Monsoon Wedding

Criterion's MPEG-4 1080p transfer (1.85:1 aspect ratio) on this 50GB disc is absolutely stunning.

To quote from the booklet that comes in the Blu-ray case: "'Monsoon Wedding' is presented in its original aspect ratio of 1.85:1. Director Mira Nair and director of photography Declan Quinn supervised and approved this new high-definition transfer, which was created on a Spirit 4K Datacine from the original 35 mm interpositive, blow up from the original Super 16 mm A/B negative. Thousands of instances of dirt, debris, scratches, splices, warps, jitter, flicker, and X-ray damage were manually removed using MTI's DRS system and Pixel Farm's PFClean system, while Digital Vision's DVNR system was used for small dirt, grain, and noise reduction."

Whew. Well, all that hard work shows. The most shocking thing about the movie is that it was shot on Super 16 and still looks this amazing. I saw the film when it was originally released, and I don't remember the colors popping, the amount of detail, and the darkness of shadows that are present here. (Keep in mind the original DVD wasn't even anamorphic.)

Additionally, skin tones look great, and the image is just lush and full of warmth. The digital clean up never makes anything look too waxen, and it is free of any buggy technical issues. This is another wonderful transfer from the fine folks at Criterion.

This being a Criterion release, there are a whole host of wonderful extra features. The full title for this release is 'Monsoon Wedding and Seven Short Films,' because there are seven "short" films (short being a relative word) right alongside the main feature. So I'm going to cover each short here in the 'special features' section of my review, even though they're sort of co-headliners on this disc.

• Documentary Shorts This section of the disc is composed of two short films - "So Far From India," and "India Cabaret." "So Far From India" (HD, 1982, 49:22) comes with an introduction from Nair (HD, 6:41) and chronicles the life of a newsstand employee near where Nair was living in New York City. Eventually, Nair got so enmeshed in his life that she followed him back to India to meet with his wife, who had just given birth. Nair's subject married in India before coming to America because his family didn't want him marrying an American. This is a nice little documentary, though it suffers from an overabundance of narration (from Nair herself) and seems a bit dated. Still, you can see the themes start to incubate that will carry forth throughout Nair's filmography, most notably her interest in romance and weddings. Also in the documentaries section is "India Cabaret" (HD, 1985, 59:42), which also comes with an introduction from the director (HD, 7:50), and focuses on female strippers in India. Of course, it's interesting to see the differences in the way that strippers are portrayed in American films versus how strippers are in India. But even more fascinating is how this was the seed of another future Nair project, 1988's feature film 'Salaam Bombay,' particularly in its portrayal of India's lower classes. There's another short documentary but for some reason, it's not included in the 'short films' section of this disc, but rather lumped in with the 'Monsoon Wedding' special features. Regardless, "Laughing Club of India" (HD, 2000, 35:03) is a really interesting documentary about these groups of women, all around India, who get together and just laugh. It's fascinating and funny and comes with another introduction from Nair (HD, 4:20). All of these films are very worthy of your time, especially if you're a fan of Nair's work, or documentaries in general.
  
• Fiction Shorts There are also three narrative short films on this disc. The first of which, "The Day the Mercedes Became a Hat" (HD, 1993, 11:21), comes with an intro from Nair (HD, 4:39) where she explains that the film was commissioned by super-producer Brian Grazer, who wanted to do a series of shorts on the human family. It's about the fallout in South Africa following Chris Hani's assassination and follows one white family as they leave the home they've always known, due to the political tumult. It's amazing how powerful the movie is, and how short it is, too. The next short, "India" (HD, 2000, 11:50), was part of the film '11'09"1,' which gave filmmakers the chance to comment on the 9/11 and its aftermath in 11 minutes, 9 seconds, and 1 frame. In the intro to this segment (HD, 3:17), Nair talks about how it was inspired by a real life Brooklyn family, whose young adult son went missing after 9/11. The short film takes the bent that he was picked up by some intelligence group and never heard from again; really powerful stuff. But my favorite short on the whole disc is "Migration" (HD, 2008, 9:07), which Nair explains on the intro (HD, 3:50) was commissioned by The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation to inspire education. What's so amazing is that it's a story about AIDS that isn't preachy, and that doesn't put the blame on any kind of sex (there's both heterosexual and homosexual sex presented). At the end, it's a bit of a mystery too, as you try to trace the virus from partner to partner, social class to social class. To say anymore would be criminal, but "Migration" is not to be missed. There's also a short called "How Can It Be?" (HD, 2008, 9:07), which Nair explains on the intro (HD, 5:04) was based on a series of U.N. Global Initiatives. Nair's film is about the woman's right to express oneself and this is probably the weakest short of the bunch, bogged down by dreary politicizing as a woman makes a decision to live for herself. Again, these are all great little films and are highly recommended.
  
• Commentary by Director Mira Nair Mira Nair is an incredibly strong and intelligent personality, and she's all over this disc. (By the time you're through, you'll feel like you know her.) Her commentary is just as warm and bright as all of her other appearances on this disc, and she goes into real detail about virtually every aspect of this film - it's inception, shooting, casting, post-production, and release. You can tell that there was no way that she could have known that this was going to be on one of the top 10 foreign films of all time. Nair currently teaches film at Columbia while still directing (her mediocre biopic 'Amelia' just came out), and her staggering wealth of knowledge is evident here. This is just a wonderful commentary and is a must listen for any fans of the film and pretty much anyone else. Also, it should be noted that she sat next to me at a recent Film Society of Lincoln Center screening. So there's that too.
  
• Interview with Naseeruddin Shah (HD, 21:24) This is a recent interview with one of 'Monsoon Wedding's' stars, conducted by Nair herself (in what looks like her Columbia office). It's a really great conversation, with the two talking about 'Monsoon Wedding' and Shah's lengthy career as an actor in India. He even talks, briefly and disparagingly, about his one experience with Hollywood. For those of you who watch this and are curious what that movie was, it was none other than Stephen Norrington's disastrous 'League of Extraordinary Gentlemen' adaptation, where Shah played the wizened Captain Nemo.
  
• Interview with Declan Quinn and Stephanie Carroll (HD, 10:35) This is an interesting, but all too brief interview with 'Monsoon Wedding's cinematographer (Quinn) and production designer (Carroll). The two reminisce about the pre-production and production of 'Monsoon Wedding,' like how they had to race out to India before principle photography began to get shots of the monsoon, which were later interspersed into the body of the film. They both are dazzlingly intelligent and, if Carroll wouldn't talk over Quinn so often, this would be a flawless piece. Still, highly recommended.
  
• Trailer (HD, 2:22) Pretty standard art movie trailer stuff (and so long). If you missed this, it wouldn't kill you.
  
• "A Marigold Tapestry" Essay by Pico Iyer This is a nice little essay, filled with pictures. I love that Criterion keeps putting together these outstanding liner notes.