The Caveman's Valentine

Once a talented pianist and teacher at the Juilliard school for music, Romulus Ledbetter (Samuel L. Jackson) is now just another bum roaming the streets of New York. Suffering acute paranoid schizophrenia, and abandoned by his wife and child, he lives in a small cave in a Manhattan park with only his demons to keep him company. Suffering acute paranoid delusions, Romulus believes that Big Brother, an omnipotent ruler called Gustav Styvessant, issues mind control rays from the top of the Chrysler Building to subjugate the citizens of New York.

One Valentines Day, Romulus (or ‘The Caveman’ as he has become known to other street urchins) wakes to find a frozen corpse in a tree outside his cave. He recognises the boy as a local crack-head and calls his daughter Lulu (Aunjanue Ellis), now an NYPD officer, to report the murder. For murder it must be, contrived (as all things most surely are) by his evil nemesis Gustav Styvessant. His murder theories are quickly dismissed by the NYPD, loony that he is, but after another homeless kid and friend of the victim confides in Romulus the real identity of the killer, Romulus sets out to prove this new suspect’s guilt and to regain the respect of his daughter. Reconnecting with some of his former art-community friends and aided by a wealthy bankruptcy lawyer, Romulus procures himself a shave, a suit, and begins to dig...

"Swarms of moth-man seraphs howl in my skull."

With matted dreadlocks that reach down to his waist, Samuel L. Jackson cuts an intriguing figure as Romulus Ledbetter. At times stricken with a sudden irrational fear, at others capable of lucid thought and logical behaviour, and always with the shuffling walk and keen, bird-like glances of the mentally ill, Jackson’s performance sustains the film. With his infinite charisma and well, edge, I suspect that watching Jackson do just about anything would be entertaining. This is just as well, because the underlying plot, a simplistic and poorly constructed who done-it, is definitely not enough to carry the 190 minute running time.

The main thread of the film, therefore, is not the solution of the mystery, but would seem to be the relationship between Romulus and his daughter Lulu. However this thread is picked up all-too sporadically and does not, in truth, provide a reasonable alternative. At the end of the day, the film doesn't seem to know what it wants to be - a thriller or an emotional drama. Providing a reasonably crafted dramatic character study, but little else to sustain your attention, ultimately this humble viewer was left disappointed when the credits finally rolled.

Well another release and another sterling transfer by Roadshow. Soon we’ll be coining the phrase Roadshow to describe great transfers - and thereby reducing these reviews to one word.

This particular transfer is anamorphic, at the original theatrical ratio of 1.85:1, and is way Roadshow. The image is sharp and clear, with perfect black level. The image is teeming with detail, with rustic locations such as Romulus’ cave and the suspect's farm house providing tonnes of texture to show it off. Shadow detail is also fantastic, with wintry breath visible in all night scenes. On the whole, colours are perfectly rendered yet deliberately muted - infusing proceedings with a cold and lonely tone. In contrast, splashes of vivid colour inundate the image whenever the evil Styvessant shoots his mind control rays at our hapless hero, and deep sepia tones are used when the activities of Romulus’ mind seraphs (generated with some cool digital effects) are shown. There are no MPEG artefacts at all to be seen, and crystal clean source material means there’s no film artefacts either.

The layer change is well positioned in that it was not detectable on my player. All in all a fantastic job.

Being a film that is largely dialogue-centric, the English Dolby Digital 5.1 soundtrack is not going to wake your neighbours. Yet, what it does it does well, with distinct and clear dialogue (despite Jackson mumbling from time to time) and no lip sync problems.

The majority of the sound is mixed to the front – largely the dialogue and minimalist score, yet the surrounds do come into their own at key moments during the film. Most notably, the surrounds are used to great effect when carrying the whispers in Romulus’ mind; many layered voices that swirl and surround the viewer. Every now and again we also catch the faint sounds of the city (although they are often distant to Romulus). At one point in the film, gunshots allow the 5.1 mix to shine, with cool front-to-back directional effects. The subwoofer is used sparingly but effectively to add body to effects such as trucks, and the aforementioned gunshots.

All in all somewhat uninspiring (given the amount of money sunk into my audio setup) but a perfect compliment to the film.

Unlike certain other distributers, Roadshow have provided us with what amounts to a Collectors Edition of The Caveman’s Valentine first time around - all the more amazing given its low profile at the box-office (or maybe as a result of it?). Hey, whatever the reason, I’m not complaining!

• Commentary: with director Kasi Lemmons and editor Terilyn Shropshire. The pair chat informally about a film that they are obviously proud of. Although there are some large gaps, they relay some interesting anecdotes, and provide information on the film technologies used, special effects and artistic choices.

• Deleted Scenes: Six scenes that didn't make it into the film for some reason. A great inclusion because they fill a couple of gaps in the plot that had initially disappointed me. The tranfer is anamorphic (1.85:1) and in some cases a little poorer than the feature.

• Trailer: Anamorphic at an aspect ratio of 1.33:1, and sporting a transfer of equivalent quality to the feature.

• Dolby Digital Trailer: The drippy one.

A reasonable selection, although I would have liked to hear Samuel L. Jackson's comments on the film - especially his motivation for taking the role (in the commentary Lemmons reveals he was attached to the film from very early on - even before she was). Therefore an interview or a commentary by Jackson would have been welcomed.

The production values of the disc are in keeping with the great transfer, with anamorphic menus that are subtly animated with a portion of the score playing behind them.

Despite the significance presence brought by Samuel L. Jackson, The Caveman's Valentine cannot decide whether it's a thriller or a character drama, and the results are ultimately disappointing. Although Roadshow have done a sterling job with the disc itself, The Caveman's Valentine will be of interest only to fans of Jackson, and to those I definitely recommend renting before you buy.