Amadeus: The Director's Cut [Blu-Ray]

Make no mistake: Milos Forman's Amadeus: The Director's Cut is unapologetically dramatic. The good news is that it has absolutely nothing to be sorry about. This is a film that announces its tone within seconds of the first image appearing on screen. A man we do not yet know has attempted to kill himself by cutting his wrists. He is rushed to the hospital — if you can call a horse-drawn carriage rushing — while the intense music of Mozart fills the perfectly framed screen. Amadeus is the kind of film where every element comes together to create a piece that is just as timeless as the music of the man whose life story it tells. The new Blu-Ray release of the film is a beautiful package that may be light on extras but the ones it does have will make any devotee of this film love it even more. First off, with a picture this beautiful and a soundtrack so sumptuous — from the Academy Award-winning art direction and cinematography to the Academy Award-winning costume design, sound and makeup — this restoration is brilliant. Every tiny detail, and I assure you there are many, is brought out and displayed in all its grandeur. Forman, along with Oscar-winning screenwriter Peter Shaffer (who incidentally also wrote the stage play this film is based upon), provide an odd couple like commentary on what is perhaps the best work either of them has created in their lives. Throw in an intriguing "Making of," a selected soundtrack compilation and put the whole thing in a beautifully detailed collector's box and you have one of the first musts of the Blu-Ray generation. Beauty aside, Amadeus is also an incredible exploration of genius and mediocrity. F. Murray Abraham is perfect as one of history's most notorious second fiddles, Antonio Solieri, and Tom Hulce is unexpectedly hilarious as his nemesis and inspiration, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. Together, they play off each other with such an indelible connection that what transpires on screen is, just like the melodious music of Mozart himself, the voice of the divine spoken through all involved.