The movie I was most in the mood to watch for Saint Patrick's Day this year was 1990's Miller's Crossing, the Coen Brothers' Prohibition era noir about Irish American gangsters. My old DVD is back in California and it wasn't on any of the streaming services I'm subscribed to but I noticed Criterion had just recently released a new blu-ray edition of the film. So I ordered that and finally watched it a week after Saint Pat's. Man, there's a movie that never gets old.
And the new blu-ray is beautiful. And noticeably different in a few ways. In the scene where a kid comes across the corpse of Rug Daniels, I remember the actor playing the dead man accidentally blinking in a shot. That seems to be gone now. Which is nice because it kind of ruined the moment. But the biggest difference I noticed is in the colour, which seems to be richer and brighter. For comparison, screenshots I pulled from various YouTube clips are on the top and the Criterion blu-ray is on the bottom.
It was always a beautifully shot film by cinematographer Barry Sonnenfeld but now I think it's even better.
On my DVD copy, I remember often being unsure if Gabriel Byrne's hat was black, charcoal, or brown. Now it's always clearly brown.
The movie's just a magnificent piece of work. When a plot so complicated goes down so smooth, it's a thing to admire forever.
Twitter Sonnet #1684
Without a question, mice assume control.
A hundred keys absorbed a liquid lock.
The rivers shake and hugging banks console.
Completely smooth was rapid water's rock.
A dancing blast was orange and very hot.
Rebounding river currents twist the mind.
But simple boats could ease the noisy lot.
Beneath the rain, the trees were seldom kind.
A stinging eye confronts a shrinking clock.
Rejected dwarves have mined a golden lode.
Above their heads, a mountain cracks a rock.
Below the summit, snakes descend the road.
Escaping hats return to crown a dream.
Escaping ropes contract around a beam.
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