If you have been following my writing and my thoughts on things when it comes to media, it should be apparent that my stance is, and always will be, physical media is king. It is really hard to make the argument for this stance when the studio releasing the physical media can’t put the same effort into it. I am not going to sit here and name names (studios) or individual releases, but when the effort put into a home release lacks ANYTHING further than owning the disk of a film, it certainly makes the audience and prospective buyers ask why buy the disk instead of buying it digitally for less elsewhere.
The movie in question here is NEON’s La Chimera (2023), released on home video by DECAL Releasing. NEON … who is a champion of releasing films and ensuring everyone has a chance to own their distributed titles. It just lacks that extra pizazz for a home release. Even manufactured-on-demand (MOD) titles, like this one, usually have some semblance of features on the disk — a commentary, storyboards, even a trailer attached to them, but La Chimera lacks all of the possibilities of extra goodies and bonuses. As a champion of physical media, I am simply glad that the film exists to own on a disk legally and, at the end of the day, that is what matters, even if it is a little disappointing.
The movie itself is something of a mystery. It feels like a cross between National Treasure (2004) and half a generic romance movie. However, the charisma and chaos and adventure of National Treasure is certainly lacking from La Chimera, and it is not from Josh O’Connor (Challengers; Emma), who, if he wanted to read a phone book could make it interesting, but rather from the script he is given from Alice Rohrwacher (Happy as Lazzaro), who collaborated with Carmela Covino (Happy as Lazzaro) and Marco Pettenello (Io vivo altrove!).
A scene in LA CHIMERA. Photo courtesy of NEON.
Arthur (O’Connor), who is an archeologist, is searching for Beniamina (Yile Yara Vianello), a woman he loves but has lost contact with, or in this case his Chimera — something one wants to obtain but cannot. However, the crew he works with, a band of tombaroli (tomb raiders), they want to find hidden treasure to gain easy money and less work. Granted, finding treasure certainly is no easy feat, and saying that it is not hard work would be a flat out lie, but it is not what we would call honest work. However, Arthur meets Italia (Carol Duarte), the two certainly hit things off, and things slowly start to develop between them, making Arthur, who is looking for his Chimera, realize that maybe his Chimera is somewhere else and that his Chimera itself can change.
O’Connor is great; the performance he delivers as being hard on himself, down on his luck, and struggling to find his happiness is clear, but the overall toll the movie takes to get us there is where it lacks. The journey feels hollow, as Arthur’s character never truly further develops. He is just down and hard on his luck, does some risqué things, and maybe he’ll inevitably find there’s a reason he met the people he did along the way. Josh O’Connor truly does bring a nuanced performance, but one that is drowned out with a lack of direction and intrigue, leaving him to fight for survival to keep the audience engaged. La Chimera is a slow burn which certainly takes a long time to get going and develop what is going on, and even though it places a lot of the weight of the story on Arthur’s shoulders, his journey almost plays second fiddle as he cannot get out of his own head or his own way.
With any physical release to come out, especially that for a smaller more independent movie, the answer will always be to buy the movie on disk. However, even if the overall movie may not be my cup of tea and not something I was blown away by, owning the disk still is valuable. The only thing I wish that was different, aside from my opinion on the movie, is that there was something extra to the home release itself. The case showing a poster with a quote on its front and a synopsis on its back acknowledging the lack of features makes the prospective buyer hope there is a buried feature, only to be left disappointed once they put this Blu-ray in. The one upside though, the Blu-ray does look spectacular.
**Be advised that this release is a BD-R and that format may not play in Xbox One or players without updated firmware. This is a noted issue and should be considered before purchasing.**
Available on Blu-ray June 4th, 2024.
For more information on the film, head to the official NEON La Chimera webpage.
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Categories: Home Release, Home Video, Recommendation, Reviews
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