Academy Award Winner Javier Bardem stars as Blanco, proprietor of Básculas Blanco, a Spanish company producing industrial scales in a provincial Spanish town, which awaits the imminent visit from a committee that will decide if they merit a local Business Excellence award: everything has to be perfect when the time comes. Working against the clock, Blanco pulls out all the stops to address and resolve issues with his employees, crossing every imaginable line in the process.
For in-depth thoughts on The Good Boss, please see my colleague Julia Tong’s review from its original theatrical release here.
Video Quality
The Good Boss comes to Blu-Ray with a striking 1080p presentation that captures this film perfectly. This is a visually rich film with pristine shots of the factory and the surrounding landscape throughout where you can see an incredible amount of detail. As Blanco goes from interior to interior, you feel as if you can almost reach out and feel the texture of the setting. The colors really pop off the screen including the splendid hues in certain lighting choices and elements of the clothing and production design. The white levels are handled beautifully even with some intentional displays of blooming in the garish fluorescent lighting. The black levels are immensely deep and do not appear to suffer from any compression artifacts. There are no instances of intrusive digital noise in the presentation. The skin tones look very detailed and natural all around. Cohen Media Group has done great work here.
Audio Quality
The film comes to Blu-Ray with an effective DTS-HD 5.1 Master Audio track in the original Spanish. The movie features very little in the way of action, but there is a constant stream of environmental activity which comes through particularly well. The playful score aids a lot in the tone the film establishes as it flows through with flawless fidelity. The low end of the track is not very active, as subtle environmental sounds make more of a showing in the surrounds. The dialogue and sound effects are in harmony with the soundtrack where nothing gets lost in the track. Surround channels get some nice activity when it comes to the chatting of the workers. This track delivers on everything that is asked of it.
Special Features
- Interview with Javier Bardem and Fernando Leon de Aránoa #1: A nearly nine-minute virtual piece with the director and star moderated by Nancy Tartaglione in which the two discuss their working relationship, the themes they wanted to tackle, details about the main character, the dark humor in the film, the look of the character and more.
- Interview with Javier Bardem and Fernando Leon de Aránoa #2: A nearly ten-minute hybrid with Javier Bardem appearing live at a screening and de Aranoa appearing remotely in which the two discuss their pride of being selected to represent Spain as a submission to the Academy Awards, their collaborative process, the social themes, and much more.
- Theatrical Trailer: The two-minute trailer is provided here.
Final Thoughts
The Good Boss is a wickedly funny satire of corporate culture and the lengths one will go to in order to protect their power. Javier Bardem is always in top form, but he is especially terrific in this role that walks a fine line between good-natured buffoonery and pointed malevolence. There are certain elements of the employee storylines that are slightly underdeveloped, but this narrative weaves together many great themes that will leave a mark. As funny as it can be, the film also dances with darkness and never takes its subject too lightly. The tonal balance is fine-tuned to the perfect level. Cohen Media Group and Kino Lorber have released a Blu-Ray featuring a stellar A/V presentation and a few interesting special features. If you are a fan of Bardem and have not explored much beyond his English-language output, this is worthy of your time. Recommended
The Good Boss is currently available to purchase on Blu-Ray, DVD and Digital.
Note: Images presented in this review are not reflective of the image quality of the Blu-Ray.
Disclaimer: Cohen Media Group and Kino Lorber have 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.