Swoon
by Tom Kalin
List Price:
Our Price: $16.10
You Save: $13.89 (46%)
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Category: DVD
See more DVD details
Buy this DVD movie at online store in your country
Canada
Canada
DVD details
Actor: Craig Chester, Daniel Schlachet, Michael Kirby, Michael Stumm, Ron VawterDirector: Tom Kalin
Producer: Tom Kalin
Writer: Tom Kalin
Producer: Christine Vachon
Producer: James Schamus
Producer: Lauren Zalaznick
Producer: Peter Wentworth
Writer: Hilton Als
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Original Language)
Format: Closed-captioned, Color, Director's Cut, DVD, NTSC
Picture Format: 1.33:1
Running Time: 82 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2004-08-24
Audience Rating: R (Restricted)
Studio: Strand Releasing
DVD Reviews of Swoon
DVD Review: Truth... Far More Bizarre Than Fiction or Who Were Those Masked Men?
Summary: 5 Stars
Start out with a true story of a shocking crime and then, add a couple of young men who thrive in the shadow enshrowded areas floating between real life and real madness.
More than simply connecting facts cronologically, this fascinating accounting of elevating violence is an in-depth study of criminal minds sinking further into depravity and madness. Their sexual preferences are highlighted, but not essential to the development of the main characters.
The production will offend some in the audience, mainly because of dramatic changes in public morality. The very stylized visuals are complimentary to the era represented (the 1920's) and the perceived level of "bored sophistication."
Not overwhelming with plot twists and/or dozens of unnecessary characters marching through the film; the story is easy to follow despite its bazarre nature.
DVD Review: Beauty and the beasts
Summary: 4 Stars
Tom Kalin's 1992 film is a landmark of what Ruby Rich famously called "the new Queer Cinema," and though it's filled with flaws, it's so gorgeous and haunting that it stays with you long after you've forgotten other films that are objectively better. Like ROPE or COMPULSION before it, SWOON seems to dramatize what was known for decades as the Crime of the Century, the morder of fourteen year-old Bobby Franks by two brilliant and wealthy Chicago college students, Nathan Leopold and Richard Loeb, who wanted to prove they could commit the perfect crime. Other version of the story have made the homoerotic nature of the relationship between Leopold and Loeb only implied: here Kalin makes it the absolute center of the story, and the film is as much about how frustrated two beautiful and gifted young gay men are when they cannot express their sexuality openly but have the money and the leisure to do almost anything else.
Certain sequences of the film are absolutely heartstopping in their beauty, in particular the beautifully photographed opening sequence of the pair's friends photographed against a hazy sky. There's a great deal of pleasure to be had in Kalin's ingenuity in creating 1920s sets and costumes and props to make the whole thing look authentic (though his trick of using anachronistic contemporary props--such as a push-button payphone--looks to be mostly a dodge he passes off as an hommage ? Derek Jarman because he couldn't figure out how to get authentic props).
The problems with the film are that in the end it's a bit empty-headed. The analogy between gay men and criminals is done in a very heavy-handed manner, particularly at the end when Kalin has a montage of photos of "criminal types" that are clearly all his friends in real life. Moreover, the film seems to treat Leopold and Loeb as if they were mere martyrs to homophobia; very little is made of how much Bobby Franks and his parents suffered from their crime. (Bobby is hardly seen in the film at all, and when he is he's usually not photographed directly face-on.) It's one thing for Derek Jarman to present Edward II as being martyred on account of his sexuality; but Leopold and Loeb? Despite this, I recommend seeing the film if only for its cinematography and for the excellent performance of Craig Chester as Nathaniel Leopold.
