Spanking the Monkey: 12/06 (1 Viewer)

[PaulP]

As per DavisDVD:

 

[Matt Stone]

Good news!

 

[CraigF]

Anyone viewed this yet, comments?

 

[Mark_Wilson]

I picked it up last week but haven't looked at it yet. Probably won't for a while since I just watched my LD of this not long ago. Good to have it in widescreen finally.

 

[CraigF]

OK, I'll be watching it *when I can find it* and I'll give it a little report if nobody else does first. (My copy was supposedly delivered a few days ago...)

This wasn't released in Canada, apparently.

Edit: found it, will watch tomorrow then. Frankly, I'm surprised in the apparent lack of interest in this title. Do people not like Three Kings, Flirting with Disaster, Huckabees? Oh well, some pretty decent stuff I think, with a decidedly offbeat twist.

 

[CraigF]

For those who don't know what the film's about: it's not as crude and juvenile as its euphemistic title might have you think. If you've ever thought you were Spanking the Monkey with your life, a personal relationship, your job, your friends, a personal "quest" or goal, a parent, an assignment, a conversation, anything at all that seems to be going nowhere, is "pointless", inconclusive or unsatisfying, you can probably relate to this. Doesn't leave too many out, I'd imagine... Everybody in this movie is Spanking the Monkey in that sense, and when the main character actually does try to Spank the Monkey in the usual colloquial manner, that isn't a happening experience either... FWIW, I believe this film debuted at the same Sundance Festival ('94) as Clerks. StM is much more polished than Clerks (how can that be, you ask?), and much less funnier, but is similar in its characters' malaise and going-nowhere lives. Otherwise, not much in common, but the base theme must have been something people were feeling and more importantly manifesting at that time (don't remember) and film-makers wanted to represent it.

The Image DVD is better than I expected, having never seen a home video version of StM, but having seen some Image treatments...let's just say they've been highy variable over the years.

Video is anamorphic WS, audio is plain-Jane Dolby mono (seems to be 2.0 mono).

Nothing much to say about the audio, except it's clean and clear...there isn't any bass to speak of, and at the other end, no hiss either...dialogue mostly with a bit of music by Morphine.

PQ is actually quite good. Fair grain evident in most indoor scenes, varying to almost none in the bright outside and, oddly I thought, also almost none in the nightime outside scenes (this could be explained, possibly, by where DOR got some of his film [commentary] and how he used it). Some EE most visible in the brighter scenes, but nothing I found very annoying at all. Colors OK, about medium (i.e. neither washed-out nor saturated). A little soft, not great detail. The source seems to be in excellent shape, I didn't notice any scratches/dirt and only a very few instances of emulsion probs (??...anyway, "light" blobby areas) that were small and gone in a flash. For this film and its production budget (as best I can figure, about $60k), the result is very acceptably rendered here I'd say. And it's at a cheap price.

Extras include a commentary with DOR, theatrical trailer, and a stills gallery. I haven't listened to the whole commentary yet. There are no available subtitles.

There is also an insert which is a NY Times review, and (oddly) does not include chapter listings. I did not like the review because it focuses on the title and the sexual aspect. The writer says the "sexual aspect" seems almost beside the point and purely sensational, when in fact it's her review which is that. Whatever sells, I guess. Personally, I thought she was spanking the monkey, and I suspect that could be why this was included: the film is a black comedy after all and irony rules. The sexual aspect is there, but it's very implied/obvious rather than graphically shown. Still, this DVD is Unrated and not for the kiddies.

 

[donnie_d]

english subtitles?

 

[CraigF]

No. Thanks, I added that.