The Longest Week Blu-ray Review

"The Longest Week" on Blu-ray, presented by 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment, utilizes an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in a 1.85:1 aspect ratio. The film’s deliberately desaturated, autumnal-to-wintry palette sets a distinct mood, creating a sharp and well-detailed image, though it's not particularly colorful. Flesh tones are somewhat pallid, maintaining the thematic consistency, and the interior scenes oscillate between bland whites and beiges or the more subdued browns and blacks typical of clubs. Fine detail shines through in close-ups, such as Beatrice's slight cheek scar in an early subway scene, with director Peter Glanz and DP Ben Kutchins occasionally experimenting with color grading to highlight flashbacks with a blue-green tint.

However, the 1080p/AVC MPEG-4 encode does present several challenges in maintaining the integrity of the movie's grainy 35mm aesthetic. Though the reduced disc size is a limitation, it leads to random softness and reduced resolution in certain scenes that appear zoomed and cropped. These directorial decisions detract somewhat but are not considered transfer flaws. Compression artifacts, including banding, aliasing, and faint digital noise, intermittently mar the viewing experience. Black levels often suffer from crushing, detracting from depth in darker scenes.

Nevertheless, remarkable features persist amidst these issues. The celluloid grain complements the film’s style and mood, with muted colors occasionally giving way to vibrant reds that pop vividly. When focus is maintained, the detail is impressive—every minor imperfection on Olivia Wilde's complexion is visible, and strands of her hair appear individually defined. Despite its technical imperfections, if "The Longest Week" had been placed on a BD-50 with consistent detail throughout, it could have been classified as a visually stunning Blu-ray release.

The Longest Week's lossless DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 mix offers a generally wide soundstage, effectively enhancing Jay Israelson's jazz-tinged score that echoes Woody Allen's style and heavily utilizes standards like "Moonlight Becomes You". While the music delivers a pleasant listening experience, it lacks significant dynamics and tends to rely predominantly on front channels. Surround activity within the audio mix is somewhat limited, often confined to ambient crowd noises in scenes such as the large benefit event where characters Dylan and Conrad meet Beatrice. These surround elements, although present, do not significantly contribute to an immersive experience.

Narration by Pine is clearly prioritized, resonating warmly from the center channel, ensuring that no narrative detail is lost even amidst other audio elements. Dialogue throughout the film is presented with clarity and cleanliness, with no noticeable damage or pressing issues. However, there are some inconsistencies; for instance, during Conrad's initial meeting with his shrink, the vocal levels are unnaturally loud without being distorted. On other occasions, dialogue can appear slightly murky, affected by environmental echoes typical of low-budget indie productions. Despite these issues, certain scenes, like a speech in a grand hall, effectively use reverb to blend well into the surround channels.

Effects mixing is largely front-heavy, placing sounds such as passing cars and New York City street ambiance centrally rather than distributing them across the surround speakers. This front-focused approach makes the sparse moments where the surround channels do engage stand out more noticeably. Overall, while the audio track performs adequately and maintains clarity in critical areas such as dialogue and narration, it underutilizes surround capabilities and could benefit from improved dynamic range and more immersive effects placement.

The Blu-ray edition of "The Longest Week" offers a robust collection of extras that enrich the viewing experience, particularly for those interested in the production aspects of indie filmmaking. "The Making of The Longest Week" is an insightful featurette that exceeds expectations for a small indie film, providing comprehensive cast and filmmaker interviews, behind-the-scenes footage, and discussions about the film's inspiration and funding. Additionally, the theatrical trailer provides a snapshot of the film's essence. The extras conclude with a series of sneak peeks and pre-menu trailers, offering a broader context within the film industry at the time of the Blu-ray's release. These extras are presented in high-definition, ensuring an engaging visual experience.

Extras included in this disc:

• The Making of The Longest Week: Interviews and behind-the-scenes footage detailing the film’s inspiration, funding, and casting.
• Theatrical Trailer: A brief glimpse of the film’s highlights.
• Sneak Peek: Includes trailers for other films like 'Let's Be Cops' and 'And So It Goes'.

"The Longest Week," a 2014 romantic comedy directed by Peter Glanz, strives to recapture the neurotic essence of Woody Allen's work but ultimately falls short, providing an experience akin to a film under the influence of mood stabilizers. The narrative circles around Conrad Valmont (Jason Bateman), a wealthy, self-absorbed hotel heir who is abruptly thrust out of his cloistered penthouse life when his parents decide to divorce. This dislocation results in Conrad moving in with his artist friend Dylan (Billy Crudup), setting up a romantic triangle with Beatrice (Olivia Wilde), whom both men desire. The film’s plot, comparative to Dangerous Liaisons albeit with less ruthlessness, untangles as a series of amusing, albeit inconsequential vignettes as Conrad navigates the harsher realities of adult relationships.

Thematically, "The Longest Week" operates within borrowed stylistic frameworks heavily reminiscent of Wes Anderson's The Royal Tenenbaums and Marc Webb's 500 Days of Summer, replete with an omniscient third-person narrator voiced by Larry Pine. Despite initial resistance to these overt influences, the film's charm grows as it adeptly mimics Anderson’s aesthetic, though lacking his contextual depth. Conrad’s predicament primarily provides a vehicle for superficial explorations rather than in-depth character transformation, resulting in a narrative that often feels more like disjointed chapters than a coherent story.

Visually, Glanz’s film indulges in twee prop placements and symmetrical framing, aping Anderson’s visual language. However, the characters, particularly secondary ones like Dylan and Beatrice, border on two-dimensional illustrations rather than fully fleshed individuals, making their interactions feel performative rather than organic. While engaging in short bursts, the overextended narrative and lackluster emotional depth leave "The Longest Week" resembling an overinflated short film stretched thinly over 86 minutes. For audiences who relish indie dramedy aesthetics and fleetingly entertaining moments, this film offers moderate amusement but fails to escape its ultimately formulaic execution.

"The Longest Week" Blu-ray: A Review

"The Longest Week" aims to blend the distinctive styles of renowned filmmakers like Woody Allen and Wes Anderson, but ultimately falls short, resulting in a film that feels more like a derivative tribute than an original piece. The narrative promises intrigue but devolves into a generic, directionless plot despite a compact runtime of under 90 minutes. The direction and writing by Peter Glanz appear overly precious, leaving the ensemble cast adorned in elegant attire and opulent settings, but unable to escape a sense of floundering aimlessly.

From a technical standpoint, the Blu-ray presentation is a mix of strengths and weaknesses. The video quality is commendable at times, showcasing the film's exquisite set design and costume details, but suffers from noticeable compression flaws that mar the viewing experience. Audio delivery is another critical aspect where the Blu-ray falters; the sound mix is predominantly front-heavy with a lack of dynamic range, hampering the overall cinematic immersion. Furthermore, the single special feature included offers some value but is insufficient to significantly enhance the package.

In conclusion, if you are in the mood for a Woody Allen or Wes Anderson film, it might be more rewarding to revisit their original works rather than this lackluster rehash. While fans of "The Longest Week" might find solace in the exceptional Blu-ray presentation’s technical merits, the general viewer may be left disappointed by its unnerving fluctuations in quality and execution. Ultimately, "The Longest Week" struggles to find cohesion, resulting in a viewing experience that may be better skipped.