Stillwater appears in an aspect ratio of approximately 1.85:1 on this Blu-ray Disc. This became an appealing presentation.
Overall sharpness worked well. The occasional wider shot betrayed a little softness, but the majority of the movie came with solid accuracy.
No issues with jagged edges or moiré effects materialized, and I saw no edge haloes. Print flaws remained absent.
Colors tended toward orange/amber and teal. Within those constraints, the hues seemed well-rendered, even if they didn’t feel creative.
Blacks looked deep and dark, while shadows offered nice delineation. The movie came with a more than adequate image.
In addition, the film’s DTS-HD MA 5.1 soundtrack seemed perfectly workable for this kind of character piece. Though the movie concentrated on those roles, its various settings allowed it to open up to a decent degree.
This meant the streets of Marseille created a nice sense of place and space. Nothing here exactly validated your decision to buy an expensive home theater, but the soundfield felt appropriate.
Audio quality worked fine as well. The spare score showed nice warmth and range, as did the low-key effects. Those seemed accurate and offered good clarity.
Speech remained natural and concise. Again, the mix never excelled, but it did what it needed to do for this story.
Three featurettes appear, An Alchemy of Viewpoints runs five minutes, 17 seconds and offers comments from wrier/director Tom McCarthy, producer Jonathan King, costume designer Karen Muller Serreau, and actors Matt Damon, Camille Cottin, Lilou Siauvaud and Abigail Breslin.
“Alchemy” discusses the depiction of various characters. It becomes a decent but lackluster overview.
An American in Marseille goes for three minutes, 15 seconds and features McCarthy, Damon, Breslin and Cottin. We learn about locations in this semi-superficial summary.
Finally, With Curiosity and Compassion fills three minutes, 25 seconds with info from King, Damon, McCarthy, Breslin, Cottin, and producer Liza Chasin. The show tells us a little about the film’s development but it mostly praises McCarthy, so don’t expect much from it.
The disc opens with ads for Old, Roadrunner and Candyman (2021). No trailer for Stillwater appears here.
As a story of a man’s attempts to find justice for his daughter, Stillwater feels oddly free from drama or tension. It takes too long to get where it needs to go and fails to keep the viewer especially absorbed along the way. The Blu-ray comes with positive picture and audio but it skimps on bonus materials. Without the substance it needs, this becomes a disappointing tale.