DVD Review: A Monumental Film
Summary: 5 Stars
"SWOON"
A monumental film
Amos Lassen and Cinema Pride
"Swoon" (Strand Releasing) is not a new film but it is one that if you haven't seen it, you should. If you have seen it, now is time for you to revisit. "Swoon" ushered in the age of what was called in 1992 the "new queer cinema". The movie is based on the scandalous murder trial of Nathan Leopold and Richard Loeb--a trial that had been written about across America in headlines and had already had a book, "Compulsion" and two movies (Hitchcock's "Rope" and "Compulsion") made about it. But the story had never before looked at from the queer point of view. Tom Kalin took the story, studied the facts, and created this beautiful black and white film about what really happened. It stars Craig Chester ("Adam and Steve") and Daniel Schlachet. I finally succumbed to that little voice inside of me that told me to buy it and I am glad I waited because it now comes as a director's cut with lots of extras.
This is such a compelling film that I felt obligated to learn everything about the original case and I found myself sitting in the library looking up old articles and newspaper stories.
Tom Kalin gives the truest account of one of the most notorious and infamous crimes of the twentieth century. How was it possible that two rich genius college students who were lovers as well could murder for thrill? Kalin focuses on the homoerotic subplot of the issue and the film brings it out beautifully. Two good boys, superlatively educated from two good Jewish homes committed a crime that rocked America. The elegance of the film and the subtlety of the performances question the gay elements of the case in a way that was never really done before. He even takes the story past the courtroom to show how the perpetrators of this horrific crime met their deaths. A pretty picture it is not--it is brutal and hard to forget. Kalin does not hold back and is indifferent to the martyrdom of positive images concerning same-sex couples and the two young and gay killers. "Swoon" defies generalization and intelligence and stands alone in the canon of queer film. It is audacious, it is stylish. It is provocative and stunning and seductive. It examines manners as if they had never been examined before. Kalin makes no excuses and this film is his monument. Both visionary and haunting, it is not easy to forget and these are what make a movie great. We don't have many like this and we should be happy that we have "Swoon". It is among the best of the movies I have ever seen and considering that it is and considering that it still holds up some sixteen years after its original release says something about it.
DVD Review: Trying to be all things to all people
Summary: 3 Stars
It turns out to be mediocre to everyone.
Swoon feels something like a rather lavish PBS documentary with some stylized, artsy murmuring and elaborate costumes and sets (except for the rather glaring touch-tone phones.) As a documentary, it feels forced, and needs lots of narrative ("On July 15, we this or that and I felt this or that.") However it leaves out any attempt at an examination about why these two men behaved the way they did and what the shaping forces were that created these arrogant, outwardly-polite murderers.
As a presumably entertaining movie, it lurches from one scene to another and lacks congruity and basics of story-telling (like a beginning or an end.) It is interesting, and there are glimmers of excellence, but mostly they get drowned out by costumes and smoking and narrative.
Worth seeing, but not entirely successful.
DVD Review: Just short of perfect
Summary: 4 Stars
This film takes a look at the leopold/loeb case that is often glossed over in other films and even books on the subject. The focus is obviously on Leopold and Loeb rather than the crime itslef and the importance their personalities play in their connection to each other. The film seems rushed at times but it just seems to add to the intensity of it all. It's rushed but you can't seem to think of it being any other way. You're not left thinking one of the two boys is any more 'evil' than the other (which is perhaps the best thing about the film).However, if you're not familar with the leopold/loeb case much of the movie could potentially be confusing and while many of the lines are actual things said by the two boys they are often placed in a different context or said to different people. If you've previously read Hal Higdon's book on the subject the movie makes much more sense than it would otherwise. However, if you have not, it is still a disturbing yet touching story. You'll realize the complicated nature of the boys' relationship and question who really contributed to the crime.
