54

I’ll get to the big “but” in a bit. First, I wanted to highlight what went right. Cinématographe definitely gets the packaging right! The solid slipcover and book-bound presentation are beautiful. The included book really adds to the physical media experience. The three disc set includes the 4K disc (more on this later), a Blu-Ray with the original theatrical release and the director’s cut, and an extras disc.

And here’s where the big “but” comes in. The 4K disc only includes the original theatrical release. This means you can only see the director’s cut on standard Blu-Ray. I’d consider that a significant miss and I deducted a star.

That withstanding, this is a still a great version to add to your collection. The Blu-Ray film quality is fine, but the presentation and bonus features take this over the top. Maybe wait for a sale, but still recommended.

A poster-child for the Miramax edit, the original cut of “54” was very much showcasing the iconic dance club for what it was, a center of queer (and popular) NY culture of the late 1970s. A place where anyone can be anyone they want to be. The fact that the studio’s bosses didn’t like the film’s embrace of queer theme doesn’t surprise me particularly since they somehow believed such an auteur-driven film should be a box office phenomenon. As is, the stars are good and the original edit as presented on the blu-ray shows how the film always should’ve been. The only shame is that the studio didn’t save all the elements so the director version could’ve been in 4k too.

Love this film!!! Great presentation and packaging, and as always with VinSyn, item was packaged carefully and thoughtfully for safe shipping. Looks amazing on the shelf.

They went all out with this one, love or hate the movie, this is the version to own. Great work.

Theatrical Cut in 4K

The most I’ve enjoyed this highly flawed but well-intentioned love letter of the four viewings I’ve had.

I hurriedly picked up this new release, mistakenly thinking the director’s cut would have seamless branching and give us two 4K versions (much like Jade from Vinegar Syndrome), yet only the theatrical cut gets the UHD upgrade. I am assuming in this case, that the shifts in quality whenever it cuts to reinstated material are likely pretty vast and too jarring to justify the image quality discrepancies.

I was ready to watch the director’s cut, but I really wanted to enjoy the film in 4K, so I sat down for another watch of the theatrical cut instead, and the format really brings this thing to life as it has never looked or felt before, making you really appreciate production and costume design, which is the life blood of a period piece like this.

However, the 4K also doesn’t do any favors to re-shoots that were clearly done months later when the actors had radically changed their hair and less than stellar wigs were used.

The film in this incarnation, remains strangely sanitized, seemingly scared of *** that isn’t heteronormative, truly frightened of any predatory sexual behavior, the central trio’s friendship is never nearly as complicated as is what is constantly hinted at, and while our protagonist feels the pull of the dark side, he’s hardly stained by it at all. Apparently, these are all issues addressed in the director’s cut, which adds about…