Whit Stillman’s tender appraisal of Manhattan’s Upper East Side “debuteens” plays like a summer stock company of Woody Allen movie wannabes in Metropolitan, a witty but slightly superficial and self-conscious look at bourgeois New York teenagers who take themselves and their elite lifestyle way too seriously. Highly florid in speech and with flavorful views of New York of the late 1980s, Metropolitan may be a time capsule for a particular social strata in New York that was disappearing at the time, but seeing the movie certainly doesn’t make one wax nostalgic for a lost era.
Metropolitan (Blu-ray)
Directed by Whit Stillman
Studio: Criterion
Year: 1990
Aspect Ratio: 1.66:1 1080p AVC codec
Running Time: 99 minutes
Rating: NR
Audio: PCM 1.0 English
Subtitles: SDH
Region: A
MSRP: $ 39.95
Release Date: July 24, 2012
Review Date: July 19, 2012
The Film
3.5/5
Alienated West Side teen Tom Townsend (Edward Clements) gets invited to a debutante ball at the Plaza and not having anything better to do, he attends. Afterward, he’s invited to join an elite group of jaded East Siders who take him back to the home of Sally Fowler (Dylan Hundley) where they form a kind of clique they nickname UHBs, for Urban Haute Bourgeoisie. Among the group is Audrey Rouget (Carolyn Farina) who starts carrying a torch for Tom. Tom, however, is still in love with an old crush Serena (Elizabeth Thompson) who merely numbers Tom among her many boy friends. As the Christmas vacation days pass, the group first gets tighter and spends every night together, but then the girls begin finding real dates instead of the guys they’re palling around with, so the group begins to slowly disintegrate, much to the dismay of Tom and Charlie (Taylor Nichols) who loves Audrey in vain and dislikes Tom’s insensitivity in his dealings with her.
Earning an Oscar nomination for his script, director Whit Stillman does a fine job capturing Manhattan during the holiday season even if much of the movie is spent indoors as the group offers their cynical views on everything from Jane Austen to the latest bits of gossip about people they loathe. The writing is literate and loaded with purpose, but either the actors’ deliveries are off or the writing is too florid and difficult because it just doesn’t always sound natural coming from the mouths of the film’s characters. And there is no typical talk of jobs or ambitions or the future. Rather, the talk, even with its über-sophistication, is all about material, synthetic relationships and behaviors as if that’s all these Manhattanites care about. It quickly wears out its welcome, especially since the personal sides of the story are very muted and internal making the film a great deal about talk and very little about action.
The film’s best performance is by the stuttering, stumbling Taylor Nichols who takes his moral stands but isn’t afraid to second guess his decisions. As the jerk all of the guys loathe and a couple of the girls want to be with, Will Kempe does a wonderful job with cocky Rick Von Sloneker. Edward Clements gets off all of his lines well but seems just a bit too unemotional to carry the weight of the picture as its main character Tom. Carolyn Farina is even less expressive and comfortable with line readings as Audrey (though her face contains a fair degree of animation). Isabel Gillies as the flirty bitch of the group certainly is the most impressive of the actresses in the movie, and Christopher Eigeman as Nick Smith seems the most animated of the boys in this elite circle.
Video Quality
3.5/5
The film has been framed at 1.66:1 and is presented in 1080p resolution using the AVC codec. Shot in 16mm and later blown up for theatrical exhibition, the film’s long shots are soft and indistinct. Medium shots are the best with excellent sharpness and a fair degree of detail to be seen. Color is pretty rich, but flesh tones are overly rosy especially early in the movie. Black levels are all right but nothing special. The film has been divided into 24 chapters.
Audio Quality
3.5/5
The PCM 1.0 (1.1 Mbps) sound mix gives the music by Mark Suozzo and Tom Judson very good fidelity that belies the low budget mono encode. Sometimes however, the dialogue gets a bit overpowered by the music. The low budget (this was a true independent film financed solely by the director and some friends) means there is little ambience of Manhattan to be heard on the soundtrack.
Special Features
3/5
The audio commentary is provided by director-writer Whit Stillman, editor Chris Tellefsen, and co-stars Taylor Nichols and Christopher Eigeman. It’s an interesting and solid conversation about the film’s production and aftermath and is one fans of the movie will enjoy.
All of the bonus video features are presented in 1080i.
An outtakes montage reel runs for 9 ½ minutes.
A brief memorial to line producer Brian Greenbaum (who appears in several cameo moments in the movie) runs 1 minute.
Two scenes featuring alternate casting are presented. Will Kempe (who plays the infamous Rick von Sloneker) is seen in a screen test playing Nick Smith that runs for 2 minutes. Lloyd Kaufman plays a record producer in a test (played by Stephen Uys in the movie) which runs 2 ½ minutes.
The theatrical trailer runs 2 ¼ minutes.
The enclosed pamphlet contains the cast and crew lists and an essay on the film by critic Luc Sante.
The Criterion Blu-rays include a maneuvering tool called “Timeline” which can be pulled up from the menu or by pushing the red button on the remote. It shows you your progress on the disc, the title of the chapter you’re now in, and index markers for the commentary that goes along with the film, all of which can be switched on the fly. Additionally, two other buttons on the remote can place or remove bookmarks if you decide to stop viewing before reaching the end of the film or want to mark specific places for later reference.
In Conclusion
3.5/5 (not an average)
Smartly amusing and erudite but a tad too talky occasionally for its own good, Metropolitan has turned out to be (so far) the most celebrated of Whit Stillman’s films. The Blu-ray shows the low budget movie in its best light and carries over the bonus features from its earlier DVD release.
Matt Hough
Charlotte, NC