Description of Swoon
Studio: Strand Releasing Release Date: 04/06/2006Swoon was the rage of the 1992 film festival circuit, as well as part of a wave of gay-themed films that used independent channels to reach the mainstream audience. Written and directed by Tom Kalin and with a cast of mostly unknowns, the movie looks back at the Leopold-Loeb thrill-killing of 1924. Shooting in black and white and using impressionistic imagery, Kalin creates a hallucinatory mix of dream and drama, while giving the story a homosexual perspective that makes it seem new. Where earlier films (such as Hitchcock's Rope and Richard Fleischer's Compulsion) only hinted that these characters might be gay, Kalin takes it as a given and examines the pair's treatment by the police and press based on their sexuality. Might be too arty for some tastes, but others find it intriguingly challenging. --Marshall Fine
General DVDs
DVD Video
- Action & Adventure
- African American Cinema
- Animation
- Anime & Manga
- Art House & International
- Classics
- Comedy
- Cult Movies
- Documentary
- Drama
- Educational
- Fitness & Yoga
- Gay & Lesbian
- Horror
- Kids & Family
- Military & War
- Music Video & Concerts
- Musicals & Performing Arts
- Mystery & Suspense
- Science Fiction & Fantasy
- Special Interests
- Sports
- Television
- Westerns
Bestsellers in General DVDs
Twilight (Two-Disc Special Edition)Universal; Release date: 2009-03-21; DVD
Best price: $15.88
Price in other shops:
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (Full-Screen Edition)Release date: 2009-12-08; DVD
Best price: $9.99
Price in other shops:
Lost: The Complete Fifth SeasonRelease date: 2009-12-08; DVD
Best price: $36.99
Price in other shops:
The Proposal (Single Disc Widescreen)BUENA VISTA HOME VIDEO; Release date: 2009-10-13; DVD
Best price: $8.99
Price in other shops:
![Angels & Demons [Blu-ray] Image](/images/Angels-Demons-Blu-ray-B002O5M4SU-X.jpg)
Angels & Demons [Blu-ray]SONY PICTURES HOME ENT; Release date: 2009-11-24; DVD
Best price: $18.90
Price in other shops:
Four ChristmasesNEW LINE HOME VIDEO; Release date: 2009-11-24; DVD
Best price: $12.66
Price in other shops:
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (Two-Disc Limited Special Edition + Digital Copy)Warner Brothers; Release date: 2009-12-08; DVD
Best price: $19.99
Price in other shops:
Julie & JuliaRelease date: 2009-12-08; DVD
Best price: $9.99
Price in other shops:
Angels & Demons (Single-Disc Theatrical Edition)SONY PICTURES HOME ENT; Release date: 2009-11-24; DVD
Best price: $11.99
Price in other shops:
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (Widescreen Edition)Warner Brothers; Release date: 2009-12-08; DVD
Best price: $9.99
Price in other shops:
Similar DVDs, VHS Video, Audio CDs
Evil Summer: Babe Leopold, Dickie Loeb, and the Kidnap-Murder of Bobby Franks (Elmer H Johnson & Carol Holmes Johnson Series in Criminology)by John Theodore
Southern Illinois University Press; Published: 2007-10-04; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $15.32
Price in other shops:
PoisonRelease date: 1999-10-26; DVD
Best price: $59.87
Making LoveONTKEAN,MICHAEL; Release date: 2006-02-07; DVD
Best price: $5.24
Price in other shops:
Otto; Or, Up With Dead PeopleRelease date: 2009-02-10; DVD
Best price: $15.55
Price in other shops:
For the Thrill of It: Leopold, Loeb, and the Murder That Shocked Jazz Age Chicagoby Simon Baatz
Harper Perennial; Published: 2009-05-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $9.17
Price in other shops:
RopeSTEWART,JAMES; Release date: 2006-06-20; DVD
Best price: $12.88
Price in other shops:
The Boys in the BandPARAMOUNT HOME VIDEO; Release date: 2008-11-11; DVD
Best price: $18.95
Price in other shops:
Savage GraceGenius; Release date: 2008-12-23; DVD
Best price: $9.99
Price in other shops:
The Living End: Remixed and RemasteredRelease date: 2008-04-29; DVD
Best price: $14.74
Price in other shops:
CompulsionWELLES,ORSON; Release date: 2006-05-23; DVD
Best price: $4.55
Price in other shops: