Meet Joe Black [Blu-ray]

I don’t know why I held off for so long seeing this movie. It felt like a movie that I should have seen, a classic, one of Anthony Hopkin’s and Brad Pitt’s best roles (and Claire Forlani’s, though this is I think the first film of hers that I have seen and I am not really familiar with the actress). I didn’t know what to expect and I wasn’t familiar with the film that inspired it, the 1934 film _Death Takes a Holiday_. It was wonderful. It is a long film, about 3 hours, and while the pacing is never dull or slow, it is stately at times shall we say (I was never bored though). Casting is fantastic, the three leads are just marvelous, and the story swept me away. The ending was wonderful and really stuck with me, really rather magical with the story, the acting, the lighting, setting, and music. The film is basically, as suggested by the other film title I mentioned, Death goes on a vacation. Death takes over the body of a young man who appears to have (maybe?) been killed in a car accident, the body belonging to a young man who flirted with and caught the eye and interest of Claire Forlani’s character, Susan Parrish, the two meeting in a coffee shop in New York before Susan goes to her work as a doctor at a hospital and the man goes to get involved in a car accident. Susan is the youngest daughter of a billionaire media tycoon, Bill Parrish (Hopkins’ character), the man who initially caught Death’s eye. He decides to take the body of the young man and join Bill, telling Bill he is staying an indefinite amount of time, Bill will be his guide, and he need not fear death while Death is with him. Death wants to not only take maybe a break from his job, but more importantly experience the life part of humanity, of inhabiting a body, interacting with people, trying foods, experience the life of a mortal, especially their daily lives. The movie could have been a comedy, of Bill trying ever crazier stunts knowing he couldn’t die, or Death going wild and hedonistically plunging into sensory experiences. Neither happens. Death is overwhelmed by the sensory experiences, from finding he now has a favorite food to when he meets Susan, who thinks he is still the man she met in the coffee shop. Bill, not going crazy at all, concentrates on doing right for his family and getting his affairs in order, most importantly making up with his eldest daughter, a woman who knows she is not his favorite (Allison Parrish, played by Marcia Gay Harden) and fighting to keep his company from being ripped from his grasp and reworked in a way he detests (there is a corporate villain in the film too). As Bill comes to find out what in life is the most valuable, Death comes to value life. There is a lot to like, from how Bill is changed by not only knowing he will soon die but also by Death’s personality and effects on his life to how Bill and living in a body changes Death to how Death and Susan interact…it’s a great love story, it’s a story of what is important in life, a love letter to life itself though that sounds pretentious when I write it. I enjoyed the corporate drama, the romance story, of Bill’s and Death’s philosophical discussions, of glimpses of life in the late 1990s, before 9/11, social media, and widespread cell phone use, I loved the fairytale feel of the ending of the film. Pitt can definitely act, Hopkins is always a joy to watch, and Claire Forlani was not only a phenomenal actress but a stunningly beautiful woman. It is marvelous.

