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By
NICK ZEGARAC
The film stars Richard
Dreyfuss as Roy Neary, one of a growing number of
individuals touched by a freak encounter with an
extraterrestrial spacecraft. Inexplicably
compelled to create a mountain landscape in his
living room, Roy's obsession eventually alienates
his wife (Terri Garr) but draws him to a location
in the Arizona dessert where he eventually
realizes a wondrous secret the U.S. government has
been keeping from the masses -- aliens have been
making contact with humans for many years.
For its day the visual effects in this film were
mesmerizing, particularly the arrival of the
mother ship in the final reel. Spielberg scored a
coup by getting legendary director, Francois
Truffaut to costar as a French researcher into
alien abductions. The film is methodical in its
pacing, allowing time for all of the affected
survivors to get in contact with one another and
form an alliance that is truly visceral and
compelling.
Previous versions of "Close Encounters" suffered
from an excessive amount of film grain. Columbia's
DVD continues that tradition. Unfortunately it
also adds a host of digital anomalies to an
already flawed transfer. The clarity of DVD allows
the viewer to see the nasty halos surrounding the
matte process shots and special effects. They look
now, more than ever, as though they were pasted on
top of live action footage -- completely
destroying the make believe quality. This is a
digitally grainy, poorly contrasted (in spots) and
thoroughly unsatisfactory visual presentation
topped off by excessive aliasing, shimmering and
edge enhancement. Colors are dated and, at times,
appear to have a haze or washed out look. Flesh
tones are very pink and unnatural. There are
instances of color smearing as well. The arrival
of the alien mother ship is marred by excessive
pixelization that breaks up fine details. This is
not the way I want to remember this sci-fi
classic.
The soundtrack is dated but overall well
represented in remastered 5.1 surround. The extras
include a making of featurette that is informative
but a direct import from Columbia's laserdisc and
some extra test and rehearsal footage that is
disjointedly presented and somewhat dry. My
recommendation is, sadly, not to buy this film in
its current state on DVD. My other recommendation,
to Columbia, is that I think they would be wise to
just hand over all existing film elements of this
sci-fi classic to a team of digital restoration
film experts. |
