Sid and Nancy – The Criterion Collection (Blu-ray)

Theatrical Release Date: UK, 1986
Director: Alex Cox
Writers: Alex Cox, Abbe Wool
Cast: Gary Oldman, Chloe Webb, David Hayman, Debby Bishop, Andrew Schofield, Perry Benson, Tony London, Anne Lambton

Release Date: August 22nd, 2017
Approximate Running Time: 113 Minutes 33 seconds
Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1 Widescreen / 1080 Progressive / MPEG-4 AVCC
Rating: R
Sound: LPCM Stereo English, DTS-HD 5.1 English
Subtitles: English SDH
Region Coding: Region A
Retail Price: $39.95

"With the lacerating love story Sid & Nancy, Alex Cox reimagines the crash-and-burn affair between punk’s most notorious self-destructive poster children: Sex Pistols bassist Sid Vicious and his girlfriend, Nancy Spungen—brought to visceral life by brilliant performances from Gary Oldman and Chloe Webb. Cox turns his anarchic filmmaking style on the explosive energy of the London punk scene and the degenerate streets of seventies New York, making for an eviscerating depiction of excess and addiction." - synopsis provided by the distributor

Video: 5/5

Here’s the information provided about this release's transfer, "Supervised and approved by director of photography Roger Deakins, this new 16-bit 4K digital transfer was created on a DFT Scanity film scanner from the original 35mm camera negative at Deluxe in Culver City, California. Thousands of instances of dirt, debris, scratches, splices, and warps were manually removed using MIT Film's DRS, while Digital Vision's Phoenix was used for jitter, flicker, small dirt, grain, and noise management."

Sid and Nancy comes on a 50 GB dual layer Blu-ray.

Disc Size: 46.1 GB

Feature: 32.1 GB

The source looks excellent, and it appears to be the same source that StudioCanal used for their 2016 Blu-ray release. Flesh tones look healthy, colors are nicely saturated, image clarity, contrast, black levels, and compression are solid, and the image always looks organic.

Audio: 5/5 (LPCM Stereo English), 4.5/5 (DTS-HD 5.1 English)

This release comes with two audio options, a LPCM stereo mix in English and a DTS-HD 5.1 mix in English. Both audio tracks sound excellent. That said, I prefer the stereo track. Dialog comes through clearly, everything sounds balanced, ambient sounds are well-represented, and the soundtrack sounds appropriately robust. Included are removable English SDH.

Extras:

Extras for this release include a theatrical trailer (2 minutes 3 seconds, Dolby Digital stereo English, no subtitles), The London Weekend Show, a British TV show that explores Punk music and fashion (13 minutes 34 seconds, Dolby Digital mono English, no subtitles), the infamous 1976 Bill Grundy interview with the Sex Pistols on British television titled The Filth and the Fury! (2 minutes 55 seconds, Dolby Digital mono English, no subtitles), a rare telephone interview from 1978 with Sid Vicious (13 minutes 8 seconds, Dolby Digital mono English, no subtitles), interviews with Sid Vicious and Nancy Spungen from the 1980 documentary D.O.A.: A Right of Passage (10 minutes 8 seconds, Dolby Digital mono English, no subtitles), Sad Vacation, an excerpt from Danny Garcia’s documentary titled Sad Vacation:The Last Days of Sid and Nancy (14 minutes 27 seconds, Dolby Digital stereo English, no subtitles), an archival making of Sid & Nancy titled England’s Glory (30 minutes 22 seconds, Dolby Digital mono English, no subtitles), an interview with director Alex Cox (24 minutes 2 seconds, Dolby Digital mono English, no subtitles), an archival audio commentary from 1994 with screenwriter Abbe Wool, actors Gary Oldman and Chloe Webb, cultural historian Greil Marcus, filmmakers Julien Temple and Lech Kowalski, and musician Eliot Kidd, an archival audio commentary from 2001 with Alex Cox and actor Andrew Schofield, and a 18-page booklet with cast & crew information, an essay titled The Horrible Purity of Immortality written by Jon Savage, an archival piece compiled by Alex Cox about Vicious, Spungen, and the making of the film titled On Sid and Nancy, and information about the transfer.

Summary:

Alex Cox directed Sid and Nancy. He’s most known for Repo Man, Straight to Hell, and Walker.

Sid Vicious' rise to fame as the bass player of The Sex Pistols. His tumultuous relationship with Nancy, an American groupie/heroin addict. The eventual demise of the Sex Pistols, an ill-fated attempt at a solo career, and two star-crossed lovers’ untimely deaths.

Cinema, much like life, often navigates a delicate balance between reality and imagination. This distinction is particularly pronounced in films that are based on real individuals’ lives. There is much more to our identities than just the events of our lives, and the best biographical films are those that truly capture the essence of their subjects. A prime example of this is Alex Cox’s Sid and Nancy.

To this film’s credit, it focuses more on Sid’s life outside of the Sex Pistols and, more importantly, on his relationship with Nancy. The well-constructed narrative charts the rise of its two main characters, Sid and Nancy, followed by their deterioration and ultimately their self-destruction. Regarding backstory, the film leans on the legend that has developed since Sid’s death to provide context. Though the primary focus is on Sid and Nancy and their love affair, the film also spends ample time exploring his time in the Sex Pistols, featuring many of their songs throughout.

Casting is such an essential aspect of filmmaking, and for this film they have picked two actors, Gary Oldman (Léon) and Chloe Webb (The Belly of an Architect), who perfectly capture the essence of Sid and Nancy. They fully immerse themselves in the characters they are portraying, and they also have a tremendous amount of chemistry. Other performances of note are Andrew Schofield (Distant Voices, Still Lives), who portrays Johnny Rotten, and Courtney Love in a brief albeit noticeable cameo as one of Nancy’s junkie friends.

From a production standpoint, there is no area where this film does not excel. The well-constructed narrative moves briskly once it establishes momentum, and its ending provides a perfect coda. Music plays a significant role, and besides the use of Sex Pistols music, the soundtrack is rounded out by songs by The Clash's Joe Strummer, The Pogues, and Dan Wool. Not to be overlooked when discussing this film are its visuals, which do a phenomenal job heightening the mood. The cinematographer was Roger Deakins, most known for his collaborations with the Coen Brothers. The most striking moment is the scene where Sid sings My Way. Ultimately, Sid and Nancy is a film that will connect with Sex Pistol fans, while those who go into this film cold might find it too bleak.

Sid and Nancy gets an exceptional release from The Criterion Collection that comes with a solid audio/video presentation and a wealth of insightful extras; highly recommended.

 

Written by Michael Den Boer