Femme (Standard Edition)
Overview -
Blu-ray Review By: Jesse Skeen
British film Femme arrives in the US on Blu-Ray from Utopia. Hell hath no fury like a drag queen scorned! The film is a unique take on the "revenge thriller" formula sometimes blurring the lines of empathy, but style and wit gives this sometimes standard by-the-book plot elements a few surprises. Utopia and OCN Distribution deliver a Blu-ray disc release with solid picture and sound quality and a few informative extras. Recommended
Storyline: Our Reviewer's Take
Main character Jules (Nathan Stewart-Jarrett, previously seen in the recent Candyman remake) enjoys performing as a lip-synching drag queen at a gay nightclub, seeing the act as another side of himself. The movie opens with him on stage. On the way home, still partially in costume, he gets into an altercation with a gang of thugs who push him down in the street and beat him while shouting homophobic insults.
Flashing forward a few months, we find that Jules has stopped his nightclub act and has been staying inside most of the time with his housemates, who encourage him to move on and get out again. Finally, he goes out to a men's sauna and finds none other than Preston (George MacKay), his main attacker. It turns out that Preston is closeted gay, with his homophobia being just an act to look "tough" around his friends. He doesn't recognize Jules dressed as a man. Now through sheer coincidence, Jules has an opportunity to integrate himself into Preston's life and exact his revenge.
The film creates a tense atmosphere but avoids appearing like a generic thriller. Most of the time Preston acts quite thug-like and enjoys rough and dominating sex. Jules seems to be normally the opposite of that type of personality but fakes it enough to be accepted by him and his friends. All of the revenge plotting is done alone behind closed doors, and the viewer isn't quite sure where things are going to end up.
This is one of the few times where a "drag queen" character isn't played for laughs, but also isn't pushing an "agenda" as some films have been accused of. Rather the character is mostly portrayed as a reasonably ordinary person who most audiences can sympathize with regardless of their orientation. While he is initially attacked for this lifestyle, the narrative shows him to be fully capable of plotting revenge and not simply being a victim. The character of Preston is somewhat interesting as he isn't just closeted but commits this act of anti-gay violence just so his friends won't suspect him. Underneath though as Jules sees by spending time with him, he might actually be capable of being a decent person later in life if he simply stopped caring so much about what others thought of him. While the film doesn't give him much of a backstory other than having served prior time in prison, he comes off as a far more complex character than simply "the bad guy" in the story.
Vital Disc Stats: The Blu-Ray
Utopia's Blu-Ray is housed in a clear case, with a still of the movie's opening musical performance on the reverse side of the cover insert. Inside is a booklet with an analysis by Alexandra Heller-Nicholas and color photos from the movie. The disc opens with an unskippable FBI warning and company logo running 15 seconds, then displays the main menu featuring part of the opening musical number playing repeatedly. The disc includes an option to resume from the point previously left off.
Video Review
Femme is presented in a 2.35 ratio, pity that it likely hasn't appeared on many proper theater screens. The wide framing doesn't call much attention to itself in letterbox form. While I've been spoiled lately by 4K and see 1080 as a bit of a downgrade, the picture quality here doesn't leave you asking for much more. A lot of the movie is shot with an intentionally soft focus, but still showing clear details in close-up shots. Colors are bright and tend to stand out. Most of the movie takes place in dark settings, but the Blu-Ray encoding handles this well with no obvious banding or compression artifacts.
Audio Review
While it's been standard for a while for "smaller" films to have 5.1 audio mixes, this one was quite a surprise. Naturally the opening music number makes good use of the sound mix, with the music and audience reactions filling all channels but it doesn't stop there. While onscreen dialogue is kept in the center, the surround channels are used liberally with not just ambient sounds but also voices from offscreen and cars driving by. I had to check a few times whether some sounds I was hearing were part of the movie, or real coming from outside. It's always fun when that happens.
Special Features
The ending of this movie is quite intense, and some viewers may be OK leaving it at that but others may ask for more, wondering about the real people who made the movie. For them, a decent amount of bonus features are included:
- NYC Premiere Q&A with Directors Sam H. Freeman and Ng Choon Ping and Stars George MacKay and Nathan Stewart-Jarrett (HD, 31 minutes) - The two directors and two main actors participate in a question and answer session from the audience after a premiere showing.
- Trailer (HD, 1:42) Made for US audiences, with quick cuts from the movie and reviewer quotes
- Stills Gallery (HD, 1:50) Slideshow of still photos shot during production, with most of the crew wearing COVID protective masks. An instrumental track from the movie plays during this.
- Femme Featurette (HD, 4:04) Quick promo piece with the two main actors discussing the story and their characters, showing that they're different people in real life but were game to take on these roles.
Final Thoughts
Femme is a refreshing take on the revenge thriller formula, featuring great performances with a pleasing visual and aural style. The active 5.1 audio mix reminds us that a movie doesn't need to be a big action film to make good use of that. The Blu-Ray delivers a solid presentation and the Q&A session makes for good viewing after the movie as a transition back into reality. Recommended.
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