...may not be the most exciting or well-focused drama of the year, but it manages to engage our intellect most of the time and keep us guessing well up to the end.
It's all geared toward making us uncertain how everything is going to turn out, how and when and if the conflicts will be resolved. "The Clearing" is not a typical thriller or a typical whodunnit. It's more of a "I wonder what's going to happen next?" sort of picture. As such, it's different, it's intelligent, and it's involving. The movie is ridiculously rated R for a couple of brief profanities. Blame it on the ratings board.
Video:
Maybe it's my faulty vision, but I found the video on this disc all over the place. A very high bit rate and an anamorphic widescreen transfer measuring a ratio about 1.74:1 across my standard-screen HD television should have ensured a beautiful picture. But it's only intermittently beautiful. There is a richness about the colors that we expect from a high bit rate, true, but at least half the scenes in the film looked soft and slightly mushy, too. Nor did dark areas, of which there are many, admit much inner detail. On the other hand, the greens of the forest show up well, and a couple of brightly lit indoor scenes come up in perfect clarity. What's more, the video seemed to improve overall as the movie went on. Maybe the print itself was of variable quality, or maybe my eyesight is going through phrases; I don't know.
Audio:
The Dolby Digital 5.1 sonics in the English track are wonderfully clean and clear, with a good, deep, resounding bass that makes its presence felt early on and underpins the movie's tension considerably. There is also some good musical ambiance created in the surrounds, along with a few environmental forest noises, but mostly the audio reproduces dialogue, which it does nicely.
Extras:
We get only the usual assortment of extra goodies on this disc, nothing spectacular or earthshaking. There is an audio commentary with the filmmakers--director Pieter Jan Brugge, film editor Kevin Tent, and screenwriter Justin Haythe. There are six deleted scenes, about fifteen minutes' worth, with optional commentary, again by the filmmakers. And there's a full-length screenplay for the film, which I found interesting for all of about two pages. I'm not sure what we're supposed to do with it--read it in its entirety? If it could be printed out, it might be fun to read along with the actors and see how each scene was shot, but just to read the whole thing off the TV screen seems a chore. The extras conclude with an "Inside Look" at an upcoming Fox project; a widescreen theatrical trailer for "The Clearing"; twenty-four scene selections; English, French, and Spanish spoken languages; and English and Spanish subtitles. No informational insert came packaged with the disc I received.
Parting Thoughts:
Not everyone is going to appreciate "The Clearing" because it is not exactly what a lot of viewers might be expecting. Although it is about a kidnapping, it is not an action thriller. Instead of relying on continual motion, gun battles, car chases, and things blowing up, it relies on old-fashioned interpersonal relationships, those between the kidnapper and his hostage being the most compelling. I enjoyed it while it was running, but I'm not sure I'd be interested in going back and watching it again. The plot twists are fun, but the characters and dialogue are hardly scintillating enough to want to repeat. Regardless, that first time through can hold you to your seat.
Video:
Maybe it's my faulty vision, but I found the video on this disc all over the place. A very high bit rate and an anamorphic widescreen transfer measuring a ratio about 1.74:1 across my standard-screen HD television should have ensured a beautiful picture. But it's only intermittently beautiful. There is a richness about the colors that we expect from a high bit rate, true, but at least half the scenes in the film looked soft and slightly mushy, too. Nor did dark areas, of which there are many, admit much inner detail. On the other hand, the greens of the forest show up well, and a couple of brightly lit indoor scenes come up in perfect clarity. What's more, the video seemed to improve overall as the movie went on. Maybe the print itself was of variable quality, or maybe my eyesight is going through phrases; I don't know.
Audio:
The Dolby Digital 5.1 sonics in the English track are wonderfully clean and clear, with a good, deep, resounding bass that makes its presence felt early on and underpins the movie's tension considerably. There is also some good musical ambiance created in the surrounds, along with a few environmental forest noises, but mostly the audio reproduces dialogue, which it does nicely.
Extras:
We get only the usual assortment of extra goodies on this disc, nothing spectacular or earthshaking. There is an audio commentary with the filmmakers--director Pieter Jan Brugge, film editor Kevin Tent, and screenwriter Justin Haythe. There are six deleted scenes, about fifteen minutes' worth, with optional commentary, again by the filmmakers. And there's a full-length screenplay for the film, which I found interesting for all of about two pages. I'm not sure what we're supposed to do with it--read it in its entirety? If it could be printed out, it might be fun to read along with the actors and see how each scene was shot, but just to read the whole thing off the TV screen seems a chore. The extras conclude with an "Inside Look" at an upcoming Fox project; a widescreen theatrical trailer for "The Clearing"; twenty-four scene selections; English, French, and Spanish spoken languages; and English and Spanish subtitles. No informational insert came packaged with the disc I received.
Parting Thoughts:
Not everyone is going to appreciate "The Clearing" because it is not exactly what a lot of viewers might be expecting. Although it is about a kidnapping, it is not an action thriller. Instead of relying on continual motion, gun battles, car chases, and things blowing up, it relies on old-fashioned interpersonal relationships, those between the kidnapper and his hostage being the most compelling. I enjoyed it while it was running, but I'm not sure I'd be interested in going back and watching it again. The plot twists are fun, but the characters and dialogue are hardly scintillating enough to want to repeat. Regardless, that first time through can hold you to your seat.
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[release]13671[/release]