MaXXXine (Blu-ray Review)
- Review Date: Nov 20, 2024
- Format: Blu-ray Disc
-
Director
Ti WestRelease Date(s)
2024 (October 8, 2024)Studio(s)
Motel Mojave/A24 (Lionsgate Home Entertainment)- Film/Program Grade: B
- Video Grade: A-
- Audio Grade: A-
- Extras Grade: C
Review
When Ti West and Mia Goth traveled to New Zealand in order to shoot X, they never intended it to form the foundation for a trilogy. The misadventures of the ambitious Maxine Minx (Goth) while filming an adult movie in rural Texas during the Seventies was supposed to be a self-contained story, with Maxine barely escaping the gruesome fate faced by her fellow filmmakers. Yet Maxine’s elderly nemesis Pearl (also Goth) proved to be a compelling (if somewhat cryptic) character, so West and Goth decided to explore her backstory with the prequel Pearl. That film helped to establish parallels between Maxine and Pearl that went far beyond just having the same actor playing each part. They both shared dreams of stardom as well as a willingness to do anything in order to overcome any obstacles that were in their way. What they didn’t necessarily share was success in achieving their dreams, so after the yin and the yang of these dual personalities clashed in X, it was perhaps inevitable that West and Goth would collaborate on a follow-up that explored the impacts of this conflict in MaXXXine.
X was set during the Seventies, while Pearl stepped back several decades to the waning days of World War I. MaXXXine moves the saga forward a decade to 1985. At that time, America was in the grip of moral panic over content in movies and music, and California was in the grip of fear due to the rampage of serial killer Richard Ramirez, dubbed the Night Stalker by the press. Yet Maxine Mink has been trying to ignore all of that in her quest for stardom. She’s now a successful adult film star living in Hollywood who dreams of making her break into mainstream filmmaking. She auditions for a lead role in the horror sequel The Puritan II, and when director Elizabeth Bender (Elizabeth Debicki) casts her in the part, Maxine is convinced that she’s on her way to a better future. Yet the past comes back to haunt her as some of her friends end up victims of a serial killer who may or may not be the Night Stalker, and that puts her in the sights of a police investigation led by Det. Williams (Michelle Monaghan) and Det. Torres (Bobby Cannavale). Worse, it puts her in the path of the sleazy private investigator John Labat (Kevin Bacon), who seems to know more about her past than anyone else. Maxine enlists the aid of friends like her agent Teddy Knight, Esq. (Giancarlo Esposito), but ultimately, she’s going to have to deal with the person who’s been pulling all the strings in her own inimitable fashion. MaXXXine also stars Moses Sumney, Halsey, Lily Collins, and Simon Prast.
Ti West’s games with time come full circle in MaXXXine, which is entirely appropriate since it brings Maxine’s story full circle. Time may be linear, but it’s also circular. Cycles can repeat, especially where abusive behavior is concerned, and they continue to repeat until someone finally breaks the chain. Like Pearl before her, Maxine had a strict upbringing and her dreams of stardom were actually a hope of escaping the rigid strictures that her family life had placed around her. Ironically enough, it was Pearl who ended up removing any of Maxine’s remaining inhibitions about achieving those dreams by any means necessary. Despite the apparent Night Stalker murders and the past coming back to haunt her, Maxine is truly fearless and won’t back down from anything or anyone—the ways in which she deals with a Hollywood creep and the private investigator are truly unforgettable. Even her agent ends up breaking bad when coming to her aid (after all, what are agents for?) Yet in the circularity of time in this trilogy, the faster that Maxine runs away from her past, the closer that she gets to it, and she won’t be able to achieve her dreams until she finally deals with the person who actually started her down this path—and no, that wasn’t Pearl.
