The feature documentary, the first of its kind on Vonnegut, is a deep, immersive dive into the author’s life and work, as well as the 25-year friendship with the filmmaker who set out to document it. It spans his childhood in Indianapolis, experience as a Prisoner of War in World War II, marriage and family, early careers as a publicist for General Electric and a car salesman, and his years as a struggling writer, leading to eventual superstardom in 1969 following the publication of his lightning-bolt anti-war novel Slaughterhouse-Five.

For in-depth thoughts on Kurt Vonnegut: Unstuck In Time, please see my colleague Mike Vaughn’s review from its original theatrical release here.

Video Quality

Kurt Vonnegut: Unstuck In Time comes to Blu-Ray featuring a lot of different material in varying degrees of quality. There is no doubt that the movie itself and everything within it looks as technically excellent as it can look in high definition. This can be attributed to the fact that RLJE Entertainment has delivered a great encode and given the film plenty of room to breathe. This company has been so great in this respect, and it is always appreciated. There is no evidence of compression artifacts or other digital nuisances of the sort. The archival tape footage used seems to be in the best shape possible given the quality of the source material, much of it looking surprisingly robust. New interview segments look incredibly sleek and clear with natural skin tones and detailed facial features. I do not see how this could have been improved visually. It’s a real treat as it stands.

Audio Quality

This Blu-Ray comes with a wonderful DTS-HD 5.1 Master Audio track that captures this story flawlessly. Dialogue is the lifeblood of the film, and it comes through crisp and clear without being clipped by any competing sounds. The filmmaker does a really great job of capturing the subjects and making sure all this information comes through with supreme clarity. Even audio from the old video tapes comes through pretty clearly given the age and the format. The music and the score establish the atmosphere of the film, and those sounds are resolved well here as music often permeates the room. Ambient sounds from some of the environmental elements are precisely placed in the rear channels and provide a nice texture. The audio track is not pushed to the limit with this content, but it nonetheless proves to be the perfect representation of this feature. There are optional English SDH subtitles included for those who desire them.

Special Features

There are no special features provided on this disc.

Final Thoughts

Kurt Vonnegut: Unstuck In Time is an absolutely transfixing portrait of one of the greatest writers of our time that never comes off as a puff piece. While a key aspect of the film is the relationship the filmmaker had with Vonnegut, there is never a sense that the film has been sanitized to “protect” the man’s legacy. While some audiences may find this examination to be a bit overly long, the extra attention allows time to survey the complexities that made up our titular subject. RLJE Entertainment has provided this film with a Blu-Ray that sports a strong A/V presentation but nothing in the way of special features. If you are a Vonnegut fan or simply open to learning about fascinating literary figures, you are going to love this. Recommended

Kurt Vonnegut: Unstuck In Time is currently available to purchase on Blu-Ray and DVD.

Note: Images presented in this review are not reflective of the image quality of the Blu-Ray.

Disclaimer: RLJE Entertainment has supplied a copy of this disc free of charge for review purposes. All opinions in this review are the honest reactions of the author.