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A Few Words About A few words about...™ The Ballad of Lefty Brown -- in Blu-ray (1 Viewer)

Robert Harris

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As a huge fan of westerns, I had high hopes that Jared Moshe's The Ballad of Lefty Brown, might be a high spot for the genre in modern terms.

It's a small film, with a extremely insular cast, with the exception of a couple of sequences with a medium sized group of onlookers and involved actors.

The main cast is led by Bill Pullman, Kathy Baker, and Jim Caviezel, with an assist from Peter Fonda.

Bottom line -- it's a terrific film. More of a character study of Mr. Pullman's Lefty Brown. It all works.

What caught my interest was the cinematography.

What's obvious about the film, is that it doesn't look like a typical Hollywood western.

Clothing appears to be worn. Buildings lived in.

The look of the film is low density, a bit monochromatic, but with some odd things occurring. For example,
Cinematographer David McFarland, has the edges of some shots going oddly blue, almost faded or damaged from age. Night sequences take on a slightly cyan-green appearance.

None of this is by error, as Mr. McFarland knows what he's doing.

But it's an interesting take on the era.

Almost as if he had decided to use Kodak color negative stock that might have been around in the 1880s.

At first, I found it jarring, but then accepted it as the norm for the film, and it works.

An interesting film, worth your time.


Image - 5

Audio - 5 (DTS-HD MA 5.1)

Pass / Fail - Pass

Recommended

RAH

 
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Winston T. Boogie

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This one has been on my radar for a while and I have it ordered, basically for the same reason you had an interest...a love of westerns and the fact that they don't make many these days. Recently I went to the cinema to see Hostiles, an excellent entry in the genre, and love the experience of seeing a western on the big screen. Sadly, I don't think Lefty played any local cinemas or if it did it passed through town faster than a train robber making his getaway and I missed it.

I enjoyed reading your thoughts and very much look forward to seeing this. It's bargain priced for a new blu-ray too so western fans should jump at this.
 

Bernard McNair

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Thank you Mr. Harris for the review.
I love westerns and so few of interest are made these days. I will definitely p
 

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