SUBLIME

George (Thomas Cavanagh, THE CAKE EATERS) wakes on his 40th birthday, from a recurring dream he has where he's falling from a vast height. We learn in the opening scenes that he has a loyal girlfriend called Jenny (Kathleen York, FOOTSTEPS) and that she will be by his side when he goes in for a stomach operation, scheduled for the following day.

Upon attending the imposing Mount Abbadon hospital for his operation, the morning after a party with family and friends, George receives pre-op care from Dr Sharazi (Cas Anvar, WITCHBOARD 3: THE POSSESSION). The doctor's calming nature, along with the continual presence of Jenny right up to the moment of George's operation, help him to keep at ease.

Once the operation is completed, George still feels relatively calm at first. After all, he has pretty nurse Zoe (Katherine Cunningham-Eves, ALASKA) tending to him.

But odd flashback dreams of seemingly innocent occasions - candid chats with his brother, and so on - begin to bug George. And when he becomes concerned with his scar, he calls for a doctor. A male nurse, the black Mendingo (Lawrence Hilton-Jacobs, DON'T GIVE ME THE FINGER) comes to his aide instead. His odd nature is George's first indication that all is not as it seems at Mount Abbadon.

As George's dreams increase in frequency and potency, and Zoe begins to flirt outrageously with him, he becomes so unnerved that he demands a meeting with the surgeons who operated on him. At the meeting, they advise him that the operation has not gone as planned - they may even have to amputate a leg.

It's unwise to give any more away in terms of plot. SUBLIME spins it's sci-fi yarn out in a measured pace over the best part of two hours and although many will no doubt guess the "twist" early on, it's still intriguing to watch George struggling to make sense of it all.

While the most obvious comparisons would be episodes of THE X FILES or THE TWILIGHT ZONE, SUBLIME offers a darker edge and more sexiness than either could provide.

The cast are uniformly strong, with Cavanagh doing a good job of earning our sympathy - while Cunningham-Eves provides good eye candy.

There's strong political themes running through Erik Jendresen's screenplay - most specifically America's phobia of foreigners in this post-9/11 age. While some of this is done subtly (the initial suspicion George feels towards Mendingo), it ultimately becomes more heavy-handed as the film plays out.

The finale is not entirely satisfying, largely due to the fact you see it coming from a mile off, but don't let that put you off. Well-directed by Tony Krantz, SUBLIME is never less than interesting.

Warner's disc gives us an uncut presentation of SUBLIME, in a beautifully crisp anamorphic 2.40:1 transfer. Video quality really is superb.

The English audio, in 5.1, is equally impressive. There's also an option to watch the film in Magyar dubbed ...

Optional subtitles are available in various languages, including English and English Hard of Hearing.

Static menus include a scene-selection menu allowing access to the main feature via 24 chapters.

Extras on this release include:

An informative but humourless commentary track from Jendresen and Krantz, which sounds at first like a cut-and-paste job until they actually do acknowledge each other (then proceed to speak over each other) about halfway through.

"Surgical Exorcism" is a laughable 5-minute featurette purporting to be real footage of an exorcism, shot on video. It's silly, but worth a gander.

A REST STOP trailer follows, advertising another film in the growing Raw Feed production roster.

Finally, and perhaps best of all, are video interviews with Jendresen and Krantz, who both speak passionately about the film - mainly focusing on it's themes and little touches they added throughout to get our minds ticking. At 38 minutes in total length, these are a great accompaniment to the main dish.

Weird at times, but well-written and highly original, SUBLIME is not perfect but worth a watch. The disc is worthy too.

Review by Stu Willis