Charlie Countryman [Blu-Ray]

Director: Fredrik Bond

Cast: Shia LaBeouf, Evan Rachel Wood, Mads Mikkelsen, Vincent D’Onofrio

Release Date: Now Available on Blu-Ray & DVD

A Review By: Kevin Lovell

Film Rating: 8.5/10

Disc Rating: 8/10

 

Plot Summary:

While traveling abroad, a guy falls for a Romanian beauty whose unreachable heart has its origins in her violent, charismatic ex.

‘Charlie Countryman’ tells the story of a young man who loses his mother, and when told to fly across the world on a whim by an image of his late mother, immediately departs to Bucharest and ends up coming across a woman who he can’t help but immediately fall for. Unfortunately she is taken by a man who one does not dare cross. Undeterred by this factor, Charlie decides to stay in the hope that what he yearns for might be a possibility, albeit it a small one. But hey, if you’re gonna die, die for love. The film was initially released (and still labeled as such in the title credit of the actual film) under the title ‘The Necessary Death of Charlie Countryman’ and this is a truly gorgeous, powerful, heartwarming and brutal love story that really brings you into the struggle these characters face and takes you for an emotional, terrifying and heartwarming ride along with them.

Due credit must be given to Fredrik Bond who made his feature directorial debut with ‘Charlie Countryman’ from a phenomenal screenplay by Matt Drake (Project X) and Bond does a more than capable job of guiding this gorgeous tale and the scenery and vibrant colors are perfectly accentuated throughout which really helps the viewer to appreciate the beauty of this movie in more ways than one. When you add in brilliant performances from a powerful cast including Shia LaBeouf, Evan Rachel Wood, Vincent D’Onofrio, Rupert Grint, and Aubrey Plaza among others, the resulting factor is a pretty terrific film that you will not want to miss out on.

OVERALL: ‘Charlie Countryman’ is a wonderfully crafted film. It is beautiful, emotional and at times also violent and brutal, but it is in all a fantastic romantic story about love at first sight and the challenges one faces in order to make such a thing even have a possibility of becoming a reality. The scenery in addition to the brilliant performances and a well written and executed story definitely make this a film that I would give a very high recommendation. It is well worth the watch and I thoroughly enjoyed it myself.

VIDEO:

The Blu-Ray release of ‘Charlie Countryman’ features a full 1080p High Definition presentation utilizing a 1.78:1 16×9 Aspect Ratio. The video presentation is quite impressive. With the vibrant colors and gorgeous scenery often emphasized in the film, this competent high definition video presentation does an excellent job of displaying that color and beauty in the most impressive way possible. This is most certainly a title that you will want to view on Blu-Ray over DVD if you’re able to. While it may be more of a love story and no special effects or anything of the sort is really present throughout, the scenery and colors really do deserve the high definition treatment if you have the option.

AUDIO:

The Blu-Ray release features a lossless 5.1 channel Dolby TrueHD soundtrack that sounds pretty nice and certainly helps emphasize the tone and emotion that seeps from this film. The soundtrack and intense moments are amplified wonderfully by this capable lossless 5.1 channel soundtrack and most of the fellow audiophiles out there should be quite satisfied with it.

SPECIAL FEATURES:

The Blu-Ray release of ‘Charlie Countryman’ doesn’t feature much in the way of bonus content, but it does fortunately include a couple of nice extra goodies. Included on the release is a Behind the Scenes Featurette, in addition to a number of Deleted Scenes from the film. Certainly not a hefty amount of special features, but far better than a mere trailer.

Film Rating: 8.5/10

Disc Rating: 8/10

‘Charlie Countryman’ is now available to own on Blu-Ray & DVD from Millennium Entertainment.