Written by: Michael Den Boer on January 23rd, 2008
Theatrical Release Date: UK, 2006
Director: Paul Burrows
Cast: Troy McFadden, Carole Derrien, Laurent Guyon, Jeso Vial, Morrigan Hel
DVD released: February 26th, 2008
Approximate running time: 91 minutes
Aspect Ratio: 1.66:1 Letterboxed
Rating: NR
Sound: Dolby Digital Stereo English
Subtitles: English
DVD Release: Salvation Films/Redemption
Region Coding: Region 0 NTSC
Retail Price: $24.95
Synopsis: Ten victims and the untimely death of the painter who created each of the victims last moments in his paintings bring together two unlikely sleuths an American art citric and a French cop. The more they uncover the more it starts to look like that there may have been more than one killer. Will they be able to solve the mystery before the meet their own untimely demise?
First time filmmaker Paul Burrows makes a strong impression with his feature film debut Nature Morte. Visually his style is a cross between Jess Franco erotica meets David Lynch‘s bizarre. On the surface the story’s plot has all the elements which make for a solid thriller. The films ample use of sexuality and nudity and often in violent and sadistic ways adds to what is already a very entertaining story. The films score composed by Steve Severin one of the founding members of the pink/new wave band Siouxsie and the Banshees. Severin’s score greatly adds to the overall mood of the film with its dark, sensual and at times abstract motifs.
The cast all come all off really well with their various performances with the main standout performances coming from Troy McFadden as Oliver Davenport our guide throughout this enchanting tale and Carole Derrien as Blanche a black widow seductress. One thing about the film that really impressed me was its use of locations in places like Thailand and France. Anyone who goes into Nature Morte expecting a low budget sexual thriller will be blown away just how ambitious this film is as its achieves virtually everything it sets out to do. Ultimately Nature Morte is minimalist thriller that upon closer look more resembles a serial killers peep show.
The DVD:
Redemption presents Nature Morte in a letterboxed widescreen that preserves the films original aspect ratio. Outside of some noticeable instances of edge enhancement the transfer looks colorful and sharp.
The bulk of the film is spoken in English and when a foreign language is spoken English subtitles have been provided. The audio is clean and evenly balanced throughout. For a stereo mix the range is limited at times and not as engulfing as it could have been in a 5.1 mix.
This DVD comes with several extras including nearly thirty minutes of deleted/extended scenes, stills gallery and a blooper reel. Nature Morte gets a above average DVD release from Redemption Films which could have been greatly improved upon if the image was anamorphic and flagged for progressive scan.