Drowning By Numbers — Drowning By Numbers (UHD & Blu Ray)
Appearing in the late 1980’s Drowning By Numbers was the fourth feature-length film from British Auteur Peter Greenway – a director/ writer with an eye for arty & detailed visual elegance, and a darkly puzzling to morbidly playful tone to his work. The film is a wonderfully weird & darkly quirky blend of British-toned comedy-drama, number-obsessed art house, and bizarre murder mystery. Here from the fine folks at Severin is a new dual disc release of the film- taking in both UHD & Blu-Ray discs. With it featuring a new 4k scan of the picture, directors’ commentary, a new director’s interview & a few other things.
Drowning By Numbers appeared in the year 1988- and I guess you could say it’s one of Greenway’s more approachable, and (fairly) easily consumed films. As it features a fairly linear & clear plot- with the directors more channelling arthouse visuals and concepts played down somewhat. It also, at points, plays like a straight British comedy-drama. But there are still visual puzzles aplenty, an unhealthy obsession with death & numbers, and moments of both trouble pathos & coal-black humour.
The film is set in a seaside village in Suffolk UK. And regards three generations of women, their partners/ husbands, and the local bearded & keen to get his end away corner Madgett played by Bernard Hill (Titanic, Boys From The Black Stuff, Shirley Valentine, and the Lord Of The Rings films). Over the film's length, three men are drowned in generational order by their spouses- starting with having-an-affair gardener Jake (Bryan Pringle) who is killed in a tin bath in his front room by his sixty-year-old wife Cissie Colpitts 1 (Joan Plowright).
Added into the mix is quirky-if- ultimately rather disturbed pre-teen 1950s dress shorts Smut(Jason Edwards) who is the son of Madgett, and spends his time playing out a series of bizarre & at times quite complex games. Many of these are related to death- with him also dabbing the location of animal deaths with different coloured paints(depending on the day) and letting off a firework.
The films setting switches between the bright-though-often surreal village fete/ gatherings of the daytime. And the interior-of-a-car-lite journeys of nighttime- which often find Smut collecting insects, or the randy Madgett trying to get his end away. Though out the film we get cleverly placed series of either visual or spoken numbers- which rather adds to the strange intriguing & unfold of the whole thing. This been a Greenway film it’s very visually focused- with many of the film's frames filled with details,
items, puzzles, and of course numbers. The whole film has a decidedly sweet ‘n’ sour quality about it- as it shifts between lighter comedy-drama, playful-to-troubling artiness, and moments of death/ tragedy. It’s certainly a very difficult film to peg- with its tonal quality all over the place. Yes, it is Greenway’s more approachable, at points bright & playful films- but equally, if you scratch just below the surface- there is a pervading feeling of disquiet & unease that is often hovering like a fly over a decomposing corpse.
Moving onto this new UHD & Blu-Ray release, and the Blu-ray is region-free. The film receives a 4k scan supervised by director Peter Greenway, and this is splendid- with really crisp, clean and well-defined colours, and wonderful sonic clarity- presenting both the film's dialogue & soundtrack perfectly. Moving onto the extra side, and we get a really nice selection of things. First off, we get a brand-new commentary track from Mr Greenaway, and this is very thorough/fascinating. He begins by talking about the large cast of children the film had, and the early counting of stars scene- with some of the stars' names relating back to the director's past work. He discusses the film's title & its meaning- which among other things nods towards the dumbing down of painting as a form of art. He discusses the films cinematographer Sacha Vierny, and his work in the film. He talks about how the film is influenced by his own childhood- where he became fascinated with death, and getting introduced to sex. He points out and discusses the use of numbers in the film, and the moments of wordplay in its script. Later on, talks about background details in scenes, and touches on fatalities in the game of cricket. He talks about the use of gameplay in discussions about sex, how his films often contain stories within stories, and much more. Though and through an excellent track- one of the best I’ve heard from a director.
Otherwise, on the extras front, we get the following: Painting By Numbers (14.28) which is a filmed interview with the director. This again is excellent- as he talks about the use of water in eight or nine films. The use of text and images in the film, elements of geometry in the film's frames, and the use of numbers. He discusses how cinema has shifted from being a very public form to now a largely private form, his love of art & more. There’s Three Women And A Coroner (9.53) which is an onscreen interview with the film's lead actor Bernard Hill.
On the archive side, we get Fear Of Drowning (27.15) which is a making of, and Some Greenaway Game Concepts (5.29) looking at the artwork created for the film by Greenway. So a good selection of new & archive extras- though I’m afraid there is a problem with the extras menu- as when you click on the director's com link it goes directly to the Game Concepts- so the only way to play the track is via the setup menu…I know issues happen with creating menus- but just thought I’d mention this point, so if you do come watch buy the release- you know what to do.
It most certainly is great to see Mr Greenaway’s work getting a 4k release- and I do hope this release is a success- as I’d love to see his other films get the Severin treatment. All in all, an excellent release- and a great introduction to the very distinctive & arty film world of Peter Greenway, as it’s certainly one of his more easily approachable films.