Blood Ties (Blu-ray) (2013)

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General		Extras
Category	Crime Drama	Featurette-Behind The Scenes-(9:31) Theatrical Trailer Trailer-Madman Propaganda x 4
Rating
Year Of Production	2013
Running Time	127:45
RSDL / Flipper	Dual Layered	Cast & Crew
Start Up	Menu
Region Coding	4	Directed By	Guillaume Canet
Studio Distributor	Madman Entertainment	Starring	Clive Owen Billy Crudup Marion Cotillard Zoe Saldana Mila Kunis James Caan Lili Taylor Matthias Schoenaerts
Case	Standard Blu-ray
RPI	?	Music	Yodelice

Video		Audio
Pan & Scan/Full Frame	None	English DTS HD Master Audio 5.1
Widescreen Aspect Ratio	2.35:1
16x9 Enhancement
Video Format	1080p
Original Aspect Ratio	2.35:1	Miscellaneous
Jacket Pictures	No
Subtitles	None	Smoking	Yes
		Annoying Product Placement	No
		Action In or After Credits	No

     Blood Ties is a crime film set in 1974 New York that is more about family that it is about crime. Chris (Clive Owen) is the elder brother, spending nine years in gaol for murder. Younger brother Frank (Billy Crudup) is a New York detective; their father Leon (James Caan) has suffered a stroke and is being looked after by their sister Marie (Lili Taylor). As the film opens, Chris is released from gaol to live with Frank who gets Chris a menial job in a garage in an attempt to help him to go straight. But it takes very little for Chris to revert to his old ways; he looks up Monica (Marion Cotillard), a junkie and prostitute who is the mother of his two children, starts a relationship with Natalie (Mila Kunis) and participates in an armed robbery. Frank’s life is not much simpler; his superiors question his ties to his criminal brother and he is also stalking Vanessa (Zoe Saldana), the coloured girl he had abandoned some years ago and who is now the wife of Scarfo (Matthias Schoenaerts), a criminal that Frank has gaoled. As Chris’ criminal enterprises start to flourish, and Frank’s career declines, life becomes very complicated for both brothers who must make choices relating to friendships, loyalty and blood ties.

     Blood Ties is a French film; it was made by a French director, filmed by a French cinematographer and based on French source material but was filmed in English in New York. Director and co-screenplay writer Guillaume Canet is principally an actor with 57 credits listed in the IMDb, although he did win a Best Director Cesar in 2007 for Ne le dis a personne (Tell No One). Blood Ties is his remake of the 2008 French film Les Liens Du Sang (Rivals) which in turn was based upon the novel of the same name; also a source is the novel Deux Freres, Flic et Truand by Michel and Bruno Papet). Canet knows the material: he also starred in Les Liens Du Sang as the policeman brother. As well, Blood Ties was filmed by French DP Christophe Offenstein.

     Blood Ties evokes the period of the 1970s well through the clothes, music and especially the cars. At 127 minutes it is 20 minutes longer than Rivals and does feel a bit bloated by all the competing storylines; yet even then many characters, such as the father Leon and the women Monica and Natalie, still feel undeveloped. But this is mainly a film about two brothers on opposite sides of the law and the other characters would not matter if we connected with the two lead characters. But we don’t. Clive Owen’s Chris is thoroughly brutal and does not hesitate to kill; Owen can be one note in his roles and he is here too, but at least his smile gives a hint to his charisma and hides the devil and violence in his soul. Billy Crudup’s Frank is more of an issue; he is dull and morose for most of the picture so his scenes with Zoe Saldana, who makes the most of what she has to do, do not draw us in.

     Blood Ties looks good and with this cast and good period detail it should have been better. But it feels long and has too many plotlines, undeveloped characters and leads who do not engage us to be really satisfying.

Video

     Blood Ties is presented in the original aspect ratio of 2.35:1, the original ratio, in 1080p using the MPEG-4 AVC code.

    The movie was filmed using the digital Arri Alexa camera. The print is sharp and well detailed, although some of the shadow detail was not clear. Colours were natural but deliberately drab. Blacks are solid, skin tones natural, brightness and contrast consistent.

     The print did show slight ghosting against vertical lines but otherwise marks and artefacts were absent.

    There are no subtitles.

Video Ratings Summary

Sharpness
Shadow Detail
Colour
Grain/Pixelization
Film-To-Video Artefacts
Film Artefacts
Overall

Audio

     Audio is an English DTS-HD MA 5.1 track.

     Dialogue was centred but was sometimes muffled and difficult to hear, where subtitles may have helped. The surrounds and rears provided some ambient effects, such as rain, and music, while the gunshots had a good depth and there were some pans for engines. The subwoofer added bass to the music, engines and occasional effects.

    Lip synchronisation was fine.

     The original score by Yodelice was used sparsely and was effective. More noticeably, the soundtrack was replete with classic American popular music, mostly from the 70s, including songs by The Rubettes, Sam Cooke, The Crystals, Little Richard, Lou Reed, Gerry Rafferty, Tommy James & The Shondells, Janis Ian and Cream, some of which were very loud in the audio mix.

Audio Ratings Summary

Dialogue
Audio Sync
Clicks/Pops/Dropouts
Surround Channel Use
Subwoofer
Overall

Behind the Scenes (9:31)

     Four short EPK type featurettes with film and on-set footage and interviews with the director, cinematographer, and cast members Clive Owen, Zoe Saldana, Marion Cotillard and Billy Crudup. Some footage is repeated in different sections. The four sections are:

• Blood Ties
• New York
• Girls
• USA

Theatrical Trailer (1:43)

Madman Propaganda (10:09)

     Trailers for Arbitrage, Disconnect, How I Live Now and Rampart.

     The Region A US release of Blood Ties adds a Spanish dub and has a more extensive 26 minute “making of” that seems to include the sections we have on our release. However, reviews suggest it is not of great insight or value, so it hardly seems worth importing. The Region B UK Blu-ray is not due until October.

     With a strong cast including Clive Owen, Zoe Saldana, Marion Cotillard, James Caan and Billy Crudup, Blood Ties should have been better but it is too long and has too many plotlines, undeveloped characters and leads who do not draw us in which results in a film that should have been better.

     The video and audio are fine; extras are minimal.

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall