Ordinary People - Blu-ray Review

[Michael Scott]

Ordinary People



Movie:
Video:
Audio:
Extras:
Final Score:


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Movie
The 30th film in Paramount’s “Paramount Presents” 4K remastered line, we get a nice dramatic treat with Robert Redford’s first directorial debut in the form of Ordinary People. A hefty bit of dramatic weight, Ordinary People takes on the hefty subject of grief, suicide, and divorce all in one emotional package. The story starts off sometime after the death of a child in an affluent Illinois family. The story doesn’t let you know that right off the bat, but as it progresses you start peeling back the onion layers in the hidden narrative. Young brother Conrad Jarrett (a baby Timothy Hutton) is dealing with survivors guilt, as he was along with his brother Buck when the horrible sailing accident happened. He’s trying to deal with the night terrors, the panic, and all of the grief as well as connect with his parents. Both of whom are dealing with it in their own special way. His mother Beth (Mary Tyler Moore) puts on a cheerful veneer, but is pulling back emotionally from both Conrad and her husband Calvin (Donald Sutherland). And dad is having a hard time on his own, especially trying to balance a failing marriage along with keeping his son safe and happy.

Conrad is finally out of psychiatric facility after a failed suicide attempt, and is stumbling his way through life. Due to pressure from his father he enlists the aide of a psychiatrist named Dr. Berger (Judd Hirsch). Along the way he has to deal with a budding romance from a schoolmate, as well as figure out where he sits in this world with all of this guilt weighing down on his shoulders. But at the end of the day, we’re not here for a big pay off, this is a story of ordinary people dealing with extraordinary (yet oh so ordinary) tragedies.

Redford keeps the film flowing seamlessly despite having a 2+ hour runtime, keeping the audience actively engaged in what is happening to Conrad AND his parents. I’ve always felt that Mary Tyler Moore did a fantastic job as the overly cheerful, yet dead inside, mother. I guess it probably stems from the fact that she lost her son to an accidental death just a few short years earlier. The grief, the pain, the twisted justifications must have been so much easier to tap into than someone who hasn’t experienced that type of grief.

I honestly didn’t recognize Timothy Hutton at all when I saw it for the first time 2001, and going back I can just BARELY see his distinctive features and voice beginning to form (little nerd tidbit. An 18 year old Adam Baldwin makes a small cameo as one of Conrad’s high school friends, and just like Timothy, you can just barely see the resemblances to their adult future selves). It’s a great acted film all around, with stellar performances by Donald Sutherland, Mary Tyler Moore and Timothy Hutton alike. It’s not a movie you sit and watch out of sheer boredom, or because you want a Friday night veg movie, but it’s still a fantastic watch 42 years later.




Rating:

Rated R by the MPAA




Video:

Ordinary People went through a nice new 4K remaster for this event under the supervision of Robert Redford himself, and the film has never looked better. The late 70s autumn tones are rich and vibrant, with hints of artificial golden light (usually in Dr. Berger’s office), with shockingly revealing detail levels. The film still has that sort of soft elements that was typical of the early 80s, but grain structure is excellent, with a nice fine grain level that doesn’t massively spike or get chunky. Fine facial details and clothing details are superb, with skin tones looking just on the paler side of normal. I did notice some mild black crush in a few shadowy scenes (such as when Conrad is panicking after he learns of Karen’s death), but overall this is an exceptional transfer for a 42 year old drama.











Audio:

The 2.0 Monorail track is superb for it’s ilk, with the only major drawback simply being the very limited range of a heavily dramatic Mono track. It’s very much a dialog only film with minor ambient boosts from Marvin Hamlisch’s exquisitely haunting score. Voices are crisp and cleanly located up in the two mains, with the only thing that I could quibble about being that the over dubbing is a bit more noticeable with the higher fidelity. It’s a good mix that purists will be pleased over, considering how faithfully it replicates the original experience from my memory of the 35mm print I viewed years ago.












Extras:

• NEW 4K RESTORATION OF THE FILM OVERSEEN BY ROBERT REDFORD
• NEW Swimming in the Rose Garden — In this new featurette, Best Supporting Actor Oscar winner Timothy Hutton reflects on filming ORDINARY PEOPLE and the intriguing approach director Robert Redford took to create a feeling of isolation on set.
• Feeling is Not Selective— Acclaimed American novelist Judith Guest discusses her novel and the process involved in adapting it for film.
• Theatrical Trailer
• Collectible packaging featuring a foldout image of the film's theatrical poster and an interior spread with key movie moments

Final Score: ​

An academy award winning film that hasn’t lost it’s bite, Ordinary People takes a look at just that. Ordinary people as they deal with grief and find their way back to some sort of center. It was a tear jerker back in the 80s, and I still remember feeling hit in the stomach watching it for the first time in a film class back in 2001. 21 years later after THAT and it still holds up as an extremely powerful film with a hauntingly bitter sweet ending. The new Blu-ray looks and sounds GREAT, with a decent amount of extras thrown in for good measure. Definitely worth checking out.


Technical Specifications:

Starring: Donald Sutherland, Mary Tyler Moore, Judd Hirsch, Timothy Hutton, M. Emmet Walsh, Elizabeth McGovern
Directed by: Robert Redford
Written by: Judith Guest (Novel), Alivin Sargent (Screenplay)
Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1 AVC
Audio: Japanese: Dolby TrueHD 2.0 Mono, French DD 2.0 Mono
Subtitles: English, English SDH, French
Studio: Paramount
Rated: R
Runtime: 124 minutes
Blu-Ray Release Date: March 29th, 2022

Recommendation: Great Watch

 

[Epoxy1]

Fantastic film, but definitely not a pick-me-up by any stretch. Hutton was outstanding, but it should have been for Best Actor, since he was in the vast majority of the scenes in the movie versus the supporting role. Can't believe I'd never seen it before until it arrived for review.

Great work Michael.

 

[Asere]

Thanks for the review. I saw it advertised on a streaming service. Will check it out now.