As the pop song goes, it is the perfect analogy for William Friedkin’s BUG. A film about mental illness that’s so wild that it skips seriousness and dives headlong into darkly comedic territory. Armed with a trio of stellar performances by Ashley Judd, Michael Shannon, and Harry Connick Jr. – this Friedkin film is what to romances what his Killer Joe is to family dramas.
Anges (Judd) is a bartender at an LBTGQ bar in Oklahoma with her life is barely held together with drugs and alcohol. Anges has never recovered from the loss of her son and the abuse of her husband Goss (Connick Jr.). One night, her only friend RC (Lynn Collin) brings Peter (Shannon) to party with them. Anges sees something in Peter – a nonjudgemental open compassion – at first that draws her to the quiet man. Quickly that changes with her ex-husband Goss’s return from a prison stint. Though it is not some sort of murderous noirish plot. Peter and Anges become codependent triggering each other’s ever-deepening mental illness.
The Tracy Letts Play, the film is based on is a contained piece of lunacy on stage. A bravada performance piece that is as much a high-wire act for the performers as it is for an audience. Letts both actor and writer designed the play as such. A thin line of tone that actors could ruin with one false move. As reconceived as a film Letts and Friedkin collaborate to make it not so much a high wire of performance but a barb wire noose of reality, madness, love, and codependence that is oftentimes darkly comedic as it is tragic.
Judd has never been given the kind of leeway in her career to play the kind of defeated human being she has here. Anges in her hands is a powerful statement on the fragility of sanity and the cost of coping to survive in a vast sea of loneliness. In her hands, it makes complete sense why Anges is drawn into Peter’s psychosis. Also, why she goes headlong into the bitter end with Peter. Peter’s grapple around her feels like a warm embrace to Judd’s Anges and she plays it as love and not the push into oblivion it is.
Not to be outmatched is Shannon’s equally but different performance as Peter. The way that the actor is able to take the grander operatic movements and arcs of the character and make them frightening, sad, and oddly comedic is singularly Shannon. We would see this later in the amazing Jeff Nichol’s film Take Shelter in an entirely different focal point – but the tools and the skills are here years before. Here it is amazing to see an actor on screen so fully realized at such an early part of his career.
Friedkin makes a meal out of the small intimate story bringing both the quiet moments of reflection and the literal storm of violence that inhabits minds that are in a state of mania. In that storm, in the terrifying stillness of the eye of the storm are Anges and Peter, bound by their “love” and certain of their final solution. BUG in allowing them that dark and nebulous ending elevates it to one of the director’s truly devastating finales.
The Transfer
The all-new HDR/Dolby Vision Master – From a 4K Scan of the 35mm Original Camera Negative is again another winner from Kino Lorber and a wonderful version of the 35mm lensed film. The film has never looked more refined or accomplished than in 4K. The Dolby Vision encoding makes the image pop. One just looks at the hallucinatory final act set in a neon-lit aluminum wallpapered hotel room to see the bump in quality. The film is beautiful in its grime and grit of the production design, the clarity of the image, and the beautiful patina of grain that runs throughout the intimate film. The transfer never falters in its high dynamic range and ability to have subtlety of the image. The transfer is wonderfully verbose in its color reproduction and sharpness of the image. There is nary a scratch or blemish on the image. Kino Lorber has delivered a flawless 4K UHD transfer of the film.
The Extras
They include the following;
DISC 1 (4KUHD):
Audio Commentary by Director William Friedkin
DISC 2 (BLU-RAY):
Audio Commentary by Director William Friedkin
A Discussion with William Friedkin
Bug – An Introduction: Featurette
Theatrical Trailers
DISC 1 (4KUHD):
NOTE: The commentary track appears on both the 4K UHD and Blu-ray.
