Why So Blu?

Mother (Criterion #1232) (4K UHD Blu-ray Review)

For lack of a better word, families are a trip.  Children feel like their siblings are favored over them.  Mothers feel envious of a son’s bonding with their father. Daughters resent mothers for their inherent similarities. Fathers want their sons to follow in their footsteps in exacting ways.  A trip, right? In Albert Brooks’ Mother, we use an experiment to find out just how deep those “mommy issues” can get.  The Criterion Collection released Mother along with Real Life, and with my own recent pickup of the film, I felt compelled to write about it! Read more below and see if you can relate to Albert Brooks’ John Henderson.

Film 

Just after finalizing his second divorce, Sci-Fi author John Henderson is trying to figure out his love life.  Why does he end up with people he feels don’t believe in him? Is he the problem? Is there something missing in his way of thinking or his treatment of the women he ends up dating or marrying? Coming home from the lawyers, John is lost.  His wife has taken the furniture and left him with one chair and end table, which he is so indecisive on the placement of, he does a complete circle around his living room looking for a good spot to place it. He goes out drinking with a friend and finds no answers in the drinks he downs. He even goes on a date with someone (Lisa Kudrow), but she’s so clueless her frame of reference for Charlie Chaplin is that he apparently wrote A Tale Of Two Cities.  Repulsed, John retreats to the beach to scream it out. A dinner with his younger, more successful, happily married brother (Rob Morrow) does nothing to soothe his worries either.

When he finally comes home from his nightmare date, John calls his mother Beatrice (Debbie Reynolds) and tries to ask her for advice.  She tells him to dress better. When he decides he must move home to do an experiment to find out why he’s so unsuccessful at love, his mother recoils.  She tells him no, but John persists. He hops into his Alfa Romeo and takes a trip home to Sausalito on the same route that Benjamin Braddock takes to stop the wedding in The Graduate. Beatrice, although expecting John continues to balk at his wanting to move home for a while.  He disrupts her comfort by demanding his old room and belongings come into his ownership again. Beatrice says it can’t happen.  She then nags him about eating.  She offers John meatloaf, which John can’t eat as a vegetarian. She offers to scrape the top off of it, somehow believing that will make the loaf more appetizing.  When he refuses, she insists he eat salad, which she has just thawed from the freezer.  Cue disgusted reaction here. Next, she plies him with years old cheese and sherbet which she says has “protective ice” on it. With just these few minutes describe, you can tell that John and Beatrice are beyond dysfunctional.

As time goes on, the two needle each other, however genially they may try.  Beatrice has a bitterness underneath he sweet tone of voice. John continues to feel lost, wondering why his mother is so warm to his brother, but colder to him. John truly wants to figure out how to salvage his relationship with his mother, the first woman in his life, and he will do all he can to make her see his efforts and hopefully warm up to him a little.  Then, he believes he will have found the answer to his curious questions about his disappointing life.

Albert Brooks comedies are often exercises in intelligent observation.  Classics like Lost In America and Defending Your Life have you questioning life changes, life expectancy and even the afterlife.  In Mother, Brooks and his writing partner Monica Johnson bring to life the real and true struggles of children trying to understand their parents.  The relatable bit of the film is that anyone who has had a close but somehow arm’s length relationship with their mother will see a slice of their life at some point. It’s a very surprising way to relate to characters and their life situations.

Besides making you think, Mother also makes you laugh. The scenes of John and his mother going back and forth, calmly arguing never have to get loud or obnoxious. The words just keep coming. The barbs are sharp as daggers. John’s determination drives Beatrice crazy. As things unfold, you find yourself in stitches reacting to so many relatable moments.  Beatrice offering John freezer burnt cheese and ice cream may be one of the funniest sight gags I have seen. Brooks’ facial expressions and Reynolds’ sweet smile will have you cracking up! The excursions to the grocery store (a real-life Bay Area chain called Mollie Stone, local to where I live now), or the San Francisco Mall or Zoo are rife with funny moments.  John only hopes his mother doesn’t discuss his personal life with her friends, store clerks, or the appliance delivery men who bring her a new TV.  But she does, of course, so instead of complaining, John calls her out or embarrasses her the same way. Take that, mother!

