Nacho Libre - 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray

I love Nacho Libre. Originally, a childhood favorite of mine, I decided to revisit the film a couple of years ago to see if it held up, and I fell in love with it all over again. The film follows Ignacio (Jack Black), a friar/cook at his monastery, who struggles to keep the orphan boys fed with anything other than gross soup and tortilla chips. Since a young boy, he was obsessed with Luchador wrestling and took odds and ends from his home to make his luchador alter ego, Nacho. While on a tortilla chip run into town on quite possibly the greatest movie motorbike of all time, the chips get stolen by a wiry ne’er-do-well. Totally distraught about how to improve the orphans’ lives, he sees a poster for a doubles wrestling match with a 200-peso prize. He quickly teams up with the chip thief, and they begin their career as luchadores. Hilariously losing their first match, they realize they get paid either way and continue to be beaten by every hilariously themed wrestling pair they come up against. He soon aims for glory, determined to win matches rather than be paid just to lose. So he, with the help of his friend train to beat the town’s best wrestler, Ramses, with scene after scene of hilarious training montages, great wrestling scenes, and rouses to make sure his identity is kept a secret from the Monks and his crush, Sister Encarnacion (Ana De La Reguera) at the monastery.

The cast in this film is incredible. Jack Black is pretty much the only non-Mexican actor in the entire movie, which one might think wouldn’t work for various appropriative reasons, but I like how Ana De La Reguera put it in a bonus interview that it makes sense since Ignacio is an outsider oddball, which really juxtaposes him with the rest of the cast perfectly. Hector Jimenez is wildly funny as Ignacio’s partner in crime; his facial expressions and high-pitched screams in the ring will leave you on the floor laughing. What this movie does incredibly is have a cast of really great, real, and distinct faces for every single main and extra character; my favorite extra is the old man who, from the beginning, is Nacho’s biggest fan. During every mishap in the ring, we see him solemnly shaking his head or cheering when he finally does start winning. The child actors in this film are also phenomenal. I actually get a little choked up when they all show up in Nacho masks at the end of the fight with Rameses. The texture of the cast really grounds this otherwise absurd comedy.

The director of the film, Jared Hess (Napoleon Dynamite), does an incredible job at creating surreal humor in this grounded world he creates. There are just small bits of otherworldliness peppered into scenes, like in the luchador party scene, where the daughter of the wrestling promoter has a series of tunnels connecting rooms in their house, and she accesses them via a huge cartoon mouse hole. Another great bit is when our dynamic duo gets confronted by knife-wielding thugs, Esqueleto throws an Elote on a stick at the assailant, and it impales his eye very comedically. There are countless more little surreal flourishes throughout the film. Not only is Nacho Libre hilarious and weird, but it also has a heart of gold. The story was based on a real monk who would enter luchador matches to donate his winnings to the orphans in his care. I would recommend that anyone watch this movie, even without the nostalgia attached for someone like me.

Vital Disc Stats: 4kUHD/Blu-ray
Nacho Libre enters the 4K ring and dominates as a two-disc release from Kino Lorber Studio Classics. This set includes one Triple-Layered BD100 Disc, which includes the 4k scan of the film as well as an audio commentary. This release also includes a Region A BD50 Blu-ray Disc with an HD master of the film as well as the special features. The discs are housed in a black 4K case and include a slipcover featuring the theatrical poster as cover art.

This scan is darn near perfect. Scanned from the original 35mm camera negative and shown in HDR/Dolby Vision Master, this release looks so incredible. Similar to the opening of Napoleon Dynamite in particular, Hess loves to include bright primary tableaus, like Wes Anderson, but more grounded than Andersons stylized sensibilities. I adore the scenes where Ignacio and Esqueleto are stealing supplies for the luchador costumes by pulling some fabric from a doily on the TV set, taking rocks from an aquarium, or stealing a blue tablecloth from the nearby resort; it all looks incredible and had such loving care in creating a perfect set for shots lasting one second apiece.  The film grain makes the immaculate set design and cinematography sing; it’s also a relief that the filmmakers didn’t use the yellow filter to make the setting appear more “Mexican”. Instead, they focused on the natural beauty of Mexico’s landscape and architecture to make the greens of the landscapes, the blue of the sky, and the primary colors drenched in every interior pop like nothing I’ve seen before.

The sound in this release is also excellent. Presented in 5.1 Surround and Lossless 2.0 Audio, the dialogue comes through clear and even, with the high-pitched screams of Esqueleto during the matches, the mix remains balanced and even. The music in this movie might be my favorite part, with songs from Jack Black, Beck, and Danny Elfman. Every song is so wholesome and tinged with mariachi themes and is simply a delight. I will be whistling the tune to the theme around my house for the foreseeable future.

This release is absolutely stacked with extras. There are 6 making-of featurettes with such fun and wholesome BTS footage, it seems like the set must have been so fun to work on. There’s a new interview with Ana De La Reguera where she talks about auditioning and getting the part, and how her character had more dark scenes in the film that were later cut, and other stories of her friendship with the cast and crew. These extras are so much fun to watch and really make this release well worth the price.

• Audio commentary by Star Jack Black, Writer/Director Jared Hess, and Co-Writer/Producer Mike White
• Enter Sister Encarnacion: NEW Interview with Actress Ana de la Reguera (26:44)
• Detrás de la Cámara: Featurette (28:33)
• Jack Black Unmasked!: Featurette (12:36)
• Exterior - Hacienda - Night: Featurette (14:58)
• Interior - Lucha Libre Ring - Night: Featurette (15:15)
• Lucha Libre: Featurette (3:13)
• Hencho en Mexico: Featurette (2:27)
• Moviefone Unscripted with Jack Black and Héctor Jiménez: Featurette (9:12)
• Jack Sings Behind-the-Scenes: La Cancion de Ramses
• La Canción de Encarnación (6:17)
• 3 Deleted Scenes (9:12)
• 3 Promo Spots (1:33)
• Theatrical Trailer (2:09)

This is all around a great release of a hilarious, almost cult comedy.  For a certain person of my generation who saw Nacho Libre when they were kids, this release is perfect for a reunion with a childhood favorite. The behind-the-scenes features bring us back to a time before rampant green screens and the golden age of Jack Black. It was so cute to see Hess in the bonus footage pretending to be fancy and high-tech that they had one green-screen shot. Sadly, the most recent collaboration with Hess and Black is the Minecraft Movie, which, as we all know, is a greenscreen abomination. This release looks and sounds great; the music will be in your head for at least a month, not because they're annoying earworms but because they're the most charming tracks you've ever heard. I would highly recommend picking up Nacho Libre from Kino Lorber. Highly Recommended