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Released by: Cinema Epoch
Released on: 1/25/2011
Director: Gregory Hatanaka
Cast: Silvia Suvadova, Jesse Hlubik, Nick Mancuso
Year: 2011
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The Movie:
Written and directed by Gregory Hatanaka, the man behind Mad Cowgirl, 2011's Violent Blue stars Silvia Suvadova as a music teacher named Katrina who comes across an unfinished piece of music that she adapts and hopes to finish. Along for the ride is Katrina's brother, a scientist/inventor type who helps his sister do what she can creatively, while complicating things is the presence of Katrina's ex-husband, Pietro, a man with some serious issues he needs to work out.
Going into much more detail would not only be difficult, given the abstract nature of the storytelling techniques employed in this film, but also ruin a good bit of the surprises that the picture holds in store, so in order to prevent both spoilers and brain strain, we'll leave the synopsis at that. Violent Blue is a pretty odd film full of bizarre sexually charged imagery and tonal shifts that will, if nothing else, hold your interest.
At over two hours in length, the picture does overstay its welcome and could have easily been trimmed of a few minutes here and there without sacrificing much in the way of quality, story or depth but that complaint aside, Hatanaka has crafted an interesting movie. As we watch the three core characters play through their own respective obsessions and witness them becoming further entrenched in them, things start to get… weird. Very weird. But never boring - there's too much sex and nudity and random weirdness for the movie to fall prey to that cardinal sin.
With all of this mad visual playtime occurring on screen, Hatanaka's choice to set it all to classical music provides a nice contrast what with the soothing music colliding with the debauchery on screen and all. The film also plays with different languages, moving from English to Polish and Czech and back again more than once and throwing us for a loop in the process. Visually and aurally, the film is quite well put together. The performances, however, aren't quite as consistent, though this again works to keep the film erratic, and you have to wonder if some of the awkwardness present in some of the work that the actors and actresses put up there on the screen is intentional.
Periodically disjointed but consistent in that it manages to hold your attention even at times where you might not want it too, Violent Blue gets points for trying to push the narrative envelope a bit. Very obviously influenced by Kubrick and Lynch, the film owes somewhat of a debt to what came before it, but those with an appreciation for the weird side of arthouse cinema ought to give this one a look.
Video/Audio/Extras:
Violent Blue looks good in this 2.35.1 anamorphic widescreen presentation. Though made with a modest budget the film shows good attention to detail and reasonable production values which lets the competent filmmaking behind the production shine through. Detail is probably about as good as the source will allow and while some minor compression artifacts pop up here and there, that's really the only complain. Colors look pretty solid as do skin tones and there's not much room for complaint.
The English language Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound mix, which features bits spoken in other Eastern European languages from time to time, comes with optional English subtitles. Some rear channel activity makes some of the more active scenes more interesting than they might be otherwise and the levels are well balanced throughout.
The most interesting extras on the disc are the interviews and while writer/director Hatanaka is nowhere to be found, actors Silvia Suvadova, Andrea Harrison, Jesse Hlubik, Nick Mancuso, Barry O'Rourke and producer Clinton H. Wallace are on hand to give a fairly well rounded look into the making of the film. The emphasis in the interviews is on the characters and there's some good insight here.
A trio of deleted scenes is also included, though without much context or reason as to why they were eliminated, and a couple of quick behind the scenes featurettes are also found on the disc. Rounding out the extras are promos for other Cinema Epoch releases, a still gallery, a trailer for the feature and for Hatanaka's earlier Mad Cowgirl, menus and chapter stops. A commentary would have been most welcome here, but that didn't happen. Still, there's some good supplemental material here that's actually worth checking out.
The Final Word:
If not completely successful with every attempt at experimentation, Violent Blue gets enough right to make it worth a watch for those looking for something a bit removed from linear and mainstream. Cinema Epoch's DVD is a pretty strong one, with a fine transfer and a good collection of extra features which compliment a an interesting, if unnecessarily lengthy, original piece of work.