As the film begins to wind down, we learn some things aren’t as they seem.  John’s brother is not as cool or as secure as we think he is from our first interactions with him.  And Beatrice is only stone strong because of the things she had to stop doing to be a mother.  When everything is tied together neatly by the end, you’re left with such a warm feeling and an absolute sense of satisfaction.  You know John and Beatrice will be better together and apart and for the sentimental sap in me, that does a lot for me in a movie!

Further Reading: Read Aaron Neuwirth’s Exceptional Review of Albert Brooks’ Defending Your Life HERE

Video:

Encoding: HEVC / H.265

Resolution: 4K (2160p)

Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1

Layers: BD-66

HDR: HDR10

Clarity/Detail: Filmed by Lajos Koltai in 1996 and restored in 4K under Albert Brooks’ supervision, Mother comes to 4K courtesy of Criterion with a grainy and filmic presentation.  The film is not one to show off your setup to but making its UHD and HD debuts with this release, the film shows a stable and clean image.

Depth: Depth of field is handled nicely with Koltai’s cinematography.  Softness is not apparent under this new master, and foregrounds and backgrounds inside and outside of LA, San Francisco and Sausalito look beautiful.

Black Levels: Blacks are crush free and excellent overall.

Color Reproduction: The color palette for the film is often warm, with reds and more natural colors like beige and tan looking lovely. Blue skies and green grass also pop and instances of red really stand out too.

Flesh Tones: Film grain brings out some facial textures to deliver a nice natural appearance to the actors on screen.

Noise/Artifacts: Clean

Audio:

Audio Format(s): English DTS-HD MA 2.0 Stereo

Subtitles:  English SDH

Dynamics: Mother came out in the age of 5.1 audio, but this release comes home with a lossless stereo surround mix.  Activity of the track is mostly dialogue driven so immersion would mean nothing for this particular film.

Height: N/A

Low-Frequency Extension: Some of the music in the film gently tickles the subwoofer, but nothing digs deep, understandably.

Surround Sound Presentation: Surrounds pick up a small amount of ambience and some of the movie’s score, but they of course don’t do much more.

Dialogue Reproduction: Since dialogue is the name of the game, it would be paramount for it to be the best part of the 2.0 track, and I can safely say it is! Front and center while your characters are on screen, and you hear everything perfectly.

Extras:

The Criterion Collection’s 4K release of Mother is a little light on the extras, but what’s here is quality and easy to take in and enjoy!

DIRECTOR-APPROVED 4K UHD + BLU-RAY SPECIAL EDITION FEATURES

• New 4K digital restoration, supervised and approved by director Albert Brooks, with 2.0 surround DTS-HD Master Audio soundtrack
• One 4K UHD disc of the film presented in HDR and one Blu-ray with the film and special features
• New interview with Brooks
• New interview with actor Rob Morrow
• Trailer, plus a teaser directed by Brooks
• English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing
• PLUS: An essay by critic Carrie Rickey

  New cover based on an original theatrical poster

Summary:  

Mother is a delightful comedy with a few moments of drama to go along with it.  The film will have anyone who has had family issues at the very least crack a smile.  Debbie Reynolds shines in the role of Beatrice, making her nagging mother figure a charmer who you root for as she begins to rediscover herself.  As always, Albert Brooks is a sound director with a unique vision and his John is also someone you want to find all the answers to those burning life questions he has.  The film is fabulous all around and everything from the camera work to the Marc Shaiman score just reek of the mid-90’s which itself is such a big deal for the nostalgic side of me.  Mother is an excellent film bringing real life issues to the screen with warmth, heart and laughter and this package is a definite recommend.

Buy your copy of Mother HERE