The Film
I've never been a huge fan of actor Luke Wilson, perhaps because I've seen one too many of his darned-nice-guy roles, (Charlie's Angels and its sequel, My Super Ex-Girlfriend, etc.) so it was great to see him go darker, returning to his independent film roots in the realm of his work with filmmaker Wes Anderson. Here, as title character Henry Poole, Wilson brings his own storm cloud to almost every scene, playing a man with limited time left and his wishes for a quiet, private exit threatened by a weird apparition on the side of his new house, and the ensuing throngs of worshippers.
Henry feels no compulsion to be likeable, and resists the attractive groundswell of faith as long as he can, but miracles sometimes work in strange ways, and with the help of an outstanding supporting cast, Poole proves to be an unexpectedly refreshing dip.
Also read Joe Lozito's review of Henry Poole Is Here.
The Picture
An omnipresent layer of grain casts a pall over the 2.4:1 image. Objects like out-of-focus bricks in the background display an active, mildly distracting buzzing across their surface, and certain shadows are twitchy as well, but neither of these are the worst instances I've ever seen on Blu-ray. Much of the story takes place in and around a modest Southern California house, and nuances such as the grass and the stucco exterior reproduce sharply. By the end, I was intimately familiar with every pore, every freckle on Luke Wilson's face. Blacks are sufficiently natural to result in a pleasing presentation.
The Sound
Kudos to Starz/Anchor Bay for going with a high-fidelity Dolby TrueHD 5.1 soundtrack for a small, simple drama such as this, which rides primarily upon dialogue, always legible. There are some subtle directional effects, like when Henry tosses a twig and we can hear it in the right front speaker, or a girl running off to one side. Birds can be heard chirping softly in the rears, a jumbo jet flies overhead with ample bass, a building collapses realistically, and a voice is given a dreamlike effect with a brief, trippy mix late in the movie. Director Mark Pellington was a music video director, so there's a good amount of pop songs woven in, and sonically there are no problems but this one is certainly not showoff material.
The Extras
Director Pellington contributes to a pair of audio commentaries, one with writer Albert Torres, another with director of photography Eric Schmidt. "The Making of Henry Poole Is Here" (16 minutes) provides further insight. More than half an hour or deleted scenes are packing optional audio commentary by Pellington and Torres, including lost moments with Bridgette Wilson-Sampras as Henry's fiancée and Jessica Walter as his mom. The music video for the Golden State tune "All Roads Lead Home (The Surrender Song)" (three-and-a-half minutes) is onboard as well. The only disappointment in these extras is the fact that they are all presented in standard definition. The disc is BD-Live enabled to download additional, exclusive deleted scenes, also listed as standard-def only, ostensibly for faster downloading but it still seemed somewhat glacial to me.
Final Thoughts
I'd never heard of Henry Poole Is Here (sorry, Joe!) but I'm glad I made time for the Blu-ray. The characters and story were original and compelling, and the extras provided new insight.
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