Thursday, May 5, 2011

BD impressions: Taxi Driver

3:46 PM / BD Impressions / Comments13 Comments

BD Impressions
Blu-ray

The film: I'm decidedly late to the party, having only seen TAXI DRIVER for the first time last night. As such, I very much doubt there's anything I could say about it that hasn't been said before. I really enjoyed it... if enjoyed it the right word: it's grim, gritty, blackly comic, and Robert De Niro is superb in the role of Travis Bickle. It's just a shame the whole "You talkin' to me?" scene has been lampooned to death, as I suspect it does dilute its intensity somewhat. 8/10

Image quality: Sony Pictures + Martin Scorsese definitely makes for a winning combination. This director-supervised restoration is top-notch: faithful to the source and without any overt evidence of major manipulation. As Matthew McKinnon pointed out on this side, the clarity of the transfer is such that the reduced quality of the numerous opticals (including the infamous climactic scene, which was processed to desaturate the colour in order to obtain an "R" rating) sticks out like a sore thumb in comparison with the rich detail that is visible elsewhere (see Example 13). It's a shame the original negative couldn't be sourced for the aforementioned climax, because it does look decidedly wonky in comparison to the rest of the film, but I digress: a good 90-95% of the film looks excellent. We're incredibly fortunate that both Scorsese and Sony understand how to treat a film with care for release on BD. More like this, please. 9/10

Taxi Driver
studio: Sony Pictures; disc country: USA; region code: ABC;
codec: AVC; aspect ratio: 1.85:1

Taxi Driver Taxi Driver Taxi Driver Taxi Driver Taxi Driver Taxi Driver Taxi Driver Taxi Driver Taxi Driver Taxi Driver Taxi Driver Taxi Driver Taxi Driver Taxi Driver Taxi Driver Taxi Driver Taxi Driver Taxi Driver

By the way, there's an excellent, Blu-ray.com has an insightful interview with Grover Crisp, Sony Pictures Entertainment's Senior Vice President for Asset Management, Film Restoration and Digital Mastering, regarding TAXI DRIVER:

Scorsese insisted that the restoration should look like "a product of the time and place in which it was made," with no attempt to modernize the look or the color palette, with special mention of the shooting scene at the end of the film. Crisp starts by saying that Scorsese "feels it best to leave the film as it is."

[...]

Crisp said that at Sony "we don't take the position that grain is an automatic 'problem', and we usually just leave it alone." They are aware of all the digital tools available to alter the grain, but "unless there is a really compelling reason" to do that, they don't. He proudly adds that that decision hasn't earned them negative Blu-ray reviews; "just the opposite, it seems."

Crisp didn't shy away from the ongoing DNR debate. "I really do not like the super clean, waxy look that is often the result of over-processing," he said. "It not only buries detail, but it gives the film an odd feel to it, an artificial feel, that I think detracts from the achievement of the filmmakers and is distracting to discerning viewers, all of which ultimately just cheats the audience. Most filmmakers know what they are doing with the resources at hand and our job, after all, is to replicate the vision of the filmmaker, not to impose our own aesthetic outlook on a film. People are entitled to their opinion on this subject, and lots of people have opinions on this, but we try to take a fairly authentic and neutral approach to every title - and they all differ in certain ways - so that each title looks, feels, sounds, like a product of its time and place, while trying to make them look their absolute best on Blu-ray. And, that's kind of what it's about, you know? [...]"

Amen.

 
13 Comments

1. Phil Quail said:

Grover Crisp is a regular visitor to the London Film Festival and I've seen him introduce a number of Columbia/Sony restorations. Long may he and his team keep up the good work!

(Posted on Saturday, May 7, 2011 at 2:06 AM)

2. Marcus said:

Very glad you liked the film. Still can't get over the fact that The Sound of Music got a score that was two points higher. :D

(Posted on Saturday, May 7, 2011 at 4:52 PM)

3. Kentai said:

I got around to seeing this less than a year ago myself. I love the grimy aesthetic of New York that the film wallows in. The city looks in every way like a steaming pile of scum ready to explode, and coupled with the tragic horn music and sensation of numbness our narrator has to it, I think Taxi Driver creates one of the most gloriously unpleasant worlds I can think of even without the content doing much to propel that sensation. As the so-called "Gritty Urban Masterpiece", it delivers exactly as promised.

That said, I kind of felt like DeNiro's performance is much more one-note than "understated". I know he used actual cases of mental illness as a starting point (which is admirable), I just don't know that he quite pulled it off. It was a step forward for Hollywood in portraying the mentally ill for 1976 - even if it wasn't quite a portrayal in a positive light, but even with seemingly accurate Sociopathic behavior as a driving force I'm not totally convinced that Travis Bickle would be almost devoid of facial expressions. The scenes where he's at home 'training' are really the corner stone of his story, but DeNiro's lack of personality makes them all feel expository instead of emotionally charged. It's not a terrible performance, it's just so highly praised and often spoofed that I had expected so much more out of it.

(I also can't figure out why anyone with legit military training would pick up and aim a .44 Magnum with one hand - but I guess it looked pretty cool on the lobby cards.)