EDIT: this EDIT concerns the special features on the Ultimate Edition, which I just got. (The original review is about the movie itself, below.) The casing for the DVD set is very annoying, worse than normal DVDs when you try to remove each DVD without scratching it. DVD quality is just like the movie shown publicly, or a tad crisper. Nice to watch it, uncut. Nice to be able to select scenes and rewatch, versus VHS. The Ultimate DVD edition (not blu-ray) has the following 'Bonus features' on Disc 1: Production Notes -- which is merely one screen -- Cast and Filmmakers, DVD Newsletter, Recommendations, DVD-ROM Features. These are extensive, designed to explain the backdrop of the movie. The 'Cast and Filmmakers' section is not live, but rather little screen explanations about the cast, stuff you can learn better in imdb. The DVD newsletter is a waste of time, as is Recommendations, other DVDs you might want to purchase (Scent of a Woman and 12 Monkeys) as a result of liking Meet Joe Black. The DVD-ROM features supposedly only play in your computer, but I've never had any luck activating those features in Win7, so if you have XP, maybe they will work, maybe not. The screen says you need Win95 or higher. I didn't try it on my Win98 machines. So the Disc 1 features are pretty much useless on a DVD player. Disc 2, by contrast, has the original movie which Meet Joe Black updates: 'Death Takes a Holiday', starring (a very young) Frederick March. It's in black and white, very 1930's, Alberto Casella's play put to film. You don't get any choice of scenes, it just plays when you click on it. Rather silly movie start, so Meet Joe Black is much more interesting. Even so, the only way you can get the Death Takes a Holiday, is to buy this DVD pair. But the older movie is well-made, technically. Plot is quite different, of course. Charming, in its own way. In that older film, Death assumes the body of a living person, having made the deal with the Duke of the household, the night of the Prince's arrival. Very theatrical, kinda hokey really. But the 'Spotlight on Location' is a live interview with Mr. Brest, the Director. Very interesting. So Disc 2 has these two 'features' which are worth the purchase. OH, for all you Greek drama addicts, you'll notice the 'yes' refrain that runs pan-movie, much like John's Gospel (in Greek) uses oude, ouden, outhen to signify 'no other' (thus proving inter alia, that YES the pericope adulterae is valid, right it sits in John 8 that begins and ends with a stoning) -- so this movie, uses 'Yes'. Cute. So nice, when real literary talent is incorporated into a movie script! Original review, follows below. First paragraph was updated, to tie to the above text. ============= The myth of Hades and Persephone is the underlying premise for Meet Joe Black, apparently keying off a line in the original film where the bride-to-be isn't quite ready to become a bride. The wistfulness of Persephone, see. I can't watch it often enough. Originally got it on VHS years ago, gonna get it on DVD, trying to decide which version. Looks like I'll get the Ultimate US DVD set? Of all the 20 formats you can buy here on Amazon, that one seems to have the most features, plus the original 'Death Takes a Holiday' on which this movie is peripherally based. But the real origin, is in Greek mythology, Hades and Persephone. Go read that first, and you'll get much more out of this A+++++ movie. Perfectly done in every respect, best film editing and camera work I can recall seeing in a film (okay, maybe Pearl Harbor and uncut Das Boot are as good). Seriously. If you pay really close attention upon repeated viewing, you'll notice the full-circle development of the characters, too (even the bit parts). Death and Parrish reverse roles, by the end. You got the puns, right (perish=Parrish=parish=par ish, given that 'ish' is Hebrew for 'man', and 'par' means 'by' in most languages)? Truly a work of art, this film. Nice touch, that they don't take sides about which afterlife definition you should believe, but only that there is one. Yeah, because that's the question of your life: what comes 'next'? Gotta know that, to orient to 'now'. Best of all, you realize that a superior being wouldn't necessarily despise you, and you wouldn't necessarily be intimidated by it/him/her. So the 'sting' of regarding an afterlife (which people tend to religify, as if 'god' had to be a religious person) -- is removed. Whew. For this, is a film you LIVE.

Every thing was sent on time and the product was great. Enjoyed very much

古い映画ですが4KHDRかと思うほど映像が美しことにまず驚いた。 映画の内容としても非の打ち所がない傑作。 「死」「人生」「愛」「家族」について改めて考えさせられます。

