So we are back. Well Criterion is back. This is very much a good thing after the issue they had with distribution that meant a hiatus for about 6 months of their, very good releases. Now they return with AFTER HOURS, Scorsese cult film. I haven’t seen the UHD, so this is the Blu Ray review to note firstly. Secondly, you know where you have these film question things, like, Name a movie that everyone loves that you don’t? Well my answer is always this film. I don’t get it and never have. I get cult cinema, have produced MOVIEDROME and CULT VAULT on the genre but this film, escapes me.

The story is the usual case of a dulled out desk jockey, Paul Hackett (Griffin Dunne) being introduced into a wild world of NY. He ventures downtown to see mystery woman (Rosanna Arquette) for a maybe date. He ends up at a loft, with her artist friend (Linda Fiorentino) asleep on him and then the fun begins. A series of ever more bizarre occurrences occur. As they shift and sway around the town and each thwarts his attempts to get home.

So the press bumf states that this Kafkaesque cult classic. Well it is. Martin Scorsese was in a strange, non studio space after a flop (KING OF COMEDY) and a rejection (THE LAST TEMPTATION OF CHRIST), dropped because, well religion. He stepped up to the indie plate with a film that was an obvious absurdist delight. There is a lot to respect here. Taking the writings of Joe Frank (well the monologue drawl) and creating a film that is more an abstract nightmare of a city that is peopled by insanity. The Criterion set has to be admired mind. We last saw AFTER HOURS on a horrid box set DVD thing for the great man Scorsese. It had nothing. Now we have a stellar Blu Ray that is (as I can see) a 1080p of a 4K master. Shiny and colour fixed it gleans. There are a lot of extras. Some I believe, were around on the US criterion (I have not seen it) but new here is Martin Scorsese and writer Fran Lebowitz conversation. Marty is always fun to hear, Fran less so. They talk NY at a point when it was a primal place. They also seem to bemoan a bit the change. Oddly something they probably had a hand in creating.

The really interesting piece was Rita Ryack and production designer Jeffrey Townsend. This is a journey piece. Short as it maybe, it details what the wears, whys and when’s of the visuals of the film. Spaces, places and people are detailed and this aids a real understanding of what NY is. A simmering pot of lives and loves. I may not have loved the film but I enjoyed the detailing of a place in time and space.

DIRECTOR-APPROVED 4K UHD + BLU-RAY SPECIAL EDITION FEATURES