Intrepid journalist and filmmaker David Farrier, whose previous film TICKLED became a global sensation for exposing the dark underbelly of competitive endurance tickling, faces off against his greatest foe yet in MISTER ORGAN, an enthralling and bizarre tale that finds Farrier in a dangerous game of cat and mouse with a mysterious con man who is wreaking havoc on his neighborhood.
For thoughts on Mister Organ, please check out my colleague Andre Couture’s review from its original theatrical release here.
Video Quality
Mister Organ comes to MOD Blu-Ray in its original aspect ratio from a great high definition master. The film is made up of new footage from different sources and archival material interspersed for context. The footage can be a bit inconsistent at times, but you cannot expect much from cell phone footage that is shot on the fly or other unstable sources. Other newly filmed footage looks as crisp and clear as you would expect modern material to look depending on the location.
The colors add a dynamic touch with a natural and vibrant appearance. A good deal of the footage is replete with natural skin tones and detailed facial features. Black levels are sufficiently deep and allow for a nice amount of detail in any shadowy moments. The transfer appears to have plenty of room to breathe as there are no issues with compression artifacts, banding, or other digital anomalies. Drafthouse Films has given this one a nice presentation that has kept it from being stuck in the land of standard definition.
Audio Quality
This Blu-Ray comes with a great DTS-HD 5.1 Master Audio track that delivers a consistently pleasant listening experience. The occasional nuances of the locations where the footage has been captured provide a nice baseline texture to the proceedings with ambient sounds placed carefully in the rear channels. Dialogue is the main focus of the film, and it is rarely drowned out by competing elements. The score is utilized well as it saturates the room with welcome fidelity. While the quality of some of the recordings is not always the most ideal, the track does not suffer when it comes to clarity. The audio track does what it is asked to do. There are optional English SDH subtitles provided on this disc.
Special Features
- Audio Commentary: Director David Farrier, producer Emma Slade, DP Dominic Fryer, and editor Dan Kircher provide a lively commentary track in which they discuss settling on a framework for the film, the stressful details behind many of the event on film, background details of the situations, the difficulties of interviewing New Zealanders, the editing process, and more.
- The Making of Mr. Organ with David Farrier: A 24-minute interview with the director in which he discusses how the project came to fruition, the strands that got him fascinated enough to investigate, the characteristics of the titular figure, the other figures in this dynamic, the capturing of the footage, and much more.
- Trailer: The two-minute trailer is provided here.
Final Thoughts
Mister Organ is another fascinating odyssey from David Farrier, yet this time the personal nature of the story is a bit more complicated in its execution. The bizarre nature of his interactions with the unstable titular subject will keep you rapt with attention, yet it is this same personal engagement that keeps you from exploring the subject quite as thoroughly due to a fear of how it could endanger him when the cameras are not rolling. That does not keep the documentary from being a terrific bit of fun, you just have a few more criticisms that should not be overlooked. Drafthouse Films has released a new MOD Blu-Ray that features a great A/V presentation and a welcome selection of special features. This is a wild ride you will not want to miss. Recommended
Mister Organ can be purchased on Blu-Ray directly through MovieZyng or various other online retailers.
Note: Images presented in this review are not reflective of the image quality of the Blu-Ray.
Disclaimer: Drafthouse Films 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.
Dillon is most comfortable sitting around in a theatre all day watching both big budget and independent movies.
