Insignificance: The Criterion Collection [Blu-ray] Reviews

Nicolas Roeg doesn’t direct your standard popcorn potboiler. His films generally stress the psychological underpinnings of their characters sometimes at the expense of narrative cohesion, but his films are always strikingly cinematic if nothing else. Insignificance falters in its clumsy psychology, and this philosophical comedy-drama isn’t as funny as it wants to be or as dramatic as it should have been. Still, there are images here that will haunt the viewer for days, and while its set-up is a rather sophomoric exercise in avant garde dramatic construction, it inarguably has its gripping moments. Arty to a fault, Nicolas Roeg’s Insignificance presents philosophical discussions between 1950s icons in a rather unsatisfying fashion, but there is no denying that Roeg the filmmaker knows how to construct arresting, hauntingly memorable images. The Blu-ray release presents the film to its best advantage and offers some thoughtful bonus material for those who wish to explore the film’s meanings more deeply. 

For the complete review, please go here.