Clean, Shaven (DVD)

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I hesitate to say that Kerrigan has only worked intermittently over the past decade. For all I know, he´s been working full-time. However, he has released only two feature films since this debut film: "Claire Dolan" (1998; starring the late and great Katrin Cartlidge) and "Keane" (2004), another film about a troubled schizophrenic. I haven´t seen either film, but even with such a small body of work, Kerrigan has carved out a reputation as a respected and original independent filmmaker. "Clean, Shaven" is where it all began.

Video

The film is presented in a 1.66:1 anamorphic widescreen format. The restored transfer is excellent, though the image quality is not as pristine as you might be accustomed to with Criterion simply because the source print was hardly in mint condition.

Audio

The DVD is presented in Dolby Digital Monaural. Sound design is crucial to this film, and even though it´s only mono, the audio transfer is quite effective. Optional English subtitles support the English audio.

Extras

"A Subjective Assault" is a 9-minute video essay written and narrated by (sadly, now former) Village Voice critic Michael Atkinson, and really captures the sound texture of the film in a condensed form.

"Audio Selects" are also offered, including the original soundtrack by Hahn Rowe, and selected audio tracks from the film´s final mix. These can be accessed from the DVD, or downloaded on your computer as MP3 files.

The major feature on the DVD is a feature-length commentary track, a conversation/interview between Steven Soderbergh and Lodge Kerrigan. This commentary track is more interesting than most because it consists of substantive talk between two working filmmakers who share ideas, and ask each other questions about their own creative processes. I love academic analyses of films, but this pragmatic approach represents a nice change of pace.

The insert booklet features an essay written by (also sadly, now former) Village Voice critic Dennis Lim.

Film Value

I remember being amazed by "Clean, Shaven" when it first came out; in fact, it was one of the first movies to get me interested in the American independent film scene. Seen today, I am not nearly as awestruck by it, but I´m still impressed by Kerrigan´s resourceful use of sound. I should make sure not to fall into the auteur trap here; several crew members are credited in the sound department, but the point is that "Clean, Shaven" demonstrates the possibilities available even to filmmakers on limited budgets to use sound as an expressive tool, not just as a subordinate element to the image.

"Clean, Shaven" was previously released on DVD by Wellspring, but I do not have that edition to make a comparison.

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