Mark O’Brien’s directorial debut The Righteous deals in theological discussion as much as it does tension. It sets up a pretty familiar premise: a stranger (O’Brien) shows up on the doorstep of the grieving Mason family after the death of their adopted daughter, infiltrating their house for a few days with the potential for sinister consequences. Much like brethren film The Guest, it’s not immediately clear what this man, Aaron, wants except for help with his sprained ankle and a place to stay; is he dangerous, or simply lonely? The pious Frederic (Henry Czerny), previously a man of the cloth, is doing a good deed, but is he inviting a madman into his home with his ailing wife Ethel (Mimi Kuzyk)?
The Righteous slowly burns its way through this scenario, in a way reminiscent of an elongated one-act stage play rather than a film. O’Brien’s writing and directing emphasize the weight of the plotting, but at times the talky dialogue and one-on-one sit-downs between Aaron and Frederic, who share disconnected gazes and ponder the element of sin and its lifelong guilt for a Godfearing man, are too prolonged to sustain the tension of the situation.
With that said, O’Brien’s turn as Aaron brings out the most suspense when the film’s excellent score and moody chiaroscuro (the film’s shot in excellently contrasted black-and-white) are bearing down on the viewer; it’s the quiet understatedness of Aaron’s talking points that drive the film, and The Righteous fires on all cylinders during these moments. Czerny also does an excellent job capturing the stressful weight of past life guilt on his character; the film is particularly gloomy set after the accidental death of his daughter, and it rightfully exudes moroseness throughout.
However, The Righteous may be too slowly paced for some viewers to get to the meaty climax wherein O’Brien leaves it up to the viewer to interpret the reality of the finale’s situation. The film’s heavy theology proposes the existence of the Devil, and also questions the scarier of the two deities – since God can grant eternal happiness, so too can he take it all away, and for Frederic that’s a worse reality than damnation. If viewers are open to the existential ponderings in which the film partakes, The Righteous offers a sombrous and wonderful soundtrack along with beautiful cinematography; it’s just slow to get where it’s going, a sin that makes it hard to enrapture its audience.
Blu-ray
Arrow Video has released The Righteous on a BD-50 Blu-ray disc, taking up approximately 21 GB of space for the feature film. The transfer notes state that this is an HD master supplied by Vortex Media in its original 2.39:1 aspect ratio. The video quality is exceptional, with no real issues to speak of. Depth and detail are strong, aided by the film’s high contrast black-and-white cinematography; the draw here tends to be the stark lighting, capturing vivid shadow elements to heighten the moody atmosphere of the film, all handled well on this transfer with excellent delineation. Viewers hoping to see The Righteous in its best home video form should look to this new Arrow release.
Audio is presented with both a DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 track as well as an LPCM 2.0 offering. Most will stick with the 5.1 since it does offer the most atmosphere utilizing the satellite speakers for ambience and the swelling score, but the LPCM 2.0 also sounds quite good despite taking away some of the enveloping feeling of the sound design. English subtitles are also included, as well as an English audio description track.
Extra features are packed here, and it’s obvious there was a lot of buy-in from the crew and O’Brien in particular for this release. O’Brien provides a commentary track with editor Spencer Jones, and it’s a fun listen as they detail a lot of elements about the original script intention, with O’Brien pointing out motifs and other things that viewers might miss on a first pass. He also provides the longest cast interview, answering questions (presented on-screen) about his process writing the film, directing it, and picking himself to act one of the leads. Multiple other cast interviews include Henry Czerny, Mimi Kuzyk, and Kate Corbett, along with a number of crew interviews as well. These all provide nearly 2 hours of additional info.
Along with these, there are multiple Q&A sessions from film festivals with O’Brien, including one at Grimmfest, Fantasia International Film Festival, and a roundtable discussion with Radio Silence. A theatrical trailer and image stills accompanied by the film’s score round out the list of extras on the disc.
The limited edition release also comes with a slipcover, reversible artwork, and a booklet featuring an essay by Sean Hogan that explores the use of theology in film and The Righteous‘ placement in that canon along with director and producer statements.
Extra Features
- High Definition (1080p) Blu-ray presentation
- Original 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio and LPCM 2.0 Stereo
- Optional English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing
- NEW audio commentary by writer, director and actor Mark O’Brien and editor Spencer Jones
- NEW Cast and crew interviews
- Writer/director/actor Mark O’Brien (1080p; 33:47)
- Producer Mark O’Neill (1080p; 7:01)
- Actor Henry Czerny (1080p; 17:08)
- Actors Mimi Kuzyk & Kate Corbett (1080i; 17:17)
- Editor Spencer Jones (1080p; 11:04)
- Cinematographer Scott McClellan (1080p; 10:02)
- Production designer Jason Clarke (1080p; 9:26)
- Roundtable discussion with Mark O’Brien and Matt Bettinelli-Olpin, Tyler Gillett and Chad Villella of Radio Silence (1080p; 1:13:00)
- Stage Presentation and Q&A with Mark O’Brien and Henry Czerny from the World Premier at Fantasia International Film Festival 2021 (1080p; 32:35)
- Grimmfest 2021 live-streamed Q&A with Mark O’Brien (1080p; 19:36)
- Original soundtrack
- Theatrical trailer (1080p; 1:54)
- Image gallery, accompanied by the film’s original score by Andrew Staniland (1080p; 1:05:17)
- NEW Reversible sleeve featuring commissioned artwork by Grant Boland and Oink Creative
- NEW FIRST PRESSING ONLY: Fully illustrated collector’s booklet featuring new writing on the film by Sean Hogan
Verdict
Bleak and glacial, with a religious theme that may have some questioning God’s benevolence, The Righteous is a suspenseful film that most definitely won’t appeal to everyone. However, this Arrow Video release is unquestioningly a worthy purchase for its strong visual/audio offering and loads of extras.
