DVD Review: ‘Blue is the Warmest Color’ Gets Slight Release

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Average: 5 (1 vote)

The Criterion Collection’s deal with IFC Films has to a unique subset of their catalog. While most Criterion films are either acknowledged classics or foreign/smaller films that the company wants to shed more light on, the IFC ones are generally current. While some of the choices have questionable, we’ve also seen recent greats like “Certified Copy,” “Fish Tank,” next month’s “The Great Beauty,” and this week’s “Blue is the Warmest Color” joining the collection earlier than they otherwise would have. “Blue” is a great film with two of the best performances of 2013. Sadly, the DVD release doesn’t reflect the film’s quality.

HollywoodChicago.com DVD rating: 3.5/5.0
Rating: 3.5/5.0

“Blue is the Warmest Color” is a film that seems tailor-made for interesting special features. It’s based on a graphic novel, which allows for comparisons between its source and final product that could allow insight into its production. It had a tumultuous festival run, including controversy between its stars & director, and that certainly could have led to an interesting special feature. And it’s a film that just begs for discussion and conversation via commentary track. And yet Criterion, who lead the way in bonus material that enhances one’s appreciation of a film, offer nothing here. The film definitely stands on it. You should see it. Adele Exarchopoulos should have been in the conversation to win an Oscar this weekend. It’s a powerful work that will stand the test of time—a chronicle of a formative relationship from its first day to its last. And yet one has to wonder if the IFC deal wasn’t in place if a better Criterion release wouldn’t have been given “Color” in a few years.

Blue is the Warmest Color was released on DVD on February 25, 2014
Blue is the Warmest Color was released on DVD on February 25, 2014
Photo credit: Courtesy of the Criterion Collection

Synopsis:
The colorful, electrifying romance that took the Cannes Film Festival by storm courageously dives into a young woman’s experiences of first love and sexual awakening. Blue Is the Warmest Color stars the remarkable newcomer Adele Excharpoulos as a high schooler who, much to her own surprise, plunges into a thrilling relationship with a female twentysomething art student, played by Lea Seydoux. Directed by Abdellatif Kechiche, this finely detailed, intimate epic sensitively renders the erotic abandon of youth. It has captivated international audiences and been widely embraced as a defining love story for the new century.

Special Features:
o Trailer and TV Spot
o Essay By Critic B. Ruby Rich

“Blue is the Warmest Color” was released on Criterion DVD on February 25, 2014.

HollywoodChicago.com content director Brian Tallerico

By BRIAN TALLERICO
Content Director
HollywoodChicago.com
brian@hollywoodchicago.com

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