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Released by: Magnolia Films
Released on: September 11, 2012.
Director: Panos Cosmatos
Cast: Eva Allan, Michael Rogers, Scott Hylands
Year: 2010
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The Movie:
Written and directed by Canadian filmmaker Panos Cosmatos (the son of George Cosmota - he who gave us Rambo: First Blood Part II!) in 2010, Beyond The Black Rainbow is a trip. Yes, it can and will be impenetrable at times, leaving much open to interpretation and likely going over the heads of everyone who isn't Panos Cosmatos, but that's half the fun of a movie like this - seeing just what exactly you'll get out of it.
Set in 1983, the film introduces us to a scientist named Dr. Mercurio Arboria (Scott Hylands) who may or may not have psychic abilities who is holding a beautiful young woman named Elena (Eva Allan) hostage in his lab facility, The Arboria Institute. Elena is an orphan who has psychic powers of her own, thus the reason she's being kept and studied. Arboria's assistant, Barry Nyle (Michael Rogers), quickly begins to obsess over the heavily medicated Elena as he sits behind a glass wall and questions her in the name of science.
Nyle heads home one night where he lives with a woman who we assume is his lover, and Elena manages to escape the facility. When Nyle learns of his he grabs a knife and heads out after her, and the chase is on.
Some will see it as an exercise in style over substance, and there is some truth to that, but there's enough bizarre and possibly metaphoric style in the film that in some strange way it manages to become the substance. The story is minimalist at the best of times but the visuals are so strong and the use of color so intense that quickly becomes as much an experience as it is a traditional movie. Heavy on its arthouse leanings the film pulls from the work of surrealist filmmakers like Jodorowsky and Bunuel with hefty doses of seventies Argento thrown into the mix. The strange things that happen in the film, and there are plenty of them, do at least tie into the narrative and don't appear to be just weird for the sake of weird and while the film is slow, it's almost trancelike and if watched in the right frame of mind it becomes almost hypnotic.
The film's score, done almost entirely with a synthesizer and heavy on 'drone' more than actual rhythm, the performances are in keeping with the film's strange but deliberate aesthetic. Sometimes things are quite cold here, many of the characters show little to no emotion, but this serves the clinical tone that Cosmotas appears to have been going for. We feel enough for Elena to sympathize with her and that carries the story well enough for it to work. This is much more about the visuals, however, and if it's occasionally stagey Beyond The Black Rainbow is still such a beautiful look work of psychedelic horror and science fiction cinema that you can't help but be pulled into it.
Video/Audio/Extras:
Beyond The Black Rainbow looks just as it probably should on Blu-ray from Magnolia, framed at 2.40.1 widescreen and presented in AVC encoded 1080p high definition. Keeping in mind that this is far from a 'regular' movie, particularly as it pertains to the visuals, the image is strong. Colors are reproduced wonderfully and while detail will definitely vary from scene to scene depending on what the filmmakers are going for but overall it is impressive. There are no compression artifacts or noise reduction issues to note and while the movie has obviously been tweaked and played with a LOT, it does look very impressive in high definition.
Also impressive is the English language DTS-HD 5.1 Master Audio mix on the disc, which uses the surrounds very effectively throughout the movie to build some impressive atmosphere without burying the dialogue. The score comes through loud and clear without any problems and the levels are nicely balanced - the film does very interesting things with sound, and it's nice to see that the Blu-ray representation of the movie is definitely up to par in that regard. No alternate language options are available but subtitles are provided in English SDH and Spanish.
Extras are very slim on the disc, limited to one clip containing a deleted special effects sequence involving a melting head, a trailer for the feature, trailers for a few other Magnolia properties, menus and chapter stops.
The Final Word:
Beautifully bizarre and freakishly original, Beyond The Black Rainbow is just as likely to turn off some viewers as it is to entrance others, but if you're in the right frame of mind for it and appreciate the way that horror, science fiction and surrealism can mix, you'll find a lot to appreciate about it. Magnolia's Blu-ray roll out for the movie doesn't have a whole lot in the way of extra features but it looks and sounds fantastic and is well worth seeking out.
Click on the images below for full sized Blu-ray screen caps!
