Before I Fall Blu-ray delivers great video and audio, but overall it's a mediocre Blu-ray release
February 12 is just another day in Sam's charmed life until it turns out to be her last. Stuck reliving her last day over one inexplicable week, Sam untangles the mystery around her death and discovers everything she's in danger of losing.
For more about Before I Fall and the Before I Fall Blu-ray release, see Before I Fall Blu-ray Review published by Martin Liebman on May 23, 2017 where this Blu-ray release scored 2.5 out of 5.
There must be something about the month of February that gets the space-time continuum out of whack. Maybe it's the abbreviated 28-day calendar
(29 days
every now and then for leap year). Everyone knows the story of Groundhog
Day, which takes place on February 2. That annual tradition, which claims to predict either a longer winter or a warming trend based on whether a
groundhog named Phil sees his shadow, was, of course, immortalized in the smash hit Comedy film Groundhog Day about a man who is cursed (and eventually blessed) to
live
the dame day over and over again. Before I Fall, based on the novel of the same name by Lauren Oliver, takes place on "Cupid Day," which is
February 12 (as opposed to Valentine's Day, February 14...gold stars to anyone who has heard of "Cupid Day" before). It, too, tells the story of a
person stuck in a time loop, this one much less funny and forgiving and more serious in nature. It follows a teenage girl who is forced to reflect on
her life, the decisions she's made, and the choices she will make to prevent a greater tragedy around her.
Friends 4 ever.
Samantha Kingston (Zoey Deutch) is a typical teenager. She awakens and immediately checks her cell phone; she's elated to have a "Cupid's Day"
message from her boyfriend Rob (Kian Lawley). She catches a ride to school with her friends Lindsey (Halston Sage), Ally (Cynthy Wu) and Elody
(Medalion Rahimi). The four are inseparable, and one of their favorite pastimes is picking on the awkward loner girl Juliet (Elena Kampouris). That
night, the quartet attends a party hosted by one of Samantha's childhood friends, Kent (Logan Miller), who has a crush on her. The party doesn't
go as planned. They leave in disgust and soon thereafter are in a terrible car accident. Samantha wakes up the next morning as if nothing had
happened, but she soon realizes she's repeating the same day. Her efforts to figure out why she's caught in a time loop lead her to reevaluate her
life and help those in need around her.
Before I Fall explores the notion of time, not so much the scientific aspect of it but rather how individuals make use of it. The movie is
more
metaphor than anything else, using the time loop as a device to demonstrate the importance of living life right, of slowing down, of taking
everything
into account and living right based on careful consideration of how one uses time, not as they allow it to idle by with wasteful or, perhaps even
worse,
hurtful pursuits. The film isn't particularly creative, then, in terms of what it explores or even how it explores it, but it does offer a decent
combination of setting and perspective, of a contemporary character who is charged with reassessing her life, forcibly, as it were, by some power
beyond her control, but nevertheless using the opportunity not to sulk in frustration but to set things straight for her own benefit and, certainly, in
the
name of aiding others. It's nicely noble, it's told well enough, and it's at least somewhat unique in that it's a much darker picture -- literally, even,
considering
the movie's bleak physical structure -- than the lighter, but no less lightweight, Groundhog Day.
One of the movie's major drawbacks is that it's completely reliant on support genre tropes to progress through the story. Beyond the main
character, who is herself a fairly shallow person to begin the film, there's her clique that's full of familiar-type shallow teens. There's the social
outcast
who is the subject of derision by Samantha and her friends. Samantha's boyfriend is the one-track mind, sexually aggressive sort who pursues her
only to fill his physical needs. There's the much more quiet, reserved, contemplative childhood male friend who pines for and pursues Samantha
out of affection for her, not simply for her body. All of these characters are necessary in shaping the story, but every single one of them is a cutout
that's been seen before. The story's impact cannot help but be reduced by the dearth of creativity around these characters, and the story does
suffer for such a
generic support cast around its lead. Performances are fine, though, with Zoey Deutch doing her best to stretch the dramatic elements and sell the
idea that she's undergone a transformative experience through the situation, which transitions from awkward situation to difficult ordeal to
redemptive experience. The support cast does what it can with the stable of generic characters. Director Ry Russo-Young makes good use of tone
and texture to help tell and shape the story without overwhelming it with outside influence.
Before I Fall's 1080p transfer suits the movie's style and mood well enough. The digitally sourced motion picture takes on a deliberately soft,
occasionally diffuse appearance. Details are fine, never extraordinarily sharp or complex but well defined to the point that the 1080p horsepower is
noticeable and complimentary to what the movie has to offer. Faces are particularly delicate. The movie takes on a fairly dark filtering, playing with a
bleak, blue-gray color scheme that only infrequently gains warmth, typically at the party. The doldrums not only hold back any sparkling detail, but
they prevent the image from exploding in cheerfully bright colors. The dreary palette is presented well enough within the movie's context. Black levels
are very deep and tend to push towards crush. Flesh tones are contextually fine. Noise is light and no other anomalies are immediately evident. The
transfer looks fine considering the movie's intended visual stylings.
Before I Fall features a very basic DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 lossless soundtrack. Score is gentle and delicate, fluttering about the front with
satisfactory width but no real push into the rears. Clarity is healthy, too, and the track's credentials remain even as some of the music shifts to
bass-heavy popular beats. The low end is impressive, producing a solid, and well defined, thump that's the highlight in a track that is otherwise devoid
of much aggression, even the car crash that features prominently in several scenes. A few good effects filter through, including booming thunder,
packed din at the party, or a truck that rumbles by right before the car crash. The track opens up a bit in terms of depth at the very end. Dialogue is
clear, naturally settled in the front-center, and there are no prioritization problems to be found.
Before I Fall contains no extras beyond a collection of trailers for other Universal films. A DVD copy of the film and a voucher for a UV/iTunes
digital copy are included with purchase.
Before I Fall is a very average film, balancing out poorly developed support characters and a fairly trite story of personal growth, all in the
midst of a classic "Groundhog Day" scenario with a strong lead performance, quality (simple) direction, and enough dramatic weight and forward
momentum to keep the viewer interested. Its pluses eek past its minuses, but overall it's a fairly routine movie that still offers more heft than much of
today's empty, visceral cinema. Universal's Blu-ray is unfortunately featureless, but video and audio are fine. Worth a look.
Use the thumbs up and thumbs down icons to agree or disagree that the title is similar to Before I Fall. You can also suggest completely new similar titles to Before I Fall in the search box below.
Universal Studios Home Entertainment has announced that it will release on Blu-ray Ry Russo-Young's film Before I Fall (2017), starring Zoey Deutch, Elena Kampouris, Halston Sage, Jennifer Beals, and G. Hannelius. The release will be available for purchase on May ...
All countries
Argentina
Austria
Belgium
Brazil
Bulgaria
Chile
China
Colombia
Czech Republic
Estonia
Denmark
Finland
Greece
Hong Kong
Hungary
Iceland
Indonesia
Ireland
Israel
India
Latvia
Malaysia
New Zealand
Norway
Philippines
Poland
Portugal
Romania
Russia
Singapore
South Africa
South Korea
Sweden
Switzerland
Taiwan
Thailand
Turkey
Ukraine
United Arab Emirates
Use the thumbs up and thumbs down icons to agree or disagree that the title is similar to Before I Fall. You can also suggest completely new similar titles to Before I Fall in the search box below.