The archival Audio Commentary by Director William Friedkin opens with his thesis on the film and how it is about madness and the balance of good and evil as well as a dissection of a specific type of woman. Some of the other details include a discussion of the phone calls that play throughout the film; the irrational notions of fear and anxiety and how that plays into the film; how he cast Michael Shannon in the lead – and a discussion of seeing him on stage and what separated him from other stars of his age; how he cast Harry Connick Jr. – and a discussion of how he felt he was perfect for this darker role; how the love scene is more about transmission than connection; a discussion of the bugs of BUG and if what Peter is experiencing is real or imagined; how he approached the second half of the film, stylistically, as soon as Peter and Anges connect and become co-dependent; and much more. Friedkin delivers another solid commentary track there is always purpose and information dispelled by the director even when he’s describing what’s occurring on screen.
DISC 2 (BLU-RAY):
A Discussion with William Friedkin (28:04) – an archival interview with the director opens with a bit of a pre-filming setup. Friedkin discusses his early career in documentaries, live TV, and the early films before making The French Connection and The Exorcist – the break he took after and why he’s made fewer and fewer films. The director discusses the difference between directing Opera and directing film; what he looks for in a film – and his very interesting answer; what attracts him to a project and what interests him; the fact that the 1970s wasn’t as artistically free as what is initially thought; how the film industry has shifted to teenagers and away from adult minded fair; how he experienced the box office success of The Exorcist and how it was very different in the 1970s – and some great anecdotes about exhibition and exhibitors; and much more. Less about Bug and more about a great career overview and state of the industry at the time and during his heyday, Friedkin is an engaging interview subject giving unfiltered stories.
Bug – An Introduction: Featurette (11:52) – is an archival featurette that looks into the unique world, writing (which began as a Tracy Letts stage play – and also adapted to screen), the making of the film, and what attracted the cast and crew to BUG. Comments by director William Friedkin, stars Ashley Judd, Michael Shannon, Harry Connick Jr., Lynn Collins, and others.
Rounding out the special features are trailers for BUG (1:22); The Hunted (2:22); To Live and Die in LA (2:08); Rules of Engagement (2:21); Twisted (2:03)
The Final Thought
Kino Lorber has given one of the undiscovered gems of Friedkin’s career the best foot forward with this new upgraded 4K UHD version of BUG. Highest possible recommendations!!!
William Friedkin’s horror dark comedy BUG comes to 4K UHD from Kino Lorber.
The Film
Someone gonna match my freak.
As the pop song goes, it is the perfect analogy for William Friedkin’s BUG. A film about mental illness that’s so wild that it skips seriousness and dives headlong into darkly comedic territory. Armed with a trio of stellar performances by Ashley Judd, Michael Shannon, and Harry Connick Jr. – this Friedkin film is what to romances what his Killer Joe is to family dramas.
Anges (Judd) is a bartender at an LBTGQ bar in Oklahoma with her life is barely held together with drugs and alcohol. Anges has never recovered from the loss of her son and the abuse of her husband Goss (Connick Jr.). One night, her only friend RC (Lynn Collin) brings Peter (Shannon) to party with them. Anges sees something in Peter – a nonjudgemental open compassion – at first that draws her to the quiet man. Quickly that changes with her ex-husband Goss’s return from a prison stint. Though it is not some sort of murderous noirish plot. Peter and Anges become codependent triggering each other’s ever-deepening mental illness.
The Tracy Letts Play, the film is based on is a contained piece of lunacy on stage. A bravada performance piece that is as much a high-wire act for the performers as it is for an audience. Letts both actor and writer designed the play as such. A thin line of tone that actors could ruin with one false move. As reconceived as a film Letts and Friedkin collaborate to make it not so much a high wire of performance but a barb wire noose of reality, madness, love, and codependence that is oftentimes darkly comedic as it is tragic.
Judd has never been given the kind of leeway in her career to play the kind of defeated human being she has here. Anges in her hands is a powerful statement on the fragility of sanity and the cost of coping to survive in a vast sea of loneliness. In her hands, it makes complete sense why Anges is drawn into Peter’s psychosis. Also, why she goes headlong into the bitter end with Peter. Peter’s grapple around her feels like a warm embrace to Judd’s Anges and she plays it as love and not the push into oblivion it is.
