Loveless - Blu-ray Review

[Michael Scott]

Loveless

Movie:
Video:
Audio:
Extras:
Final Score: ​

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Movie

I’ve never been through the pain of divorce myself (either as the victim of it in my own marriage, or the child of divorced parents), so I haven’t been able to empathize with victims of that circumstance as fully as those who HAVE been through that particular pain. BUUUUUUUUUT, after watching Loveless, you can almost feel the agony down to your very bones. A striking tale of drama and suffering after a divorce, Loveless is the followup film by Russian director Andrey Zvyagintsev (director of the incredible Leviathan), and it is probably one of the most bleak and depressing movies I have EVER seen in my life, and a movie that truly takes herculean efforts to actually keep watching. HOWEVER, this is not a negative, as the movie is one of the most impressively emotional experiences in modern cinematic history, and a fantastic film that delves into the pain and suffering that occurs under the surface in a marital separation like this.

Zhenya (Maryana Spivak) and Boris (Aleksey Rozin) are finalizing their divorce, after ages of animosity and infighting between the couple. The two have strained their relationship to the max and this final act will finally set them free from their shackles. Zhenya has already begun seeing a rich older man, while Boris has knocked up a young hottie, but there is one chain that ties the two of them together still. Young Alyosha (Matvey Novikov), the 12 year old son that the two of them have been ignoring during their little marital strife. While the two of them have been screaming and yelling, young Alexey has been suffering himself, watching his entire world fall down around him in a matter of a few short months. But while Zhenya and Boris have other partners to console themselves in, the poor 12 year old has literally no one, as the two selfish parents have become emotionally distant and created an unintentional bubble around their suffering son.

The first hour is spent looking at the familial dynamics of the dysfunctional family, with the audience watching as poor Alyosha is the actual victim in this whole “war of the parents”. We watch the painful and bitter rivalry between Zhenya and Boris come to a head and the sheer agony of the little boy caught up in it all. The big jolt happens about an hour into the film, when suddenly Alyosha vanishes, leaving the parents wondering what happened to him. The second hour unfolds much differently from the first, gauging itself more of a procedural as the parents look for their missing son (although, there is no reconciliation or coming together emotionally, as their war continues all the way up until the chilling conclusion).

As much as Loveless is a scathing commentary on divorce, it is also a scathing commentary on the world that created such monstrous people to begin with. Boris works in the heavily orthodox world of business, where he is almost FORCED to have a wife and child to have any sort of social status in the organization, which leads to him nervously hiding his divorce with Zhenya, and the pregnant girlfriend he has on the side. At the same time, Zhenya is a harsh narcissist, with her nose firmly planted inside of her smart phone, typing away while her life (and child) pass her by in the meantime. It’s like watching the dregs of what society forces upon us, and watching it unfold with bitter and alarming realism. There’s not much room for pleasure in the watch, but it is such a powerfully emotional film that it is worth every second of the suffering watch.

Zvyagintsev portrays the world of his film as clinical and cold as ice, with bleak portrayals of people, and even bleaker portrayals of the world that created this people in the first place. It’s introspective, beautiful crafted, and a well acted film that viscerally tears at your heart and rends it twain. The dramatic personal story of the first half is offset by the almost procedural nature of the second half, but it’s amazing to watch how expertly the two differing genres are blended together so that by the end of the film you can clearly see just how relevant they were to each other. While I normally think of Kramer vs. Kramer as the definitive movie on the pain of divorce, Loveless crafts a “one up” status on the old Meryl Streep movie that is so powerful, I would almost say it is the best of its ilk.




Rating:

Rated R for strong sexuality, graphic nudity, language and a brief disturbing image




Video:

Loveless is another in an ever increasing list of movies that seems to be devoid of any information of the cameras used for the shoot, as well as the master it was finished on, besides the fact that it came from digital cameras instead of film. All I know is, Loveless is quite impressive on Blu-ray, regardless of the technologies used and while it isn’t a powerhouse of a film that really screams “high detail and lotsa colors!”, it is a very technically sound encode in 2.39:1 AVC. The film is just ever so slightly soft, but the green and gray look to it accomplishes all it sets out to do in terms of fine details. The close ups of the characters show ample amount of lines and intimate texturing, while the dark blacks are inky and deep without showing too much crush and banding. Loveless was never designed to compete with Pacific Rim: Uprising, but it exudes quality and Sony has never been one for shabby looking Blu-rays.






Audio:

Much like the video, the 5.1 DTS-HD MA audio track in the original Russian language is quite good, but not exactly designed to hang with big action and sci-fi films. There’s an impressive opening shot with piano keys striking with resounding authority, as well as several more boisterous bits during the film (such as a cafeteria encounter, as well as a few yelling matches that rise the audio mix above simple dialog). Otherwise the track is very much a front heavy affair, with lots and lots of dialog, interspersed with mild ambient noises from the locations in a very laid back way. LFE is punchy and precise, adding a few technical bumps and bangs along the way, but usually is there just to accentuate the core just a teensy bit. It’s a good track, just not one designed to be a wild show stopper.






Extras:

• The Making of Loveless
• Trailer
• Previews

Final Score: ​

Loveless is a chore to sit through, but I mean that in the most loving way possible. The film is utterly fantastic, filled to the brim with painful experiences that cause the viewer to watch in utter agony as the misery plays out. However, the poetic and emotional payoff is absolutely worth the difficult watch and the movie’s simple emotional tropes are so delicately done that by the time the movie ends you suddenly realize that over 2 hours has gone by. It’s cinema as true art (and I’m not talking about some esoteric Art house experience) and a lovely bit of painful viewing. Sony’s Blu-ray is excellently crafted, with only the extras as being the chink in it’s technical armor (the one real extra besides the trailers is actually pretty hefty though, spanning over an hour itself). Definitely worth the watch.

Technical Specifications:

Starring: Maryana Spivak, Alesksey Rozin, Matvey Novikov
Directed by: Andrey Zvyagintsev
Written by:Andrey Zvyagintsev, Oleg Negin
Aspect Ratio: 2.39:1 AVC
Audio: Russian: DTS-HD MA 5.1
Subtitles: English, English SDH, French, Spanish
Studio: Sony Picture Classics
Rated: R
Runtime: 127 minutes
Blu-Ray Release June 12th, 2018

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• Michael Scott
• May 11, 2017

Recommendation: Amazing Watch

 

[tripplej]

Thanks for the review. Will try and catch this one.

 

[Asere]

Thank you for the review. I started reading but stopped to avoid spoilers if any
I will definitely be watching this one.

 

[Todd Anderson]

I’m on it!