Das Remake von "Death Takes A Holiday" spielt vor der Kulisse Manhattens und der Supervillen auf Long Island. Mit beeindruckenden Luftaufnahmen und Einblicken in die Immobilien der oberen 10.000 kommt der Film komplett ohne aufwendige Special Effects und 16 Bilder/sec-Sequenzen aus. Ein sehr entspannendes Filmerlebnis von fast 3 Stunden!!! Story: William Perrish (Sir Anthony Hopkins) ist erfolgreicher Medienmogul in New York und führt sein Unternehmen mit Disziplin, aber auch mit Ehre und Pathos. Plötzlich jedoch scheint Ihm die Kontrolle zu entgleiten: Schmerzen in der Brust und eine mysteriöse Stimme, die aus dem Nichts heraus immer wieder "ja" flüstert, lassen Böses ahnen. Der Tod kündigt sich bei Perrish persönlich an und eröffnet Ihm das baldige Ende seines irdischen Seins. Doch er gewährt ihm noch einen Aufschub. Scheinbar wegen der Faszination an Perrishs Tochter Susan (Claire Forlani) ermächtigt er sich des Körpers eines jungen Anwalts (Brad Pitt), den Susan in einer New Yorker Cafe-Bar kennen gelernt hat. Kurz nach dem viel verspechenden Kennenlernen überfährt ein Auto den Ärmsten und der Tod erscheint in dessen Gestalt auf Perrishs Anwesen auf Long Island und verkündet, dass er fortan so lange bleibt, wie es ihm auf Erden gefällt. Sollte Perrish ihm nicht gefällig sein, so nehme er ihn sofort mit ins Totenreich. Perish, der sich so einen Aufschub erhofft, um seine Geschäfte noch zu erledigen, stimmt zu und führt den mysteriösen Fremden, mit den sonderbaren Verhaltensweisen als Freund in die Familie und die Firma ein. Der kalte Tod entwickelt nun eine nahezu kindliche Freude an den irdischen Genüssen. Nicht nur Erdnussbutter (product placement), sondern auch Susan wecken sein sinnliches Verlangen. Sehr zum Missfallen Perrishs entwickelt sich eine immer intimer werdende Romanze zwischen Susan und dem Tod, der für Susan natürlich noch immer der nette Anwalt aus der Bar ist und nicht der Herr der Finsternis. Und noch eine andere Bedrohung kommt auf Perrish zu: Susans karrieresüchtiger Verlobter Drew versucht Perrishs Konzern an einen Konkurrenten zu verkaufen. Um dies tun zu können, muss er Perrish entmachten. Doch damit macht er sich den Tod zum Feind, denn dieser ist zunehmend fasziniert von William Perrishs Persönlichkeit. Schließlich offenbart der Tod Perrish seinen Wunsch mit Susan zusammen bleiben zu wollen, mit allen Konsequenzen. Eine rührende und beeindruckende Hommage an das Leben, die Liebe und das persönliche Glück. Bildgewaltig setzte der Film die Welt der Superreichen mit Ihren Intrigen und Machtspielen in Szene. Danneben plädiert er für das Bewahren von Ehre und Menschlichkeit und die Wertschätzung der Familie. Actionfans mag der Film an vielen Stellen zu langatmig sein. Manch Dialog ist auch etwas zu pathetisch geraten und Brad Pitt wirkt immer etwas mehr wie ein unbeholfenes Unterwäschemodel als ein furchteinflößender Herrscher des Totenreichs, aber berührt hat mich der Film dennoch. Anthony Hopkins Präsenz ist unglaublich dominant und authentisch und auch Claire Forlani spielt die junge verliebte Ärztin Susan mit Überzeugungskraft. Auch die Nebenrollen sind gut herausgearbeitet. So leidet man zum Beispiel mit dem trottelig-naiven Quince, dem Schwiegersohn Perishs, der bei der Entmachtung Perishs unfreiwillig mithilft, seiner Frau Allison, die sich alle Mühe gibt Ihren Vater mit der Organisation einer monumentalen Geburtstagsparty zum 65. zu beeindrucken, und man hasst den skrupellosen Drew (Susans Verlobten) wegen seines rücksichtslosen Machtstrebens. In meinen Augen ein lohnenswerter Film! Unbedingt, wenn möglich, im englischen Original anschauen!

Blu-ray was brand new and work without issue.

DVD conforme à la description. Livraison dans les délais. Satisfait