1303 Testament

[Finch]

Taking a hauntingly intimate approach to an often sensationalized subject, the singular Testament depicts one family’s daily life in the wake of nuclear devastation. After an atomic attack near her small California town, Carol Wetherly (Jane Alexander, in a fearlessly vulnerable, Oscar-nominated performance) must find the strength to care for her three children as the family contend with radiation sickness and the realization that their close-knit community will never be the same. With a diaristic focus on the emotional toll of unimaginable events, director Lynne Littman puts forth a wrenchingly humane vision of what it means to go on living in a shattered world.

DIRECTOR-APPROVED BLU-RAY SPECIAL EDITION FEATURES
New 4K digital restoration, supervised and approved by director Lynne Littman and director of photography Steven Poster, with uncompressed monaural soundtrack
New conversation between Littman and author Sam Wasson
Two documentaries by Littman, made in collaboration with anthropologist Barbara Myerhoff: Number Our Days (1976) and In Her Own Time (1985)
“Testament” at 20 and Nuclear Thoughts, archival programs featuring interviews with cast and crew members and nuclear-science experts
Audio recording of actor Jane Alexander reading the short story “The Last Testament,” on which the film is based
Trailer
English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing
PLUS: An essay by author and film critic Michael Koresky

New cover based on an original theatrical poster

[beamish14]

Very nice. Jane Alexander is a fascinating person; she was head of the NEA during the 90’s when Republicans succeeded in destroying grants for individual artists

[domino harvey]

She’s not really talked about as much these days but she was much beloved by the Academy-- this was her fourth Oscar nom!

[beamish14]

The 20th anniversary reunion feature is a hoot, as they shit on William Devane

[DimitriL]

The 20th anniversary reunion feature is a hoot, as they shit on William Devane

Is that where they talk about how he was acting like a diva, and Littman had to tell him that this is a small film and people were looking at him to set an example? (Which he apparently did going forward.)

[beamish14]

The 20th anniversary reunion feature is a hoot, as they shit on William Devane

Is that where they talk about how he was acting like a diva, and Littman had to tell him that this is a small film and people were looking at him to set an example? (Which he apparently did going forward.)

Yep. It was a low budget American Playhouse production. I don’t think she was especially thrilled with the performance that he gave, either

[pistolwink]

I've never seen the feature, but I really adore Number Our Days, a very poignant film with a very beautiful title. Glad to know it'll be getting more widely seen. (I know someone whose grandmother lived at the retirement home it's about.)

[_shadow_]

I appreciate that they kept the original poster art for this release.

[DimitriL]

Me too. Somehow its grey minimalism absolutely captures the film.

[hearthesilence]

The 20th anniversary reunion feature is a hoot, as they shit on William Devane

Perhaps lost to time is the 2012 BAM reunion for Noah Baumbach's Kicking & Screaming where one critical remark about the absent Jason Wiles leads to a self-conscious pile-on with a couple people harshly criticizing choices he made on-set before immediately adding something like "totally nice guy though!" (FWIW, one such choice was getting a haircut even though he already started filming.)

[CSM126]

Good news, this has “one of the cleanest and most director-approved presentations”.

So says the Beaver

[Finch]

Didn't realize there are releases more director approved than others. Gary is the gift that keeps on giving.

[tenia]

I gave it the benefit of the doubt for a couple of reviews, but am fairly certain now that's AI.

[Beloved Aunt]

"one of the cleanest and most director-approved presentations" sounds like a Garyism, but the rest of the review is way too tidy and mechanical to convince me its him. The mystery deepens.

[tenia]

It does read like Garyisms, but they still made sense so far, unlike "the most director-approved presentation" which I don't think any human would ever write.

Or maybe it's missing a word, and it's the most something-something director-approved presentation (because being director-approved doesn't mean being flawless).

[DimitriL]

Yeah, though it sounds more like a human wrote the Testament review and I would normally give the benefit of the doubt, you really can't trust his reviews anymore. Once you dip your toe in slop, you're covered in it forever.

[tenia]

Honestly, Gary's text was always borderline gibberish, with only a very superficial take on the disc anyway. Combined with notoriously inaccurate captures, that wasn't leaving much use of his reviews, except the scan discs and the precise listing of extras.

[Lowry_Sam]

You’re forgetting the best reason to visit DVD Beaver (but sadly no more): the weekly contest to win a disc by ID’ing a brief movie clip. I think I won a freebie twice.

[dwk]

You’re forgetting the best reason to visit DVD Beaver (but sadly no more): the weekly contest to win a disc by ID’ing a brief movie clip. I think I won a freebie twice.

I'd forgotten about those. I won once too (I think the prize was a copy of the MoC M DVD) and I never got the disc.

[pistolwink]

How do you know he didn't survey directors to ask "how much did you approve this Blu-Ray?" and plot the results according to the intensity of the resulting nods?

[Rupert Pupkin]

This is a curious movie - I wouldn't say that it is Bergmanian like "Shame" but it is a kind of allegory which is total nonsense for a nuclear strike (and "in" allegory - there's allégresse).
You have no rape, no survivalist theme, no cannibalism like in the "The Day After" (which was released around the same era - I think).
It's difficult at first to approve this approach because you couldn't ignore in 1983 after the 2 American bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki and the devastative radioactive effects of a nuclear bombs. Thus, everything in this movie is improbable (there is a flash from the nuclear blast you can see through the window); but once you understood (quickly) that it will be a different approach, even more poetic but not in a graphic way; well that's ok. Perhaps the absence of obvious graphic "signs" is even more haunting. There is only one shot in the movie were the sky is dark/black. But no kind of poetic way to show the opposite (no Tarkovski's landscapes)
It is even more "bizarre" nowadays after having seen a lot of movies like "The Road", etc...
Boys and girls are riding bicyclettes even after the blast like in a Spielberg 80's movie. But people are dying but slowy.

There is even a very young Kevin Costner and Rebecca de Mornae (first appearance of Kevin Costner in the Criterion collection ?), and the boy from Peter Weir's Witness.
And there is even The original Beatles "All My Loving" (was the song credited?) played in this movie near the end, on a child-jukebox.
Perhaps the force of this movie is to show that people have basic instincts which are, keep going, love their children, than survivalist themes where your next door neighbor is a potential enemy.

[swo17]

first appearance of Kevin Costner in the Criterion collection ?

Bull Durham
The Big Chill (sort of)