Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE: Bright Lights, Big City (1988), DVD

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Topic: Bright Lights, Big City (1988), DVD

John Koutsoumis
Master Film Handler

Posts: 261
From: Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
Registered: Aug 2003

posted 06-21-2006 04:29 AM

Bright Lights, Big City is directed by James Bridges and is adapted from Jay McInerney's novel.

It stars Michael J.Fox as Jamie Conway who is a young writer for a highbrow magazine (well actually he merely verifies facts in articles written by others)
To him it's a dead end job made harder by his bingeing on cocaine and alcohol.
Other cast include Kiefer Sutherland and Phoebe Cates (well known for her role as 'Elizabeth' in "Drop Dead Fred").

I've passed this film so many times at DVD store and always picked it up to look at it as it was on sale for $10 for a long time but I was deterred by the cover. I mean Michael J.Fox in a crack film?
But I finally gave into curiosity and took it home and it sure was worth it. I was just hooked on Jamie's journey through is inner hell. I suspect that director Bridges was influenced by European cinema of the 1950's-60's but I could be wrong. The style is simple but very poetic and poignant with some great surreal scenes which is something I find lacking in popular American cinema today.

The Region 4 DVD (PAL format) is not bad. Not sure whether it's a HD transfer or not. The full frame 16:9 transfer delivers great detail and the colours are a knockout but there is pixelization noticable here and there and some wide shots look a little too compressed but that could be the original optics used for filming. Overall though it's pretty good.

The Dolby 2.0 track is remarkably high quality. The dialogue is clean and cleary defined and unlike most movies the music in the scenes inside the bars and clubs just pumps away at realistic club like volumes and the cast are actually screaming at eachother even though there mouths are barely inches away from on another. Very realistic. Great mix.

I will certainly catch up with this again in the near future.
4 out of 5.

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Michael Coate
Phenomenal Film Handler

Posts: 1904
From: Los Angeles, California
Registered: Feb 2001

posted 06-21-2006 01:47 PM

I saw this first-run when it was released...and HATED it!

I didn't know at the time why I did not like it but I imagine now that I probably felt, perhaps on a subconscious level, that Michael J. Fox was miscast or that I prefer certain actors playing only certain roles. I mean, I loved him in "Back To The Future" (which I saw 12 times) and also was a fan of the "Family Ties" TV series. Shoot, I think I probably even enjoyed "Teen Wolf."

Now that I think about it, I hated "Light Of Day" and "Casualties Of War." So...Michael J. Fox + drama = [thumbsdown]

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John Koutsoumis
Master Film Handler

Posts: 261
From: Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
Registered: Aug 2003

posted 06-22-2006 10:08 AM

Well Michael J. Fox was the reason I stayed away from this for so long. I don't know. Something about it just grabbed me. It's weird.

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