“Lost Soul” is my favorite documentary of the last decade. Watching Richard Stanley’s career collapse shouldn’t bring this much joy, but the film rises above that. The documentary examines how the cult of celebrity crushes all artistic endeavors. Richard Stanley came across intelligent, despite all of the crushing blows against him. What blew me away was how Robert Shaye still seemed willing to make excuses for Brando and Kilmer.
Marco Hofschneider provides a great deal of support in framing what happened without getting emotional like Fairuza Balk. What killed me was how the film is only 100 minutes long and I felt like I spent with three hours with the survivors of the production. The collection of different voices and different perspectives created something that just floored me. I hope that all future movie disasters can have this level of discussion about what happened. The educational aspects are enough to warrant this kind of coverage.
The Blu-Ray comes with three discs packed to the gills with content. If anything, you can pair it with the actual movie to have everything that will ever be said about the film on Blu-Ray. Well, unless you get a shovel and a car battery to pry out Marlon Brando’s take. You get a 1921 rediscovered lost Silent German adaptation of Moreau, featurettes, interviews, audio interviews and then there’s third disc. Richard Stanley reading from the original Moreau could’ve been a release on its own. The A/V Quality is pitch perfect with a supportive 1080p transfer and PCM 2.0 track. This is one of the best Blu releases of 2015.
Release Date: 7/28/15