Not to be outmatched is Shannon’s equally but different performance as Peter. The way that the actor is able to take the grander operatic movements and arcs of the character and make them frightening, sad, and oddly comedic is singularly Shannon. We would see this later in the amazing Jeff Nichol’s film Take Shelter in an entirely different focal point – but the tools and the skills are here years before. Here it is amazing to see an actor on screen so fully realized at such an early part of his career.
Friedkin makes a meal out of the small intimate story bringing both the quiet moments of reflection and the literal storm of violence that inhabits minds that are in a state of mania. In that storm, in the terrifying stillness of the eye of the storm are Anges and Peter, bound by their “love” and certain of their final solution. BUG in allowing them that dark and nebulous ending elevates it to one of the director’s truly devastating finales.
The Transfer
The all-new HDR/Dolby Vision Master – From a 4K Scan of the 35mm Original Camera Negative is again another winner from Kino Lorber and a wonderful version of the 35mm lensed film. The film has never looked more refined or accomplished than in 4K. The Dolby Vision encoding makes the image pop. One just looks at the hallucinatory final act set in a neon-lit aluminum wallpapered hotel room to see the bump in quality. The film is beautiful in its grime and grit of the production design, the clarity of the image, and the beautiful patina of grain that runs throughout the intimate film. The transfer never falters in its high dynamic range and ability to have subtlety of the image. The transfer is wonderfully verbose in its color reproduction and sharpness of the image. There is nary a scratch or blemish on the image. Kino Lorber has delivered a flawless 4K UHD transfer of the film.
The Extras
They include the following;
DISC 1 (4KUHD):
DISC 2 (BLU-RAY):
DISC 1 (4KUHD):
NOTE: The commentary track appears on both the 4K UHD and Blu-ray.
The archival Audio Commentary by Director William Friedkin opens with his thesis on the film and how it is about madness and the balance of good and evil as well as a dissection of a specific type of woman. Some of the other details include a discussion of the phone calls that play throughout the film; the irrational notions of fear and anxiety and how that plays into the film; how he cast Michael Shannon in the lead – and a discussion of seeing him on stage and what separated him from other stars of his age; how he cast Harry Connick Jr. – and a discussion of how he felt he was perfect for this darker role; how the love scene is more about transmission than connection; a discussion of the bugs of BUG and if what Peter is experiencing is real or imagined; how he approached the second half of the film, stylistically, as soon as Peter and Anges connect and become co-dependent; and much more. Friedkin delivers another solid commentary track there is always purpose and information dispelled by the director even when he’s describing what’s occurring on screen.
DISC 2 (BLU-RAY):
A Discussion with William Friedkin (28:04) – an archival interview with the director opens with a bit of a pre-filming setup. Friedkin discusses his early career in documentaries, live TV, and the early films before making The French Connection and The Exorcist – the break he took after and why he’s made fewer and fewer films. The director discusses the difference between directing Opera and directing film; what he looks for in a film – and his very interesting answer; what attracts him to a project and what interests him; the fact that the 1970s wasn’t as artistically free as what is initially thought; how the film industry has shifted to teenagers and away from adult minded fair; how he experienced the box office success of The Exorcist and how it was very different in the 1970s – and some great anecdotes about exhibition and exhibitors; and much more. Less about Bug and more about a great career overview and state of the industry at the time and during his heyday, Friedkin is an engaging interview subject giving unfiltered stories.
Bug – An Introduction: Featurette (11:52) – is an archival featurette that looks into the unique world, writing (which began as a Tracy Letts stage play – and also adapted to screen), the making of the film, and what attracted the cast and crew to BUG. Comments by director William Friedkin, stars Ashley Judd, Michael Shannon, Harry Connick Jr., Lynn Collins, and others.
Rounding out the special features are trailers for BUG (1:22); The Hunted (2:22); To Live and Die in LA (2:08); Rules of Engagement (2:21); Twisted (2:03)
The Final Thought
Kino Lorber has given one of the undiscovered gems of Friedkin’s career the best foot forward with this new upgraded 4K UHD version of BUG. Highest possible recommendations!!!
Kino Lorber’s 4K UHD Edition of BUG is out now
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