The Goldfinch appears in an aspect ratio of 1.85:1 on this Blu-ray Disc. This became a satisfactory presentation.
Overall sharpness seemed solid. A couple of wide shots looked a smidgen soft, but those were the exception to the rule, as the majority of the shows were accurate and detailed.
No issues with jagged edges or shimmering occurred, and I noticed no edge haloes. Source flaws were absent, as the episodes looked consistently clean.
Like most dramas of this sort, Goldfinch gave us a palette that focused on orange/amber and teal. Within those parameters, the hues were positive.
Blacks seemed deep and dark, while shadows showed good smoothness and clarity. I felt happy with the image.
As for the DTS-HD MA 5.1 soundtrack of Goldfinch, it lacked a ton of ambition. The soundfield focused on music and ambience, though it opened up on occasion.
For instance, street scenes became a little more involving, as did some that involved weather and the aftermath of the terrorist event. Nothing especially memorable occurred, though.
Audio quality was fine. Speech seemed natural and concise, without edginess or other issues.
Music offered good clarity and range, and effects worked well enough. They didn’t have much to do, but they appeared reasonably accurate. All of this ended up as a perfectly satisfactory soundtrack for this sort of story.
We find two featurettes, and The Goldfinch Unbound fills 12 minutes, 54 seconds with comments from director John Crowley, producers Brad Simpson and Nina Jacobson, production designer KK Barrett, and actors Sarah Paulson, Jeffrey Wright, Luke Wilson, Aneurin Barnard, Ansel Elgort, Finn Wolfhard, Oakes Fegley and Nicole Kidman.
“Unbound” examines the source novel and its adaptation, casting and performances, locations and photography. Despite some of the usual happy talk, “Unbound” offers a good array of insights.
With The Real Goldfinch, we locate an eight-minute, 38-second reel with info from Crowley, Elgort, Barnard, Fegley, Paulson, Barrett, Mauritshuis director Emilie Gordenker and Charge Scenic’s Alex Gorodetsky.
As expected, the program examines the original art, and we learn of its replication for the film. This becomes a pretty engaging discussion.
11 Deleted Scenes follow. Including intros from Crowley, these take up a total of 16 minutes, 59 seconds.
Given that most of the clips feature those intros, that means none of them run especially long. They lean toward character information, much of which feels fairly redundant.
Oh, a few potentially interesting threads evolve, such as young Theo’s visits to a therapist. I can’t claim any of them offer real substance, though, and given that the 149-minute movie already feels too long, their omission makes sense.
The disc opens with ads for The Good Liar and Motherless Brooklyn. No trailer for Goldfinch appears here.
Apparently the original novel of The Goldfinch offers a terrific piece of work. Little of that remains with the film version, as it becomes a sluggish, stuck-in-neutral character tale. The Blu-ray provides strong visuals along with adequate audio and a few bonus features. Goldfinch winds up as a forgettable drama.