I'll Follow You Down (Blu-ray) (2013)

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General		Extras
Category	Science Fiction	Theatrical Trailer Trailer-Accent releases x 4
Rating
Year Of Production	2013
Running Time	89:07
RSDL / Flipper	No/No	Cast & Crew
Start Up	Ads Then Menu
Region Coding	4	Directed By	Richie Mehta
Studio Distributor	Accent Film Entertainment	Starring	Haley Joel Osment Gillian Anderson Rufus Sewell Victor Garber Susanna Fournier
Case	Standard Blu-ray
RPI	?	Music	Andrew Lockington

Video		Audio
Pan & Scan/Full Frame	None	English Dolby Digital 5.1 (640Kb/s)
Widescreen Aspect Ratio	2.40:1
16x9 Enhancement
Video Format	1080i
Original Aspect Ratio	2.35:1	Miscellaneous
Jacket Pictures	No
Subtitles	None	Smoking	No
		Annoying Product Placement	No
		Action In or After Credits	No

     One day Marika Whyte (Gillian Anderson) and her young son Erol see her husband Gabe (Rufus Sewell) off at Toronto airport. He is leaving to attend a three day conference at Princeton in the United States, but three days later he fails to return. When Marika investigates she finds that Gabe’s luggage is still at his hotel; the last person to see Gabe was Marika’s father Sal (Victor Garber) on the day of his arrival at Princeton after which Gabe disappeared without a trace.

     Twelve years later Marika has not come to terms with the disappearance of her husband and remains depressed, suicidal and on medication. She lives with the now grown up Erol (Haley Joel Osment) who looks after his mother as much as he can while at the same time trying to move on with his life; he is a very talented physics student and is building a lasting relationship with his childhood sweetheart Grace (Susanna Fournier). Then Sal drops a bombshell on Erol; he has spent years looking through Gabe’s papers and he is convinced that Gabe successfully built a time machine and travelled back to 1946. What then happened is unclear but Sal believes that with Erol’s help they can reconstruct the time machine and bring Gabe back. Erol is very sceptical and even doubtful that he wants to help; to bring Gabe back to the point he left them at the airport would be to rewrite all the events of the previous 12 years, including Erol’s relationship with the now pregnant Grace. But a personal tragedy provides the catalyst for Erol to agree to participate and to embark upon his own trip to 1946.

     The strangely titled I’ll Follow You Down is an interesting and unusual film by writer / director Richie Mehta. It is a film with little action or special effects and indeed is not so much about time travel as it is a drama of ideas about the effects of time travel upon relationships and family. If life does exist in alternative realities to undo an event twelve years in the past, such as the disappearance of a parent, is to undo everything that has happened since, including current loving relationships and a pregnancy. Is it better to accept things as they are and to live in the present or to alter or reorient the past with unknown consequences?

     Those who like their sci-fi full of action, explosions and special effects may get restless with I’ll Follow You Down. Instead of action I’ll Follow You Down is replete with talk, explanation, exposition and working of equations on a blackboard, much of which does not make a lot of sense. Yet the film does not drag, due in no small part to an intelligent script which avoids most time travel clichés, believable human drama and the decent acting by the small cast of mostly familiar faces. Gillian Anderson and Rufus Sewell do not have a lot of screen time, although Anderson certainly makes the most of her role; the weight of the plot and exposition is carried by Haley Joel Osment and Victor Garber. Osment of course came to prominence as a child star with his role in The Sixth Sense (1999) for which he received an Oscar nomination. If his career has not reached the same heights since, despite such films as A.I. Artificial Intelligence (2001) for Spielberg, he is in regular work and he does a good job here. Garber is less familiar, being more a stage and TV actor, but he has 119 credits listed in the IMDb, and he does manage to make some of the exposition sound perfectly credible.

     There is nothing spectacular or flashy about I’ll Follow You Down; instead writer / director Richie Mehta provides an intelligent script and uses long takes which allow the dialogue to flow and to build the tension and ideas. The film may not be to the taste of sci-fi action fans but considered as a drama of ideas and relationships with time travel elements it pretty much succeeds at what it sets out to do and throws in a few shocks and twists along the way.

Video

     I’ll Follow You Down is presented in an aspect ratio of 2.40:1, close the original ratio of 2.35:1, in 1080i using the MPEG-4 AVC code.

     Many of the interior scenes are quite dark and sometimes it is difficult to see what is happening. On other occasions the actors are filmed in front of a light source creating a lot of glare, such as at 1:08. The result of both these choices is that detail can be indistinct. However, exterior sequences are sharp with glossy digital colours. Skin tones are natural expect for the digital yellowish tones under lights, blacks solid and brightness and contrast, except as noted above, consistent.

     I did not notice any artefacts or marks.

     There are no subtitles.

Video Ratings Summary

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Shadow Detail
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Audio

     Audio is an English Dolby Digital 5.1 at 640 Kbps; i.e., no lossless audio.

     This is a film with a lot of talk and the dialogue is clear and easy to hear. There is not a lot for the surrounds to do, and many scenes in the film are very quiet. However, the rears do provide occasional ambient sound, such as voices and crowd noise at the airport, and music. The time travel sequences did produce loud noise in the surrounds and a rumble from the sub-woofer, which was otherwise seldom heard.

     The score by Andrew Lockington was excellent. It was mysterious when it needed to be without overdoing it and was thus an effective adjunct to the vision.

     There are no lip synchronisation issues.

Audio Ratings Summary

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

Trailers (10:01)

     The following trailers play on start-up and must be skipped: The Conspiracy, Hotel Noir, It’s a Disaster and GMO OMG. They can also be selected from the menu, plus a trailer for I’ll Follow You Down (2:12).

     The US Region A Blu-ray is in the same aspect ratio, but is in 1080p and has a DTS-HD MA 5.1 audio track. It also includes as extras a 13 minute behind the scenes concentration on the recording of the score and three deleted scenes (5 minutes). The Region B UK version is the same as ours as far as I can see.

     Reviews of the US release suggest that the audio has little dynamic range and indeed this film does not require anything except clear dialogue. That release is also 1080p, although there is nothing wrong with what we have. However, the better video and audio specifications, plus the extras, would make Region A the better release.

     I’ll Follow You Down is not one for the sci-fi action crowd; it includes time travel but is primarily a thoughtful drama of ideas. Is it better to live in the present or to reorient the past with unknown consequences? The film works due to an intelligent script and a good cast headed by Gillian Anderson, Rufus Sewell and Haley Joel Osment.

     The video and audio are fine, but are only 1080i and Dolby Digital, unlike the US release, which also has some extras. However, if you system will not play Region A, there is nothing wrong with our release.

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall