Blu-ray Movie Reviews

For his 24th film, screenwriter-director Paul Schrader chose to do another adaptation of a novel by Russell Banks (the first one being Affliction). In it, dying acclaimed documentary filmmaker Leonard Fife (Richard Gere) wishes to give an extended filmed interview to his former student Malcolm (Michael Imperioli) in the presence of Fife’s wife and likewise ex-pupil Emma (Uma Thurman).

Instead of the usual retelling of his fleeing to Canada in 1968 as a protest against serving in Vietnam to become a fearless exposé documentarian, Fife delivers a whole different story. Before the first question is out, Fife takes over and instead relates the real truth behind the professional legend and also that of his past relationships to his supposed loved ones. What he truly wants is to use the camera to reveal a more honest picture of his life—much like Robert McNamara does in Errol Morris’ The Fog of War. This honest depiction of himself not only shocks the adoring interviewer and crew, but also his much-distressed wife whom he is confessing directly to.

In long flashbacks to several stages of Fife’s life, his character is frequently, though not always, played by a younger actor (Jacob Elordi). Similarly, various aspect ratios are used to reflect different moods and time periods: 1.33:1 for the old man’s interview, a mix of 1.33:1 and 2.35:1 for other scenes, and occasional black-and-white, including high-contrast French New Wave-style imagery for his would-be Bohemian days. Most color images are muted but warmly lit, with plentiful yellow, brown, and pink pastels throughout, although one scene where his father-in-law tempts him with a wealthy career is lit with eerie green illumination. The extremely sharp, highly detailed, well-contrasted images reveal patterns and textures in background wallpaper and wood paneling and produce rounded, dimensional faces and figures. Shots from the documentary often place an aged Gere in a pitch-black pool of darkness, lending the scene a film noir feel.

The sound mix keeps all of the action in the front—so much so that I checked my receiver settings—and there isn’t any panning of voices or effects either. But the all-important powerful dialogue is kept very clear, full, and natural throughout and carries an impact. The sparingly used soft-rock folk score by Phosphorescent, featuring vocals over an acoustic guitar with occasional drums and keyboard, is clear, resonant, and mellow—easy on the ear.

The included tiny featurette and a deleted scene aren’t informative, but the director’s commentary is. Schrader talks about the production and his practical approach to independent digital moviemaking. He also explains how he chose to adapt Banks’ novel Foregone—written when the author fell ill with cancer—due to his own hospitalizations from long COVID and bronchial pneumonia. And since there’s no future to dying, the film, like the book, focuses on a storyteller’s searching back into his past and wanting to tell it—and by extension any person’s life—like it truly is.

Josef Krebs