Except for a few location shots photographed in Boston, most of the action in director Phil Alden Robinson’s Field of Dreams (1989) takes place on adjoining farms in Jo Davies County, Illinois – the fictional home of Ray (Kevin Costner) and Annie Kinsella (Amy Madigan). Based on the novel ‘Shoeless Joe’ by the real life Ray Kinsella, the film is both a fond valentine to the sport of baseball and a poignant homage to familial bonds that transcend time and space.Ray is a novice farmer, his current crop of corn the proud envy of his neighbors. Residing on the land with Annie and their young daughter, Karin (Gaby Hoffmann), Ray’s life is serenely peaceful…that is, until he hears a mysterious voice repeatedly, and rather cryptically whispering “If you build it, he will come.”
To be sure, Ray is not a mystic, and yet almost daily he finds himself more compelled to build a baseball diamond in the middle of his corn; determined to not become complacent as he believes his late father was.
Although skeptical of Ray’s decision, Annie is supportive. Ray’s neighbors, however, clearly feel that he has lost touch with reality. As the year passes without incident, Ray and Annie are forced to face the fact that their investment in the baseball diamond has severely impacted their personal finances.
Then, the miraculous happens. Karin sees a ball player dressed in 1919 garb pitching on Ray’s field. The man turns out to be the ghost of Shoeless Joe Jackson (Ray Liotta); a stellar Black Sox pitcher whose dream of playing ball has been resurrected. Over the next few months, Joe returns to the field, each time bringing more of the 1919 Black Sox team with him.
However, Ray and Annie are the only ones who can see Joe and his team. Captivated by the magical time warp of their property, Ray refuses to plow under the field, even at the behest of his brother-in-law Mark (Timothy Busfield). After a heated discussion at their local PTA, Ray is compelled to contact reclusive author Terence Mann (James Earl Jones) whose own confession of having seen the Dodgers play on Ebbets Field is shrugged off as scandalous imagination by the others.
Embittered, Terence initially rebuffs Ray’s invitation to come to his farm, but eventually softens his heart enough to help Ray seek out 1920s baseball legend, Archibald Moonlight Graham (Burt Lancaster).
Here’s where the plot gets a little unsettling. Ray and Terence discover that Graham – who lived in later years as a county doctor - has died sixteen years earlier. However, that evening Ray is teleported back in time to 1972, the year of Graham’s death where miraculously Graham meets with Ray and confesses that he still has dreams about playing baseball one last time.
Offering to fulfill that dream on his farm, Graham declines, before returning Ray to the present where, together with Terence, they drive back to Ray’s farm. All is not lost, however. On a lonely stretch of road, Ray and Terence decide to pick up a young hitchhiker (Frank Whaley) who introduces himself as Archie Graham – the reincarnated younger version of Moonlight.
The last act of Field of Dreams is superb melodrama tinged in the supernatural. Returning to his farm, Ray and Terence are astounded to learn that the 1919 team make regular appearances to play ball on Ray’s field of dreams. The young Graham joins the team. Unfortunately, Mark arrives – having bought Ray’s mortgage – to declare that either Ray plow under the field or sell the farm to him. In an ensuing struggle between Mark and Ray, Karin is knocked to the ground, choking on the hot dog she was eating.
Recognizing that the child will die without his intervention, Graham crosses the invisible barrier between the past and the present. He is instantly aged to the old Doc Graham, resuscitating Karin and saving her life. For the first time, Mark is able to see all of the players and understands what the field means, not only to Ray but also these ghosts from the past. Tragically, the time/space continuum cannot be reversed for Graham. He departs the field for the last time.
The players encourage Terence to join them as Moonlight’s replacement. At first, Ray is hurt at not being invited, but then realizes that to partake in the game he would have to leave his wife and daughter behind in the present. Instead, Shoeless Joe approaches Ray to reveal the true identity of the team’s catcher – none other than Ray’s late father whom Ray introduces to Annie as ‘John’. Humbled at the sight of his father as a vibrant young man – something Ray never considered his father to be – Ray emotionally addresses John as ‘dad’ – realizing that it was his father’s voice he heard in the corn all along.
Field of Dreams is superbly crafted entertainment on every level, the screenplay also by Phil Alden Robinson delivering its swell of emotion with all the grace of that forgotten age in sports where personal integrity and athletic prowess went securely hand in mitt. This is a poignantly told generational saga with subtly nuanced performances from Costner, Jones and Lancaster, and a remarkably intuitive turn from Liotta.
Sports movies are not usually this satisfying, and it is saying much of the director Robinson’s carefully paced action that he does not allow the narrative to degenerate into a cliché fuzzy ‘feel good’ at the end. Instead, we are left with contemplation and an understanding that seems to grow more satisfying with each renewed viewing of the film.
Universal Home Video’s Blu-Ray bests the two previously issued DVD releases, though it is not without its own anomalies. Flesh tones that were pale on the first DVD and slightly too orange on the collector’s edition are now a very pronounced brown orange on the Blu-Ray disc. The green husks of corn take on a slightly brown hue. Overall, color saturation seems a tad too robust rather than natural.
The Blu-Ray benefits from a higher bit rate with fine details more prominently displayed. Contrast levels seem to have been slightly boosted, however, for a slightly unnatural appearance overall. The audio is 5.1 Dolby Digital and satisfying, though hardly distinguished amongst acoustic renderings.
Extras include several featurettes directly imported from the Collector’s Edition, an audio commentary and the film’s original theatrical trailer. Recommended!
FILM RATING (out of 5 - 5 being the best)
4.5
VIDEO/AUDIO
3.5
EXTRAS
3
0 comments:
Post a Comment