Why So Blu?

Zipper (Blu-ray Review)

Sam Ellis is a man on the rise a hot-shot prosecutor on the cusp of a bright future. When an impossibly gorgeous intern at the office becomes infatuated with him, Sam unwisely attempts to quiet his desires by seeing a high class escort only to discover that the experience is more fulfilling and exhilarating than he could have imagined. A second appointment with an escort soon follows, and a third, sending his once idyllic life spiraling out of control. In the midst of wrestling with his demons, he suddenly finds himself being groomed to run for U.S. Congress thrusting him into the public spotlight, and forcing him to take increasingly dangerous measures to keep the press, the law and his wife off his trail.

Film 

Sam Ellis (Patrick Wilson) is a rising and successful lawyer with bigger ambitions – a shot at Attorney General being one of those goals. He also has a beautiful wife, Jeannie (Lena Headley) and a son. Things are great at his law firm and a reporter who is also close to Jeannie – played by Ray Winstone is also profiling him. Everything is going great until an incident involving an assistant at the law firm calls Sam’s moral and ethical boundaries into play.

Putting the event behind him Sam still feels the need to step out of his marriage and explore. Just because he has a great family life it does not mean is happily married. Sam’s curiosity gets the better of him and he finds out about an escort service that deals with professional clients. Setting up an “appointment” is easy and “donations” are greatly appreciated. Once Sam goes through motions of his first “encounter” one would think that it was a one-time thing. There’s the thing – with someone like Sam, his money, and his position in life, it is never a one-time thing. His world soon spirals out of control and those extracurricular activities begin to take their toll on him and threaten to spill over into his professional and personal life.

I’m sorry I wrapped up that little summary like a fast cut trailer but that’s Zipper in a nutshell. There’s a grey area there thinly veiled by characters that are likable on the outside but really terrible human beings on the inside that do whatever they want, whenever they want, and without consequence. I initially thought the film was going to be a bore and I will say that the first part of it sort of is, but once we get to the escorts and Sam’s juggling of all these things, the film picks up the pace.

I do like the over/undertones that the film lays out that if you’re rich, successful, and powerful, that normal rules don’t apply. It’s best to just embrace them and be yourself. The ensemble cast works great together and there are plenty of familiar faces throughout. Patrick Wilson seems to be in everything these days and he’s actually what makes the film work due to all eyes being on him. There is nowhere to hide from the audience either.

 

Video 

Encoding: AVC/MPEG-4

Resolution: 1080p

Aspect Ratio: 2.40:1

Clarity/Detail: The Blu-ray presentation of Zipper is a near-reference once. Contrast and sharpness levels are strong and I did not notice any instances of postproduction meddling.

Depth: The interiors are quite lovely and are low-lit most of time. Low light is my favorite – especially those scenes at Sam’s office or law firm – look great.

Black Levels: Black levels are deep and inky – I did not spot any instances of crush or compression artifacts.

Color Reproduction: The color palette shifts from warm to cold throughout depending on what the scene calls for. It can get rather cold at home but things heat up once Sam goes out to one of his appointments.

Flesh Tones: Everyone looks nice and healthy.

Noise/Artifacts: The image is crystal clear.

 

 

Audio 

Audio Format(s): English Dolby TrueHD 5.1, English Dolby Digital 2.0

Subtitles: English SDH, Spanish

Dynamics: Zipper isn’t the type of film to have an overly bombastic audio presentation but it does have a very decent one in general, though.

Low Frequency Extension: The LFE only comes out to play depending on environmental factors that may come into play. There are a few of them throughout the film.

Surround Sound Presentation: The rear surrounds handle ambience well and don’t muddy up the affairs out in the front of the stage.

Dialogue Reproduction: Dialogue levels are clean, crisp, and free of any detectable anomalies. Everyone speaks so well.

 

Extras 

There are only two extras on this Blu-ray and they’re both rather worthy. The first is a full-length feature commentary with co-writer/director Mora Stephens. It’s a very meat and potatoes type of commentary where she talks about every that went onto making the film, story, characters, and everything in between. It’s definitely not a boring track to listen to. The second one is focused on deleted scenes with an optional commentary track buy director Mora Stephens. She talks about why these scenes remained on the cutting room floor.

• Audio Commentary

• Deleted Scenes (HD)

 

Summary 

Funny enough, there were points in the film that sort went along and bored me a bit but a few days after watching the film I can’t stop thinking about certain parts of it and the ending. Mind blown. The Blu-ray looks and sounds great and the commentary is a very entertaining and informative one. Zipper is recommended.

 

 

 

Zipper is available on Blu-ray & DVD!

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