Someone To Watch Over Me — Someone To Watch Over Me(Blu Ray)

Released in the late 80’s Someone To Watch Over Me is a glossy and moody blend of thriller and romantic drama. It is an enjoyable and entertaining if at points slightly tonally uneven/ unbalancing film, that is certainly worthy of revaluation. So, it’s great to see this new Blu Ray release from Powerhouse, taking in a new scan of the picture and a new commentary track.

Someone To Watch Over Me appeared in the year 1987 and it was the fifth feature film by highly respected, talented and genre-shifting British director  Sir Ridley Scott- who of course is known for the likes of Alien, Blade Runner, Gladiator, and American Gangster.  Whatever genre he’s focusing in on Scott always give his films great visual sleekness and keen sense of moodiness, and the same can be said for Someone To Watch Over Me- so whatever you level at the film regarding its mixed tone, one can’t criticise the look and visual mastery on display, as it’s totally on point.

The film is set in 1980’s NYC, and at its centre, it’s a character/ class study of two people- we have blue-collar policeman Mike Keegan(Tom Berenger), and privileged sociality Clair Gregory( Mini Rogers). They become acquainted after she witnesses the murder of a man in an exclusive nightclub, and Keegan is sent to guard her. She lives in a vast and lavishly decorated central NYC apartment, and he lives in a small wooden house in Queens with his wife of sixteen years Ellie(Lorrain Bracco) and their ten-year-old son. Initially, Keegan and Gregory seem worlds apart, with sly touches of humour coming from the pairs very different words. But slowly and surely a relationship develops between the two- first down to joint respect, then as lovers. So the film shifts between their growing relationship/ romance, and the danger/ thrills coming from the danger of those who are trying to stop her from testifying against the killer.

Both Rogers and Berenger work well together, and their developing relationship is done in a fairly believable manner. Playing the killer we have Andreas Katsulas as the nasty and unbalanced Joey Venza- who is seemingly always locking back onto tracking the witness, whatever the police do to stop him. 
 
I guess if you were to quantify the genre elements of the film- then most certainly the romantic drama side of things takes up the lion share of screen time. The thriller elements- when they appear are well tooled and effectively tense, it’s just they take up around a quarter of the film's make-up. Around this we of course have Ridley’s glossy and moody visuals- we have the stream hazed and twinkling lights of the night-time streets of NYC, the lavish and grand apartment of Gregory and its glinting/ mirrored surfaces, or the plush & elegant interiors of the exclusive club.  Someone To Watch Over Me is certainly a very well made and well-scoped film, and on the whole, it’s an entertaining blend of romantic drama and thriller-just be prepared for more drama and romance, than a constantly pulse-pounding thriller.
 
 
 
Moving onto this Region B Blu Ray- and we get a great new 2K scan, which really enhances the classy visuals and keen atmosphere of the film. On the extras front, we get a new commentary track from filmmaker and film historian Jim Hemphil- this is most worthy. He moves from discussing the film’s opening credits of downtown NYC, discussing Ridley’s love for Chrysler Building. He goes onto talk about the class element in Someone To Watch Over Me, and how it appears in his other films. We get bios of supporting actors, comments on shot set-ups. Later on, he discusses how the failure of his previous film Legend brought about Someone To Watch Over Me, details the development of the film, locations and much more. It's a track you could easily listen to a few times over.

Otherwise, on the disc, we get two archive interviews- each of these runs around eleven minutes- one with the film's writer Howard Franklin, and the other with from director of photography Steven Poster.  And lastly, we get the original trailer and image gallery. The finished release comes with a 32-page booklet with a new essay by Jamie Graham, archival interviews with the director of photography Steven Poster and actor Mimi Rogers, an overview of contemporary critical responses, and film credits.

 

With this release of Someone To Watch Over Me Powerhouse is once again reissue a film that squarely falls between genres. Certainly, if you enjoy more drama heavy and classy looking thrillers this is something you need to pick up, and it’s great to have the film back in print once more so it can be compared to the rest of Ridley Scots impressive and varied filmography