Despite the fact that West never intended X to serve as the first film in a trilogy, that film still laid the foundations for everything that happens in MaXXXine. Clearly, West did his homework with his own previous films before sitting down to write this one. The wizard behind Maxine’s curtain was already established in X, albeit in the background, and many subtle details in that film are paid off beautifully in MaXXXine. It’s all part of the circularity of time in Maxine’s life. After all, it was her father who taught her that she shouldn’t accept a life that she doesn’t deserve. At the beginning of X, Maxine sits down in front of a mirror and tells herself “you’re a fucking sex symbol.” By the end of the film, she’s screaming at Pearl that “I’m a fucking star.” At the end of MaXXXine, she’s seated in front of a mirror again, telling herself “you’re a fucking movie star” (in a pretty open homage to Boogie Nights). And in both cases, she credits divine intervention for her success. Yet the irony is that it’s her rejection of the divine influence that has resulted in her moving forward—she’s intervened on her own behalf against divine intervention. Maxine has chosen to write her own life story, by any means necessary.
The visual dynamic that West and his cinematographer Eliot Rockett have crafted for the trilogy varies from film to film based on each individual setting, with MaXXXine alternating between giallo-inspired widescreen and full-frame video. Yet he also chose to bring all three films full circle by opening them with shots filmed from within a building while a door opens horizontally to the outside world. It’s served as a way to prime viewers for the shifting aspect ratios while also indicating that the stories are going to be structured as movies within movies. Yet with MaXXXine, the shot of the studio door opening is actually preceded by a brief prologue tying everything back to X (and indirectly to Pearl as well), followed by a quote from Bette Davis:
“In this business, until you’re known as a monster, you’re not a star.”
By the end of the film, Maxine Mink’s story has come full circle as her personal triumph is accompanied by Kim Carnes singing Bette Davis Eyes. While West deliberately left the actual ending somewhat ambiguous, his use of that song makes it clear that since we’ve seen Maxine embrace her inner monster, she’s finally achieved the stardom that she always dreamed about. While Pearl’s fantasies were never enough to let her fully escape the oppressive world around her, fantasy and reality have become one for Maxine. In one form or another, she’s a fucking star.
Cinematographer Elliot Rocket captured the bulk of MaXXXine digitally at 5.4K resolution using Sony CineAlta Venice 2 cameras with Hawk MiniHawk Hybrid anamorphic lenses. (The video sequences were captured at 720p using an off-the-shelf security camera with Century Compact lenses, which is hidden inside of the prop camera that’s visible in some of the shots.) While Rockett mostly stuck to period-accurate lighting on set, separate LUTs (lookup tables) were used to help mimic the look of film under different shooting conditions. Post-production work was completed with the assistance of Company 3, which helped with the LUTs for the main shoot and also added extra effects like faux film grain and halation. Their final 4K Digital Intermediate for MaXXXine was framed at 2.39:1 for its theatrical release, with the 1.33:1 videotaped segments appearing windowboxed within that same frame.
Rockett and West had previously used Park Road in New Zealand to handle the post-production film effects for X and Pearl, and while they did fine work on both of those films, Company 3 has taken things to the next level. To cut to the chase, MaXXXine is one of the most realistically filmic-looking digital productions to date, outshining even the excellent work that Steve Yedlin has done with films like Knives Out. Paradoxically, that also means MaXXXine isn’t necessary dazzling in 4K, so Blu-ray is a viable alternative. Just like with X and Pearl, the idea wasn’t to recreate the look of a 35mm film negative, but rather a 35mm film print, and it’s amazingly convincing—especially when viewed in projection. De-focus affects were applied to reduce the level of fine detail to what was typically seen on dupe elements like prints. Still, there’s a touch less detail visible here than there is on the UHD version, and the fake grain is occasionally disrupted by noise—it’s really noticeable against the steam on Hollywood Boulevard at 18:05. There’s also some banding visible at times, like when the lights come up after Maxine opens the studio door at the beginning of the film. Otherwise, the only defects that are present here are intentional ones, like the deliberately unstable opening credits (Ti West really, really knows how to do period-accurate credit sequences). MaXXXine isn’t necessarily demo material, but it’s not supposed to be. For those who know what to look for, it’s impressive enough.
