Review of Falcons

Introduction

Falcons stars Keith Carradine, probably still best known for 1970s TV series Kung Fu, or maybe for appearing in a Madonna video. He plays Simon, newly released from prison and on his way to Iceland, to visit relatives, and forget his past, perhaps permanently. Whilst there he meets Dúa (Margrét Vilhjálmsdóttir), a performance artist, and a bit of an "out there" hippy. Her pet falcon has enraged the local police force, and this leads the two of them to flee the country taking the member of a rare and protected species with them.

Video

A 1.85:1 anamorphic transfer awaits. It looks surprisingly good for such a small and unknown film, with a pleasing lack of dirt, dust and other damage. The colour palette has a nice range too, ranging from the softer and more muted tones of Iceland to the more garish civilisation of Hamburg with its flyers, posters and red light district.

The landscapes of Iceland look stunning in the early part of the film. Margrét Vilhjálmsdóttir`s wardrobe gets madder as the film goes on.

Audio

The sleeve tells us that we`re going to get a DD5.1 and a dts soundtrack, but neither are present. All that you can listen to is a DD2.0 stereo soundtrack. It`s ok and it does its job well enough, but there are moments when more channels would have improved matters. Maybe the final release will fix this.

Features

Just a trailer and some trailers for other Tartan DVDs.

Conclusion

A mismatched couple, hitting the road, trying to sell something that`s not really theirs to sell. It`s all a bit predictable really, along with all the heavy handed metaphors about wild dogs and caged beasts who long to be free. You can work out what`s going to happen and how, and by the end of the film you just might be mightily annoyed at it all.

The two leads do what they can to try and make it a better viewing experience, and I have this feeling that you`ll soon be seeing Margrét Vilhjálmsdóttir in other films. But at the end of the day it`s largely forgettable.

The DVD doesn`t do much to improve matters. Whilst the picture is fine, the sound is advertised as being better than it is, and the lack of extras doesn`t help. I can`t really recommend it to anyone as although it`s not a really bad film, there are so many better films that you could watch instead.