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Released by: Cauldron Film
Released on: September 26th, 2023.
Director: Brian De Palma
Cast: Al Pacino, Sean Penn, Penelope Ann Miller, John Leguizamo, Ingrid Rogers, Luis Guzman
Year: 1993
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Carlito’s Way – Movie Review:
De Palma and Pacino’s first movie together since Scarface, 1993’s Carlito’s Way, takes the crime story out of Miami and into New York City where we meet, Carlito Brigante (Pacino), a Puerto Rican crook who has just been released from a stint in Riker’s Island Penitentiary. Upon his release, Carlito swears that he won’t return to his old ways and that instead he’ll go completely legit. Carlito soon finds out, however, that leaving his past behind isn’t going to be easy at all. Those who he once considered friends (John Leguizamo, Luis Guzman and Viggo Mortensen) now rag on him and try to push him back into his old ways.
Soon, however, Carlito gets reacquainted with Gail (Penelope Ann Miller), his ex-girlfriend and the one light in his life. She shows him that he can be content and that he can be happy settling down with a regular civilian life, but at the same time his best friend and lawyer, David Kleinfeld (Sean Penn), is running into difficulties of his own that the Carlito he once knew would definitely be able to solve for him.
While on the surface Carlito’s Way is simply another story of a hood trying to go legit only to get pulled back in, De Palma’s film adds a lot of depth and layers to the tried and true plot devices. Based on a pair of books written by Edwin Torres, who was actually a New York State Supreme Court judge, it’s a film with interesting characters made all the more intriguing by some fantastic acting. Pacino is excellent here, and if Carlito Brigante bares a bit of a resemblance to one Tony Montana, so be it, though once you start thinking about it a bit more the similarities are really only superficial. Regardless, Pacino is good here, giving his character all the brooding intensity you’d want from an actor of his stature. The real star of the show, however, is Sean Penn, almost unrecognizable here under a big mop of curly hair. He really makes this character his own and steals every scene that he’s in. This is one of those performances where, like in Milk, you forget you’re watching Sean Penn, you’re simply enjoying a character - the actor as celebrity disappears here all together.
De Palma’s direction is strong as is the film’s cinematography. Lots of red hues give a subtle and sinister tone to certain scenes while visual metaphors serve to inspire Carlito, who keeps longingly looking to a neon advertisement as a reason to stay straight. It represents what he can have – a normal life, free from the obvious pressures and stress of the criminal life he’s lead to this point. Of course the plot makes a few nice twists as it unravels on the screen in front of us and it’s ultimately not as predictable as the simple plot synopsis makes it sound. A few memorable set pieces both in terms of staging some hard hitting action and some very effective drama help to keep it interesting and tense.
Ultimately the film is almost a character study more than anything else. It shows us how its central character’s psyche has been shifted from one paradigm to the next based on his experiences and how it continues to shift once he’s out of prison based on his loyalties and his emotions. It’s a fairly psychologically complex picture and thanks to the stalwart direction and excellent performances, a wholly believable one as well.
Carlito’s Way – UHD/Blu-ray Review:
Carlito’s Way arrives on UHD from Arrow Video in an HEVC encoded 2160p transfer taken with HDR10 and Dolby Vision enhancement framed at 2.35.1 widescreen with HDR10 enhancement. Detail is very strong here, noticeably better than the included Blu-ray which also looks quite nice, while the color grading really looks very strong, especially in the night club and bar scenes. You’ll notice a lot more texture on the clothing and backgrounds in the movie and there’s impressive depth evident throughout. Skin tones look properly lifelike and natural and we get nice, deep black levels as well. The image spotless, showing no print damage at all but keeping a natural amount of film grain, and the picture shows no noticeable noise reduction, edge enhancement or compression related issues.
The primary audio track on this release is a good English language DTS-X track but we also get a DTS-HD 5.1 Master Audio track and a DTS-HD 2.0 Stereo mix, also in English. Optional subtitles are provided in English. The DTS-X track is a strong one, spreading out the score really nicely to the point where it almost swallows you up at times. There’s a load of directional placement in the mix to enjoy and a lot of surround activity to keep things interesting. Gun shots pack a big punch and really hit hard while dialogue always stays clean, clear and easy to follow. There are no problems to note with any hiss, distortion or sibilance and the track is always properly balanced.