But, as usual, I complain endlessly about how an American Classic doesn't live up to its' reputation and then buy it on Blu-ray, anyway. If I like it enough to spend another $12.99 on it (plus $11 for the DVD ages ago), it must not have been that bad. The DVD wasn't particularly great to start with, so it's nice to know the BD presentation will let me appreciate the grimy look of the film in a way the old release could never deliver on.

(Posted on Saturday, May 7, 2011 at 7:55 PM)

4. delbosque said:

If De Niro's was a "one-note" performance it seems odd that even among the stills posted above he has probably five different facial expressions.

(Posted on Saturday, May 7, 2011 at 11:47 PM)

5. Neil Harrison said:

"If I like it enough to spend another $12.99 on it (plus $11 for the DVD ages ago), it must not have been that bad."

US prices...so damn cheap compared to the UK...and blimey... no, it isn't "that bad" a film. :)

I bought this release...it's great...but I didn't care for the packaging too much. Novelty packaging is interesting but I prefer my films to be 100% protected from dust. Removed the disc and placed it in an amaray case - *gasp* - don't ask what I do with 90% of the slipcovers, as the OCD type collectors might get upset. :)

(Posted on Sunday, May 8, 2011 at 1:55 AM)

6. Kentai said:

DeNiro had much more range here than in Heat, I'll give him that...

But yeah, as a proud Yank I can walk into Wal*Mart and probably buy up a dozen Oscar winners on Blu-ray without spending more than $100. I'd imagine that half the time it'd be cheaper for EU residents to just import the US release from Amazon, even with shipping.

That said, it really sucks if you want to import anything. The dollar is about as weak as a teabag in a jacuzzi these days.


(Posted on Sunday, May 8, 2011 at 6:24 AM)

7. Neil Harrison said:

btw Now completely off topic but can anyone explain why Japanese blu ray prices are so expensive...

(Posted on Sunday, May 8, 2011 at 12:12 PM)

8. Miles said:

For the same reason that Japanese DVDs and before that Japanese LDs were so expensive. And the exchange rate has made them even more so...quite dramatically!

(Posted on Sunday, May 8, 2011 at 6:55 PM)

9. Kentai said:

It's simple, really: Japan has a complex network of middle-men that all helped either produce or distribute the title, and they all want a slice of the pie. It's an outdated system they came up with back in the 1980s, when manufacturers like JVC and Toshiba and Sony were literally producing horror films and animation just to push their VHS and LD hardware. They didn't mind splitting the profits ten ways so long as it got people to invest in the hardware - a move echoed in some ways by HD DVD a few years back, now that I think of it. The rental market has always been Japan's primary interest in video consumption; sales from hardcore fans was just considered the icing on the cake.

Fast forward to 2011; the same system is in place, and it isn't really working as well as it used to. Japan has tried to bring in consumers by filling up the limited DVD/BD pre-orders with booklets, CDs, alternate covers and other such goodies, and they typically strip special features from the "Rental Only" versions... but Tsutaya (the Japanese equivalent to Blockbuster) actually sells spindles of blank DVD-R at the rental checkout counter.

Japan at large isn't overly fond of their ridiculously high prices either, but titles like "K-On!" and "Magi Puella Madoka Magica" still sell tens of thousands of copies at $85+ (for two episodes they've already seen on basic cable). Japan as a culture - at least on the consumer level - is just willing to pay a lot of money for the things they love. That niche model keeps entertainment flowing there, though I doubt any other country could ever manage to make it work the same way.

(Posted on Sunday, May 8, 2011 at 8:20 PM)

10. David S.H. said:

I think I'll wait to see the probably inferior UK release before importing Taxi Driver.


"don't ask what I do with 90% of the slipcovers, as the OCD type collectors might get upset. :)"


Hope you don't chuck them Neil, there are plenty of people that will pay for the covers (crazy amounts for the rarer ones).
At the very least you should exploit the fools and save the cover and sell as joblots every now and then.

This is going to sound sad, but I actually bought a pack of re-sealable DVD/Blu wraps for my steelbooks and slipcover films. Don't get me wrong though I don't go out of my way to get covers, if it has it it has it. But then the OCD takes over and any that have a cover, or steelbooks, I like to keep protected.
Another ebay purchase I made, a little bit more sane, was a pack of blu-ray tray inserts. Click into most UK 14mm cases and add a couple of disc hubs for any duplicate DVDs I have, great for clearing up shelve space. For example when I got the "best of a bad bunch" Optimum release of Night of the Living Dead, I was able to store the 2 DVD copies of the film I have in with the blu-ray. Then I just store the empty DVD boxes in the loft.

(Posted on Monday, May 9, 2011 at 4:24 AM)

11. Vincent Pereira said:

The whole interview with Grover Crisp from the Digital Bits (the blu-ray.com version was just a summary):

http://thedigitalbits.com/articles/taxidriver/interview.html

Vincent

(Posted on Monday, May 9, 2011 at 9:58 PM)

12. FoxyMulder said:

If only all studio's treated their back catalogue titles like Sony, that is an excellent interview.

(Posted on Monday, May 9, 2011 at 11:05 PM)

13. Matt S said:

Off topic, but not gonna feel too bad cuz seems like "Taxi Driver" morphed into price of Japanese DVDs

Was glad to hear you enjoyed Taxi Driver considering you saw it so late.

But really here to say, cool site!

(Posted on Sunday, May 15, 2011 at 10:04 PM)

 
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