Autumn in New York (Blu-ray Review)
- Review Date: Sep 24, 2018
- Format: Blu-ray Disc
-
Director
Joan ChenRelease Date(s)
2000 (August 21, 2018)Studio(s)
MGM (MVD Marquee Classics)- Film/Program Grade: C
- Video Grade: A
- Audio Grade: A
- Extras Grade: D
Review
There are so many sayings about love in our society: “love conquers all”, “age doesn’t matter”, “opposites attract”, etc. Autumn in New York is a movie that expands upon on all of those romantic ideas. It’s also the kind of movie we’ve not only seen before, but actually lived through and experienced. To borrow another familiar catchphrase, “been there, done that”.
Autumn in New York is a love story between complete opposites of the social spectrum, Will (Richard Gere) and Charlotte (Winona Ryder). Will is a middle-aged, entrepreneurial, wealthy, womanizing playboy who isn’t into committed relationships until he meets Charlotte, a woman half his age. Realizing that his relationship with Charlotte is more than just a casual one-night stand, Will finds it difficult to deal with. But there are other issues that will make things even more complex and painful as their journey continues, despite the reluctance to even go forward with it at all.
Even though she’s playing someone younger than she actually is, Winona Ryder is great at playing the sweet and innocent Charlotte, while Richard Gere hands in a good performance as Will. Yet despite their individual performances, there’s appears to be a lack of chemistry between them. Throughout the film, there’s some really awkward and clumsy-sounding dialogue, essentially causing the two to come across as unconvincing. The performances by the supporting cast are decent enough but nothing spectacular. Despite the beautiful cinematography by Changwei Gu and music by Gabriel Yared, Autumn in New York is your typical, run of the mill, clichéd, romantic drama, with essentially nothing to it that we haven’t seen before.
MVD Marquee Classics debuts Autumn in New York on Blu-ray with a rich color palette and deep black levels. Contrast levels are also fantastic with crisp, clear images, including beautifully bright skies and accurate flesh tones. There’s great depth to be had on both the indoor and outdoor scenery with rich textures and nice detail, particularly in close-ups of the characters. There are also four different audio tracks for this release: English 2.0 LPCM 2.0 and English, Spanish, and French 5.1 Dolby Digital. Both English tracks are more than serviceable with dialogue and music sounding pleasant and mellow. No audio issues, such as dropouts or hiss, were detected either. Optional French and Spanish subtitles are offered for all of the audio tracks, but special features are minimal. They include a photo gallery and trailers for the film itself, 37: A Final Promise, Barbershop, Barbershop 2, Beauty Shop, and Out of Time.
Autumn in New York is a common story that most people can identify with – if only the film was as good as it looked. Still, fans of romantic dramas will be pleased with it.
- David Steigman