Dogfight

In "Dogfight," two vividly alive characters––aspiring San Francisco folk singer Rose (Lili Taylor) and hotheaded, Vietnam-bound marine Eddie Birdlace (River Phoenix)––meet on the occasion of a cruelly misogynistic party where men compete to bring the most unattractive dates they can find. But what begins as a night to forget unexpectedly develops into something far more meaningful. (Gary Reber)

Special features include commentary featuring Director Nancy Savoca and Producer Richard Guay, a new interview with Savoca and Actor Lili Taylor (HD 32:11), new interviews in "The Craft Of Dogfight" with Cinematographer Bobby Bukowski, Production Designer Lester W. Cohen, Script Supervisor Jeffrey Kimball, Supervising Sound Editor Tim Squyres and Editor John Tintori (HD 29:09), the theatrical trailer and a 12-page essay by film critic Christina Newland.

The 1.85:1 1080p AVC picture, reviewed on a VIZIO Quantum X P85QX-JI UHD/HDR display, was photograph on Eastman film stock using the Arriflex 35 BL4 camera system and sourced from a new 2K Digital Intermediate supervised by Director Nancy Savocad. The picture is gorgeous and exhibits excellent color fidelity with naturalness and realism displayed throughout. Hues are warm and rich, and perfectly depict the various locations in San Francisco, (actually Seattle). Clothing fabrics and object textures are realistic. Flesh tones appear accurate. Contrast is superb with natural black levels, revealing shadows and natural white levels. Clarity, sharpness, and image depth range from good to excellent. While resolution is generally excellent the imagery is a bit soft at times but edge definition is good and closeups are nicely revealing of detail. The entire film looks exceptionally clean and is beautifully captured with a smooth grain structure for a visual experience that is compelling throughout. (Gary Reber)

The DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0-channel soundtrack is stereo at times but essentially a split-channel (left and right) monaural soundtrack that sound dated due to its aged production but nevertheless the experience is satisfying. Atmospherics are the main sound element other than the multiple-artist folk music and of course, the dialogue, which propels the storytelling and sounds nicely integrated spatially, Fidelity is general satisfying with segments where deep bass is effective, such as during the Vietnam sequence. This is a nicely effective monaural sounding soundtrack. (Gary Reber)