Why So Blu?

An Affair Of The Heart (Blu-ray Review)

When it comes to Rick Springfield, “Jesse’s Girl” immediately plays in 99.9% of our brains.  A few less may recall his days on the daytime soap General Hospital.  And all of this was back in the 1980s.  It’s been a long time since Springfield fever was sweeping the nation.  But for some, it never left.  And for Rick Springfield, he still continues playing on, knowing his prime has past but all is not lost.  An Affair Of The Heart documents the latter part of Rick Springfield’s career and the fans that have stayed loyal and devoted throughout.  The documentary is a celebration of a man overcoming himself, touching the lives of others and everything culminating in the joy of his music.  Apparently he had more songs than “Jesse’s Girl”. Who knew?

Film 

An Affair Of The Heart is not the documentary you think it’s going to be.  On the surface, I thought this was going to be a career retrospective following one time music superstar Rick Springfield.  I was indeed wrong.  While some of his past is lightly touched upon, this film focuses more on the latter days of Rick Springfield.  The years most of us don’t know about.  It follows his life after he was a big star.  It also follows some of his most devoted fans and chronicles their relationship with them.

The film brings across many a touching moment, with some stories deeply routed in personal challenges and his music helping people through them.  There’s also friendships and marriages founded in the love of his concerts and music.  It’s quite shocking to see this mass type of following for an artist who’s been culturally irrelevant for over two decades now.  I can’t really call these folks crazy as I have my own addictions and obsessions that I’m sure people are puzzled as to why.  I can throw my own two cents in on their personal taste, but that’s just irrelevant.  The thing is, is that these people have something.  They have something that motivates them daily, something to always look forward to, something they share with a niche group and something that gives them a form of escapism.  And in that regard, I completely understand and respect them.

The documentary is interesting to see a man who was once a superstar become grounded and find an appreciation in not being on top anymore.  Rick openly admits to having been a jerk toward his fan base in his hay day and is devoted to making right on his past wrongs.  While some of the meetings and one storyline in the film seem staged or forced, it pretty much works.  Its not overlong and moves at a good solid pace.  As embarrassing as it is to admit, I was never bored and fully entertained throughout this thing, despite the few shortcomings I just mentioned.  (No Brian, I’m not going on the Springfield Cruise or purchasing the entire catalog of his music).

Video 

Rick Springfield’s story is brought to you at a 1.78:1 frame in 1080p MPEG-4 AVC.  Detail runs very high in the interviews and planned sequences in the film.  Some of the raw concert and candid footage doesn’t bode as well but it’s still quite good.  The archived footage that came before this documentary may have been planned is passable but noticeable lesser in quality.  For the most part, An Affair Of The Heart has a nice, crisp picture.  The image is nice and sharp and detail runs very high.  Skin tones are and texture are consistent and come across with good definition.  The faces of many of the glossy instruments show plenty of surface blemishes, designs, fingerprints, etc.  Overall this is a solid, very close to perfect picture for most of the runtime.

Audio 

The DTS-HD MA 5.1 brings Rick Springfield’s music to life right in your living room.  The music sounds full and spacious.  The volume for it is nice and much louder than the rest of the feature.  It really does kick.  As a documentary, you wouldn’t expect much from the surround, but this one delivers.  Also available is an uncompressed 2.0 track which is suitable, but really doesn’t capture the music near as well as the 5.1.  The 5.1 track is the highlight of this release and brings a great concert feel whenever there is a section revolving around a performance.

Extras 

A second disc is provided containing bonus material.  All material is presented in HD with a Dolby Digital 2.0 audio track.

• Extended Scenes (33:04) – 9 scenes giving more background on subjects tackled in the film.  Some have more characters and some give a little more depth to topics in the film (for example, the concert engagement is flushed out here)
• Interviews And Conversations (58:04) – 15 additional pieces of interviews taken during the film.  Features more from celebrities Corey Feldman and Linda Blair.
• Screenings (31:27) – Coverage and footage from 3 different premieres/screenings of the film from around the world.
• Photo Gallery (2:40) – 32 stills from the film.
• Theatrical Trailer (2:06)
• Breaking Glass Trailers – Trailers for An American Ghost Story, Amelia’s 25 and From The Head

 

Summary 

An Affair Of The Heart is a well put together Blu-ray of a former superstar and his loyalty to his fans.  Breaking Glass delivers a good picture and superb audio with this release.  There’s plenty more footage for those wanting more.  Some of the footage should have stayed away however as Rick appears to be disingenuous to some of his fans we follow at book signings in the extra footage (he’s obviously worn out and tired from hours of signings, but some might not see it that way).  Also, they could have included a few full live performances to show off that 5.1 some more as extras.  As it is though, it’s a neat little documentary packaged a nice Blu-ray release.