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The Movie:
Over the years, I've liked and loved countless pictures, but there have only been a select group of films that have really "floored" me and have had an impact. One of them is Matthieu Kassovitz's 1995 black & white French drama "La Haine", an intense and strongly acted drama about three friends living in the ghettos of Paris. Ever since I've been watching DVD, I've been attempting to track down who plans to release this film to the Region 1, but no one has, yet. Ever since seeing that film, I've been looking forward to seeing more of the director's work. Although I still haven't been able to see his 1997 "Assassins", I was thrilled to learn that he would be paired with the brilliant cinematographer Thierry Arbogast for his next picture, "The Crimson Rivers".
"Rivers" stars Jean Reno ("The Professional") as investigator Pierre Niemans, who, as the film opens, has traveled to a university town in the Alps to investigate a murder. The investigator begins to hang around the school, which seems to be just a little off. Miles away, Kerkerian (Vincent Cassel, who was wonderful in "La Haine") is investigating the desecration of a grave. The clues that he comes up with eventually lead him in the exact same direction and place as Niemans.
The film does a fine job avoiding the cliches of the genre that it could have found itself using. I quite enjoyed the fact that the two different officers were allowed to build up their characters separarely than to have the film be another "buddy cop" drama. Even when the two are brought together, the performances and dialogue keep things from feeling as if they're going over familiar territory.
One of the film's biggest advantages is the atmosphere. Kassovitz and cinematographer Arbogast ("The 5th Element", "Kiss of the Dragon") have turned what is otherwise attractive, snowy scenery into an utterly foreboding landscape that seems eerily beautiful, isolated and haunting at the same time. The interiors of the school have also been presented masterfully, with rich, dark colors and creepy shadows. While the first half of the film is certainly not action-oriented and dialogue-focused, the atmosphere is so thick and gloomy that it builds tension marvelously. Also doing a fine job of asssisting matters are Bruno Coulasis's elegant score and Maryline Monthieux's smooth editing.
Yet, the film really starts to move strongly in its second half. Combined with the already remarkable atmosphere are several tense action sequences, such as a sequence where Reno's character is lead down into a glacier to investigate a possible clue or a well-filmed nighttime car chase through the mountains. In fact, the only places that Kassovitz slips up are a scene that attempts to use the soundtrack to turn a fight sequence into some sort of video game and the ending, which is like something out of "Vertical Limit".
Still, these two minor concerns are hardly much to hold again what is otherwise a film with two fantastic lead performances, solid tension and drama as well as marvelous cinematography. While not as remarkable an effort as the gritty "La Haine" (which won "Best Director" at Cannes and "Best Film" at the Caesar awards), "The Crimson Rivers" is a scary and well-done thriller.
The DVD
VIDEO: Columbia/Tristar presents "The Crimson Rivers" in 2.35:1 anamorphic widescreen on this edition. The fine transfer highlights one of the film's stars wonderfully, which is Arbogast's gorgeous widescreen photography. Sharpness and detail are generally solid; the film didn't appear overly sharp, but didn't appear soft, either. It simply presented a consistently smooth image, even in some of the dark or dimly lit moments.
There were extremely few flaws throughout the presentation on this nice effort from the studio. Print flaws were few and far between, with only a couple of speckles throughout the film. A trace or two of pixelation was seen, but the film remained free of edge enhancement or any other problems.
Colors remained subdued throughout the film, with the earthy brown tones of the interiors and the crisp, cold exteriors looking accurate, with no flaws. Flesh tones appeared natural, as well. This is a very nice transfer, doing justice to the extraordinary cinematography.
SOUND: The film is offered in both English (dubbed, but fairly good for a dubbed version) and French Dolby Digital 5.1. The film's audio is exceptionally good, using sound to create nearly create as much tension as the visuals do. Ambient sounds like water dripping really add nicely to the proceedings. Surrounds come into play well for the stellar score and the occasional ambient sounds, as well as some louder sound effects at times. Audio quality was generally stellar, as ambient sounds came through convincingly and the score sounded rich and dynamic. The Fremch version of the DVD offered a DTS soundtrack, which would have been a nice addition here, as non-French speaking viewers could have watched the French DTS version in combination with the subtitles.
MENUS:: Well-animated and haunting main menu that has clips from the movie with film-themed animation in the background.
EXTRAS::
Commentary: This is a commentary from director Matthieu Kassovitz and members of the cast. I was certainly looking forward to a commentary from the director, but there's one problem here - the commentary is in French and not subtitled. After the studio subtitled the Japanese commentary for "Final Fantasy", I was suprised and dissapointed they didn't provided subtitles for this track.
NOTE: Columbia/Tristar have indicated that they will be issuing new editions of this title with included subtitles for the commentary track. Unfortunately, no date has been set for these "fixed" editions, or how exchanges will be made.
The Investigation: A very good 50 minute "making of" documentary, also in French (although at least this is subtitled!), this provides interviews with the director, cast, crew and the author of the novel, who talk in very honest terms about the film's production, with such facts as the film started production with an unfinished screenplay, as Kassovitz wanted to film in the Winter. The documentary also discusses and occasionally shows elements and story ideas that were planned, but not used and why they never made it into the finished film. The interviews are extremely interesting, especially Reno's statements about his concerns around the story and his character.
Post Mortem: This section offers three featurettes that take a look into the making of and elements that had to come together to attempt to make three scenes ("Corpse", "Car Chase", "Mountain Sequence") successful. Interviews and visual elements such as storyboards are displayed.
Also: Filmographies and theatrical trailer. This region 1 release leaves out featurettes and other supplements that the Region 2 edition (which is 2 DVDs) contains.
Final Thoughts: Those who are fans of similar works in the genre should definitely take a look at "The Crimson Rivers", a chilling and powerfully acted film from Kassovitz, cast and crew. Columbia/Tristar's DVD provides strong audio/video quality, but it's unfortunate that the disc's main supplement can't be enjoyed by anyone who doesn't speak French. Still, recommended.
Film Grade
The Film *** 1/2
DVD Grades
Video 92/A = (368/400 possible points)
Audio: 88/B = (352/400 possible points)
Extras: 83/B = (249/300 possible points)
Menus: 85/B = (170/200 possible points)
Value: 83/B = (249/300 possible points)
TOTAL POINTS:1388/1600
DVD GRADE:B/86%
FILM GRADE: *** 1/2
DVD GRADE: B
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