Extras on the UHD are limited to two new audio commentary tracks, the first of which is from Matt Zoller Seitz, author of The Wes Anderson Collection and The Soprano Sessions. He talks about whether or not the opening scene is a spoiler or not, the locations featured in the movie, thoughts on the different performances in the film with a lot of emphasis on Pacino's work, where the movie falls in the urban thriller genre and how it compares to movies about masterless samurai characters, Carlito's code and sense of right and wrong, details on the cinematography, Judge Edwin Torres' work as a judge and his work as an author and lots more. There's a bit of dead air here and there but overall, this is interesting and insightful.
The second commentary, which isn’t a full track but a select scenes track, comes from Dr. Douglas Keesey, author of Brian De Palma’s Split-Screen: A Life in Film. It starts with thoughts on the opening scene and how it portrays Carlito's physical and mental state through the visuals, the quality of the different performances in the movie, Penn's work making his clownish figure one to take seriously, whether or not Carlito wants to give up being a gangster or not, the relationship between Pacino's character and Miller's character and the way that nudity is used to solidify it and other details related to the production. When Keesey is talking, he's very interesting and perceptive.
The included Blu-ray disc contains those two commentary tracks as well as a host of other supplements. Carlito And The Judge is a new interview with Judge Edwin Torres, author of the novels Carlito’s Way and After Hours which Carlito’s Way was based on, runs twelve minutes and sees him talking about the success of the books and how happy he was to see them turned into a movie starring his favorite actor, Al Pacino. He then talks about what inspired him to write the novels after seeing a movie and wanting to tell a more realistic crime story, where some of the ideas for the stories came from, some of the themes that the story deals with, how he got a bit of grief from certain parties when the movie cast an Italian as a Puerto Rican character and how flattered he is by all of the acclaim that the movie has received.
Cutting Carlito’s Way, a brand new interview with editors Bill Pankow and Kristina Boden, runs seventeen minutes and sees the two of them talk about what's involved in putting the story together, why it can't always be the same as the script, having to reinvent things as you go through the process, working with De Palma, having to edit the movie fairly quickly and needing to work together to do it, what their collaborative process was like and more.
De Palma on Carlito’s Way is a five minute archival interview with director Brian De Palma from the old DVD release where he gives some brief thoughts on the story, making the movie and working with his cast on the production.
De Palma’s Way is a new appreciation by film critic David Edelstein running eighteen minutes and going over the film in quite a bit of detail. He talks here about what makes De Palma's work unique and original compared to many of his contemporaries, his theater background, some of the movie subversive elements that make his work interesting and some of the techniques he employs to enhance these elements, his strength with visuals and framing, thoughts on the cast members and their characters in Carlito's Way, the importance of the more emotional scenes in the film and how he takes something new away from the movie with each viewing of it.
All The Stitches In The World: The Locations Of Carlito’s Way is a new three minute featurette that explores the New York City locations of Carlito’s Way and compares them in regards to how they look in the movie versus how they look in the modern day, including the night club (which looks like it's in Jackson Heights, Queens), the court house, Riker's Island and more.
The Making Of Carlito’s Way is a fairly interesting thirty-five minute look behind the scenes of the film which features some pertinent clips, BTS footage, and interview bits, carried over from the original DVD release.
Rounding out the extras are a vintage five minute EPK, eight minutes of moderately interesting deleted scenes, a teaser trailer, a theatrical trailer, a still gallery, menus and chapter selection options.
As Arrow has only sent test discs for review, we can’t comment on any packaging or book inserts. Should finished product be made available, we’ll update accordingly.
Carlito’s Way - The Final Word:
Those expecting another Scarface will no doubt be disappointed because Carlito’s Way is very different than that film, but Pacino, Penn and De Palma have crafted one of the best films to come out of Hollywood from the mid-nineties and Arrow Video has done a nice job giving it a proper special edition UHD/Blu-ray release. Highly recommended.