Submission had plenty of potential to be great but falters some on the story front, albeit it could be because of the source material and how it was adapted, however is more than worthy of a rental if only for the performances by both Tucci and Timlin.
Submission
(2018)
Genre(s): Drama
Universal | R – 106 min. – $22.98 | July 3, 2018
Date Published: 08/15/2018 | Author: The Movieman
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Universal Pictures Home Entertainment provided me with a free copy of the Blu-ray I reviewed in this Blog Post.
The opinions I share are my own.
THE MOVIE — 3.0/5 |
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Plot Synopsis: Ted Swenson (STANLEY TUCCI) is a struggling author who teaches writing at a small liberal arts college. He is discontent in his marriage to Sherrie (KYRA SEDGWICK), drinks too much, dislikes his colleagues and is uninspired by his students. That is until the charming student, Angela (ADDISON TIMLIN), gives him the first chapter of her in-development novel. Before long, Swenson is hooked: he begins focusing on nurturing her career, but it’s only time when lines are crossed and it becomes unclear whether Ted is predator or prey and Angela is victim or victimizer.
Quick Hit Review: Submission is a movie that works mostly for the performances, and specifically on the two leads, rather than the script. On the latter, the story does have interesting moments and ones of generally dread, for one of the characters anyway, knowing where it was headed. And although that aspect was fine, it doesn’t quite go all the way with its potential and instead limits itself to the obvious. Even so, there is just enough to string the audience along. Seems like they wanted to be both a sensual drama-thriller along the lines of Fatal Attraction with the sensitivity of a character-driven drama. But going along with that story, based off of a novel by Francine Prose, only works because of the performances by Stanley Tucci who is wonderful in spite of playing a rather obnoxious character who has nothing but contempt for his peers or respect for his own wife considering he acts on, albeit via manipulation, a tryst with a student as delightfully portrayed by Addison Timlin, a rather undervalued talent who should be set to breakout with the right role; kind of reminded me of a cross between Kristen Stewart and Brie Larson; if you want to see another brave performance, be sure to check out Girl in the Box.
The film was directed by Richard Levine, marking only his second feature film following 2010’s comedy-drama Every Day and serving as a producer on shows like Masters of Sex and Nip/Tuck. The direction itself was adequate as he, with cinematographer Hillary Spera, does present a nice looking film though the pacing did feel off and could’ve been tightened up a bit in spots. In the end, although Submission could’ve been better with maybe another pass at the screenplay, though from my reading it does also deviate from the source novel, it does excel with the performances all around, but especially by Stanley Tucci who is in his element in a smaller film like this and an underrates talent in Addison Timlin who deserves more recognition. |
SPECIAL FEATURES – 0/5 |
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No features were included and there was no slip cover. There is a redemption code for the Digital HD copy. |
VIDEO – 4.0/5 |
| Universal releases Submission onto Blu-ray where it’s presented with a 2.40 widescreen aspect ratio and a 1080p high-definition transfer. This is a pleasant looking picture with some bright colors and detail is sharp throughout. There were no obvious instances of artifacts or aliasing and there is natural film grain and noise present to round out the near-theatrical experience. |
AUDIO – 3.75/5 |
| The movie comes equipped with a nice sounding DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 track and considering the bulk, if not entirety, of the film is strictly dialogue driven, the center speaker gets the most usage, though I did notice some audio coming via the rear speakers, primarily for the score and some ambient noises. |
OVERALL – 3.0/5 |
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Overall, Submission had plenty of potential to be great but falters some on the story front, albeit it could be because of the source material and how it was adapted, however is more than worthy of a rental if only for the performances by both Stanley Tucci and Addison Timlin. The Blu-ray released by Universal does have good video/audio transfers but lacks any bonus material. |
Check out some more 1080p screen caps by going to page 2. Please note, these do contain spoilers.