Audio is offered in English Dolby Atmos, English 2.0 Descriptive Audio, and Spanish 5.1 Dolby Digital, with optional English SDH and Spanish subtitles. It’s a relatively restrained Atmos mix, and appropriately enough for a film set during the Eighties, it tends to be front-focused like most Dolby Stereo mixes were during that era. There are occasional effects steered to the ceiling speakers, like when helicopters are flying overhead, and all channels are fully energized during moments like the lively thunderstorm (although as with everything else in MaXXXine, even that storm isn’t quite what it seems). Most of the bass is provided by the Tyler Bates score and the various pieces of source music, although there are a few sound effects like the aforementioned thunder and the sounds of passing airplanes that offer a bit more rumble. (Plus, bonus points for the appropriate needle drop of my favorite Frankie Goes to Hollywood song.) It’s not the flashiest of Atmos mixes, but it suits the period material just as well as Eliot Rockett’s cinematography does.
Lionsgate’s Blu-ray release of MaXXXine is a two-disc set that includes a DVD copy of the film, with a Digital Code tucked inside. It also includes a slipcover that matches the artwork on the insert. The extras are identical on each disc:
- The Belly of the Beast (9:39)
- XXX Marks the Spot (11:21)
- Hollywood Is a Killer (8:14)
- Q&A with Ti West (25:23)
- Teaser Trailer (1:07)
- Theatrical Trailer (2:27)
- Also from A24 (9:20, 4 in all)
The Belly of the Beast, XXX Marks the Spot, and Hollywood Is a Killer are all EPK-style featurettes that serve more as promotional fluff pieces than they do as making-of documentaries. They do offer a few insights into elements of the production like the location shoot and the makeup effects, but there’s not much depth here. There is a bit of behind-the-scenes footage, but they mostly consist of on-set interviews with Mia Goth. Kevin Bacon. Elizabeth Debicki, Halsey, Lily Collins, Giancarlo Esposito, Moses Sumney, and Michelle Monaghan, as well as Elliot Rockett, producer Jacob Jaffee, production designer Jason Kisvarday plus makeup artists Sarah Rubano, Kevin Wasner, and Justin Raleigh. Ti West is conspicuously absent, although he does make a few brief appearances via the location footage.
Fortunately, the Q&A with Ti West helps make up for that fact. It’s a Q&A that took place after an Alamo Drafthouse screening of MaXXXine, moderated by film journalist Jen Yamato. He explains the process of making the three films in four years, from shooting X in New Zealand during the pandemic to writing the script for Pearl while in quarantine at the end of the shoot, and finally returning to Hollywood for MaXXXine. He also talks about his collaboration with Mia Goth, why he specifically chose 1985 as a setting, and the challenges of making period pieces. (One key period element in his films that many other productions get wrong is to use things that are older than the year in which a story takes place, since not everything would be new.)
Finally, in addition to the teaser and trailer for MaXXXine, there’s a promo reel for four other A24 titles (including the previous films in Ti West’s trilogy): Pearl, X, Civil War, and Talk to Me. It’s a thin collection of extras, although the Q&A offers a bit more depth than anything else that was included with either X or Pearl. While it’s always possible that A24 may eventually release a more elaborate version of the trilogy via their A24 Shop, that would likely include more swag and fancier packaging but the same extras. So unless you’re obsessive about trinkets and packaging, this Lionsgate version will do just fine. Their 4K version has a slight edge in terms of picture quality, and it does include a Blu-ray copy, but Blu-ray/DVD combo may be good enough for those who have no intentions of upgrading to 4K anytime soon.
- Stephen Bjork
(You can follow Stephen on social media at these links: Twitter, Facebook, and Letterboxd).