when silent film reigns. Walker’s bedridden in a Hollywood hospital with a spinal injury from a high fall gag; it’s not clear that this stuntman will ever work again. But that’s not what’s upsetting him. He was injured on a film that stars a matinee idol named Sinclair (Daniel Caltagirone) and the actor stole Walker’s girl.

Alexandria works in a nearby orchard, and she broke her arm in a fall from a ladder while picking oranges. Walker spins adventurers for her that seem to transcend geography and time. As the images shift from the mundane hospital to vast and colorful vistas, we hear his story, but see what Alexandria visualizes in her furtive imagination. She can only imagine what she can draw from her experiences and knowledge, so when Walker talks of an Indian, he means a Native American; Alexandria imagines someone from India. And since a child’s imagination can be wondrous and vivid, the images we see are remarkably exotic and colorful.

As Walker’s tale begins, Odious has stranded them on a desert island; they manage to escape on a conveniently passing swimming elephant. Once on shore, they discover that a lush forest has been burnt to the ground by the tyrant. And when an Earth Mystic (Julian Bleach), hears of their quest, he immerges from the trunk of a scorched tree, protecting displaced birds within his wiry frame, to join their quest. They travel to exotic locations, all conveniently within range of their horses. They battle the tyrant’s warrior army. They rescue a princess (Justine Waddell) and the attraction between the Bandit and the Princess is palpable. But the tale turns darker as Walker’s despair becomes more desperate; only then does Alexandria understand what is really at stake.

The young Romanian actress Catinca Untaru is chubby, vulnerable, and sweet. The supplements reveal the director drawing an emotional performance from a child who, at times, must have been quite bewildered. I like Lee Pace in Pushing Daisies and I like him here. He’s believable in his dual role, and perfectly transforms hope into despair in both worlds.

It is difficult to describe in a brief review the remarkable imagery that seems to have been created, not for the limitations of the motion picture theater, but for the revealing and exhaustive detail made possible by Blu-ray Disc. Many scenes are works of art, evoking Dali or Escher. Even if you don’t fully appreciate the storyline, this is a film that should be seen purely for its esthetics.

The Video: How Does The Disc Look?

The film’s theatrical aspect ratio of 1.85:1 is presented in a fantastic looking high definition transfer compressed with the AVC video CODEC. There are two palettes at work. The hospital is devoid of vivid color with its beige walls and dark doors and woodwork. The fantasy world, however, is hyper-real, with remarkably vivid primary colors (red, in particular). Flesh tones are natural in both worlds. Director Tarsem Singh and his cinematographer Colin Watkinson fill the fantasy frames with stunning natural vistas and beautiful manmade architecture. Finely grained texture, like within the intricate costumes, and small object detail, like the limbs of people walking on a desert in a very long shot, are impressively clear. The video dynamic range is spot-on, with no crush on either end. I didn’t notice any artifacts or edge halos, just splendid, spellbinding images.

The Audio: How Does The Disc Sound?

The lossless Dolby TrueHD 5.1 track is delightful. When in the hospital, the surround field tends to collapse toward the front of the theater, but in the fantasy world, the viewer is immersed in ambient, directional, and discrete sounds. Enable EX dematrixing for the best possible presentation. The charming score by Krishna Levy is reproduced with persuasive fidelity across a broad soundstage widened with leaks into the surrounds. Deep bass is present, from pounding hooves to an impressive explosion. Sound effects have quick attack times and great dynamic range. I was impressed with more subtle sounds, like the timbre of Catinca Untaru’s tiny voice. Actually, all dialog is distortion-free and always understandable despite a variety of accents. Nicely done.

The optional subtitles are in English SDH, English, and French.

The Supplements: What Goodies Are There?

Let’s begin with two deleted scenes: Lost (0:49, 1.85, HD); and, The Good/Bad Priest (0:55, 1.85, HD). The first is redundant and therefore not required; the second telegraphs a little plot twist and had to go.

Behind-the-Scenes Featurettes is divided into two sections: Wanderlust (28:13, 1.33:1, SD); and, Nostalgia (30:01, 1.33:1, SD). The first is a narration-free short that is a collection of behind-the- scenes vignettes showing the director at work from delivering an elephant to motivating his players. We see the crew at play and at work. Although it’s interesting to watch the director interact with his adult performers, perhaps even more interesting is how he draws a performance from his six-year old star. Also of interest are the candid shots in exotic locations.

The second short seems to be more of the same, but the emphasis is on costumes, fight choreography, stunts, set design, props, and action. Cross-cutting creates an odd, surrealistic effect that parallels the disorienting nature of the film. And everywhere there are masses of people, observers and the curious, who must be herded out of the way before the cameras can roll.

The Photo Gallery requires a slow BD-J load, and then you’ll be able to navigate manually through an extensive collection of high definition stills. Alas, they don’t occupy the entire screen, so resolution and detail are sacrificed. I thought I had the latest firmware (3.85) in my Sony BDP-S1, but I couldn’t navigate to the Return button; I had to press Top Menu on my remote control. A quick Web search revealed that Sony has issued firmware level 4.1 for my player. Be aware that this disc may require you to update your firmware.

Previews offers a collection of HD trailers: a BD Promo; Resident Evil: Deconstruction; Starship Troopers 3: Marauders; Southland Tales; Damages Season 1; Redbelt; 88 Minutes; and, When Did You Last See Your Father.

The disc is BD Live enabled and has the familiar bookmark feature for random access of favorite scenes. And that leaves two commentaries, one by cowriter/director Tarsem, and the other by Lee Pace, producer/cowriter Nico Soultanakis, and writer Dan Gilroy.

The 117-minute film is organized into sixteen chapters.

Final Thoughts

This is wonderful eye candy with a credible emotional foundation. The visual density is striking and the presentation is splendid. Add an informative selection of supplements and we have a winner. This film was all but ignored when it was released to the motion picture theaters; it earned less than $2.25 million domestically. The film deserved a better reception and it should be seen.