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Splendor (1999) [MultiAudio]

Posted By: Someonelse

Date: 24 Oct 2023 04:49:06

SD / DVD IMDb

Splendor (1999)
DVD5 | VIDEO_TS | NTSC 16:9 | 01:32:21 | 4,19 Gb
Audio: #1 English AC3 5.1/2.0 @ 448/192 Kbps, #2 Spanish, #3 Portuguese - AC3 2.0 @ 192 Kbps
Subs: English, Spanish, French, Portuguese
Genre: Comedy, Romance

Director: Gregg Araki
Writers: Gregg Araki, Jill Cargerman
Stars: Kathleen Robertson, Johnathon Schaech, Matt Keeslar

Veronica is a white-bread beauty searching for a good man in Los Angeles. While slam dancing at a Halloween rave, she meets Abel, a sensitive poet. Then she meets Zed, a supersexy tattooed drummer with incredible biceps. Who will she choose? Does she go for true love or cheap sex? She can’t decide so she chooses both. But after managing to nurture a picture-perfect threesome, along comes Ernest, a rich movie director with deep baby blues that sweep Veronica off her feet. What’s a girl to do now?

IMDB | Wikipedia

Billed as "an irresponsible film by Gregg Araki," this vitrolic first effort from the "formerly gay" maverick director remains his most consistent and memorable work. Effectively capturing the political rage of the gay community in the early 1990s, the film also works as sick entertainment thanks to some unexpected splashes of gore, hilariously nasty dialogue, and a handful of cult-friendly cameos including the always welcome Mary Woronov.

Splendor (1999) [MultiAudio]

Morose over his positive HIV status, single guy and self-deprecating film critic Jon (Craig Gilmore) goes about his business in Los Angeles, while nearby, jaded hustler Luke (Mike Dytri) has the ultimate in bad days when he's nearly robbed by two lesbians, then his john (who enjoys being smacked on the butt with a tennis racket) gets hacked to death by his jealous wife. Teetering on the edge, Luke then unloads a pistol into a trio of gay bashers. Jon passes by and rescues Luke; the two hit it off immediately and become lovers on the lam, peppering their crime spree with socially conscious diabtribes against the White House (populated by the first Bush at the time) and other targets of the period.

Splendor (1999) [MultiAudio]

Occasionally Jon returns to reality for short periods by telephoning his best friend, Darcy, but he continues to follow Luke into an increasingly despairing and emotionally treacherous terrain which culminates in one of the decade's most startling, perverse and oddly touching final scenes.

Splendor (1999) [MultiAudio]

One of the earliest art house hits from indie label Strand Releasing, The Living End became a moderate film festival hit and kickstarted the bizarre but sadly limited career of Araki, who followed this with Totally F***ed Up before moving into more technically slick, celebrity-studded homages to his favorite directors. Even here the cinematic hat-tipping is more than a little obvious, especially when Luke violently blows away his potential assailants and the camera lingers on their bloody caps incribed with the names of other indie directors. Depending on each viewer's tolerance, the characters will either seem uncompromising, real and erotically charged, or insufferably whiny and self-absorbed; in any case the dialogue is always interesting and punches through to a few areas no other film dared to explore before or since.

Splendor (1999) [MultiAudio]

Shot on very grainy 16mm and blown up to 35mm for its theatrical engagements, The Living End has never looked very slick, to say the least. Its Warholian visual limitations are part of the charm, apparently, and the video transfer originally prepared by Academy in the mid-1990s captures every bit of grit and grime. That said, it's still colorful and sharp enough, and while the film never earned a laserdisc release, the same master was apparently recycled over for Platinum's DVD release.

Splendor (1999) [MultiAudio]

At least a notch or two above the VHS, the DVD looks suprisingly good for a budget label and, considering the amazingly low price tag it usually fetches, the disc should make fans very happy. The film's most striking aspect, its soundtrack, fares extremely well, and while the music mix may be a little loud for some tastes, Araki's carefully chosen songs from the likes of KMFDM, Coil, Babyland and Braindead Sound Machine contribute greatly to the film's aggressive, caustic, and ultimately unforgettable atmosphere.
Mondo Digital