(Screen captures are lightly compressed with lossy JPEG and thus are meant as a general representation of the content and do not fully reveal the capabilities of the Blu-ray format)
The Film
The Narrows is the essence of mundaneness when it comes to crime dramas. Based on author Tim McLoughlin’s novel The Heart of the Old Country and adapted to the screen by Tatiana Blackington (the two had previously met in a writer’s workshop where McLoughlin was working on the novel), The Narrows is like all the cliché Scorsese and Coppola thrown together in one film, only without the grit.
Italian-American Mike Manadoro (Kevin Zegers) lives in Brooklyn with his father, a former sanitation worker now out of worker on disability (Vincent D’Onofrio). Mike longs to be a photographer and make it out of the old neighborhood. To make money so that he can pay for college in Manhattan and study under the tutelage of his idol, the photographer Professor Reyerson (Roger Rees), he works for a car service run by mobsters.
Mike ends up torn between the “grass is greener” world of Manhattan, his new classy, sociology major college girlfriend Kathy (Sophia Bush), the window on the world opportunity she provides, and his life of crime back in Brooklyn along with his decidedly more trashy girlfriend Gina (Monica Keena) who has been pressuring him to get married.
Even more complications arise as Mike befriends an old neighborhood hero, Nicky Shades (Eddie Cahill), just back from Afghanistan and messed up from the war. Mike quickly begins to realize that Nicky is no hero and has serious problems of his own.
Despite some lovely cinematography by Seamus Tierny, a generally stylish look well-captured by director François Velle and a solid acting performance by D’Onofrio, The Narrows is just a dime-a-dozen crime drama filled with cookie cutter characters and plot twists that become more unbelievable as the story unfolds.
Video Quality
Upon first inspection The Narrows’ 1.78:1 1080p/24 AVC/MPEG-4 has a reasonably acceptable encoding with a typical indie film look and feel — a little soft, colors won’t exactly leap out at you, but it is watchable. Look a little closer, however, and some issues with posterization and blocking begin to present themselves. These seem to be more an issue with the source than of the transfer, but combined with the overall aesthetic of the film, and The Narrows isn’t exactly reference quality high definition material. Flesh tones are also purposely unnatural and more peach-hued at times.
Audio Quality
The sole audio option offered on The Narrows is an English DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 (48kHz/16-bit) mix. With the film being rather dialogue-driven, the soundtrack is not exactly filled with aural excitement, but the dialogue is clean, there are good dynamics, the score offers a reasonable amount of low frequencies and surround channels have some decent low-level ambience.
Supplemental Materials
The supplements provided here are all rather mundane and of the “pat on the back” interview segment variety, except for the obligatory audio commentary.
The supplements provided on this release are:
Commentary by director Francois Velle & Writer Tatiana Blackington
Interviews:
Tatiana Blackington and François Velle (1.78:1; 480i/60; 0:43.29)
Kevin Zegers (1.78:1; 480i/60; 0:11.32)
Sophia Bush (1.78:1; 480i/60; 0:21.26)
Vincent D’onofrio (1.66:1; 480i/60; 0:07.16)
Tim Mcloughlin (1.78:1; 480i/60; 0:06.23)
The Definitive Word:
Overall:
They gave it a good try with The Narrows, but if you want some serious New York City gangster movies, go to the source and check out Mean Streets or Goodfellas.
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OverallItalian-American Mike Manadoro (Kevin Zegers) lives in Brooklyn with his father, a former sanitation worker now out of worker on disability (Vincent D’Onofrio). Mike longs to be a photographer and make it out of the old neighborhood. To make money so that he can pay for college in Manhattan and study under the tutelage of his idol, the photographer Professor Reyerson (Roger Rees), he works for a car service run by mobsters.
They gave it a good try with The Narrows, but if you want some serious New York City gangster movies, go to the source and check out Mean Streets or Goodfellas.
