Night Train (Special Edition)
by Les Bernstien
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DVD details
Actor: Barry Cutler, Donna Pieroni, John Voldstad, Nikoletta Skarlatos, Pedro AldanaDirector: Les Bernstien
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); Spanish (Original Language)
Format: Anamorphic, Black & White, Dolby, DVD, HiFi Sound, NTSC, Widescreen
Picture Format: 1.33:1
Running Time: 80 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2003-06-24
Audience Rating: Unrated
Studio: Synapse Films
DVD Reviews of Night Train (Special Edition)
DVD Review: Get out of Tijuana. It's a bad place.
Summary: 4 Stars
Joe Butcher is the unlikeliest of heroes. He's overweight, none too bright and on a seemingly endless bender. Joe Butcher is in Tijuana trying to discover what happened to his brother Zack. They say he was killed when a car ran him over, but Joe ain't buying that story.
John Volstad, the other brother Daryl on the Newhart Show, plays Butcher. As drawn by first-time director Les Bernstein and splendidly played by Volstad, Butcher is a bull in the ring, surrounded by matadors and picadors, stained and blooded and fearless.
NIGHT TRAIN has a noirish, realistic feeling to it. On the commentary track Bernstein mentions that critics have compared it to Welles' TOUCH OF EVIL, and that seems about right. Bernstein's Tijuana is raw and red-lit, or at least as red-lit as a black and white movie can be. For economic reasons almost all of this low budget film was shot in Tijuana. The action takes place on the real streets and bars and junk yards of the city. Bernstein, a special effects photographer whose credits include FIGHT CLUB and THE PASSION OF THE CHRIST, deftly captures and delivers Tijuana in all its shabby glory. One of the drawbacks of the process, though, is capturing sound. The characters dubbed their lines after the shots were filmed and canned. Considering the way the filmmakers are able to get deep under Tijuana's skin, it seems a fair compromise.
I liked NIGHT TRAIN a lot. I like the idea of strapping a story onto the back of a portly, drunk and dirty character and putting him into a rough and run-down environment. The little known and little used actors are surprisingly good. Barry Cutler plays Sam, the rail-thin `resident American drunk' who befriends Butler and sometimes guides him through the dangerous ways and byways of Tijuana. Nikoletta Skarlatos, who has more credits as a make-up artist than as an actor, plays stripper and sometimes prostitute Bobby with a level of skill that belies her resume.
NIGHT TRAIN uses some visual tricks, not surprising considering Bernstein's background, that are unusual for a movie with a modest budget. The most innovative is a flashback seen from the bottom of a toilet bowl Butcher is retching into. There are a number of montage, flashback sequences. A few too many, perhaps. The one that is the most grating occurs near the end of the movie. It's incorporated into a torch song sung by Bobby. Why show a series of clips from a movie we've just seen? In the commentary Bernstein says it's a device used in Spanish and Mexican movies, but it feels intrusive and braking here. The final showdown is a bit of a letdown as well. It feels a little artificial in a movie that is relentlessly realistic.
NIGHT TRAIN's special features include:
- Text biographies of John Volstad and Les Bernstein.
- Music video prequel. Five minute Bernstein directed music video exploring some of the themes that would be developed in NIGHT TRAIN, i.e., claustrophobia, etc.
- A twenty-two minute short film that was produced in the early `90s and shopped around while the filmmakers were trying to get financing for NIGHT TRAIN. This is interesting in that it shows the evolution of the movie. The original score was quite bluesy and jazzy, and the short film has a more polished, traditional film noir style. The full length feature would have a gritty, documentary look to it, and the score would feature the surf guitar stylings of Marco Aldaco.
- A storyboard for a night dream sequence montage consisting of a number of still line drawings.
- Publicity. Reprinted text reviews of NIGHT TRAIN.
- How to Make a Caesar Salad. A color, shot on video, 11-minute documentary showing a waiter preparing a Caesar Salad in the restaurant of the hotel in Tijuana where the dish was created.
- Welcome to Tijuana - A 13-minute video on the making of NIGHT TRAIN.
More Night Train (Special Edition) reviews:
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Description of Night Train (Special Edition)
Special Features:- New Digital Transfer in the Original Theatrical Aspect Ratio of 1.33:1
- The Original Short Film that Inspired the movie, Directed by Les Bernstein
- Actor/Director Biographies
- Storyboards
- Audio Commentary
- Music Video
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