Leaving Las Vegas - StudioCanal UK 4KUHD

The last time I saw Leaving Las Vegas, I was still drinking. At the time, I remember thinking, Thank God I’m not like that. There were moments, though, where I could see myself in Ben Sanderson (Nicolas Cage), like his inability to eat after a day of drinking, opting instead for a liquid dinner. Or the way he’d fight off any kind of hangover by indulging in a few sips of the hair of the dog that bit him. Now, nearly a decade of sobriety later, I watch a movie like Leaving Las Vegas, amazed that I never reached those levels, because that was my trajectory.

When we meet Ben, he’s already at his rock bottom, the moment people need to reach before they get help. But he doesn’t get help. No, he decides, he’s going to go the other direction. When he gets called into his boss’s office and is fired, and offered a severance, he goes home, burns his non-essential belongings, and moves out to Vegas, where he plans to drink himself to death. If he sells his car, sells his Rolex, and lives in an absolute wreck of a motel, he can budget himself to about four weeks of heavy drinking, which he thinks ought to do the trick.

Sera (Elisabeth Shue) is a sex worker who befriends Ben, and they fall in love with each other. At first, it’s just a job, and she goes back to his room, but he’s unable to perform. He drops the façade and lets her in on his secret, that he’s trying to kill himself, and he just wants some company. That moment of vulnerability invites her into his life, and she sees not some pathetic drunk, but a wounded soul she’s, at that moment, forever connected with. And the irony of life is that, had he not decided his life wasn’t worth living, they never would have met.

She asks Ben to move in with her, and he warns her, asking if she knows what she’s doing. Up until this point, she’s only ever seen him on good behavior. As an alcoholic who gets the shakes when he’s not drinking, it can get ugly. He throws things. He breaks things. He cries. And, worst of all, he’s going to die at some point. And he tells her, one thing she can never ask of him is to stop drinking. He won’t. She, of course, does ask, and he retaliates by trying to wound her in the same way she wounded him.

Leaving Las Vegas is a depressing, sad story about two people who could be called losers in this life, but writer/director Mike Figgis and stars Cage and Shue never see their characters that way. They’re just people, with some deep, deep flaws. Ben, at one point, was a successful person whose love of the bottle got way out of hand. Sera is still a beautiful, kind young woman, so there’s a chance for her yet. But maybe they see something in each other—maybe he sees who used to be in her, and she sees who she may be one day in him, the way I saw my own future in Ben.

Films like Leaving Las Vegas are a blank slate, in a way, and we can project anything we want onto them. The performances are sublime and genuine, and the characters invite us to imprint our emotions onto them. Do we want to project hope, or despair? I see Leaving Las Vegas as a dark journey of the soul toward an end that’s inevitable for someone who has no interest in help. Sera represents a sliver of hope, that maybe his path can correct her own and she can save herself, because she can’t save Ben—you can’t save someone who has no interest in salvation.

Vital Disc Stats: The 4K UHD Blu-ray
For this review, I did not have access to the packaging that will accompany Studio Canal’s release of Leaving Las Vegas, only a review check disc. Final retail editions of the film will be available on a single disc, housed in a standard case, and include a 20-page booklet.

Less than a year after Shout! Select’s release of Leaving Las Vegas will see this release from Studio Canal. I’m unsure what, if any, differences there will be in the video presentation on either disc/release, but both tout a brand-new 4K scan, graded in Dolby Vision HDR. I can only speak on Studio Canal’s release, which looks exquisite, and was sourced from the film’s 16mm original camera negative and 35mm dupe sections for subtitles and approved by Figgis. Here's what was noted in the press release:
"For the new digitally restored 4K version of the film the Super16 original negative and 35mm dupe sections (for opticals, titles, subtitles) were scanned at Silver Salt Restoration in the UK (Super16) and at Duplitech (35mm dupe sections). The final colour and restoration were completed at Duplitech under supervision by colourists Blake David-Blasingame & Dave Lewis before the final colour grade was approved by Mike Figgis himself."
The gritty 16mm cinematography, thick with film grain, suits the film’s narrative, and the HDR grading allows for naturalistic lighting, particularly in those moments bathed in the neon lights of a Las Vegas casino.

Unlike Shout! Select’s release, this release from StudioCanal does not include a Dolby Atmos mix. Since I did not review that disc, I’m not sure what I’m missing, but speaking only of the included DTS-HD MA 5.1 surround mix, I think purchasers of this disc ought to be quite pleased. The sound design isn’t exactly wall-to-wall, and most of the surround sound activity is relegated to Mike Figgis’s jazzy score, but atmospherics such as the hustle-and-bustle of a busy casino make their way to the rears. Dialogue clarity is given priority in this mix, and is crisp and clear throughout, even as Nicolas Cage drunkenly slurs much of his lines.

Leaving Las Vegas has a great assortment of features, including a new audio commentary, some legacy interviews and featurettes, along with a documentary that’s over an hour long that chronicles the filming. This disc goes into great depth on the film’s themes and its production history. Full retail editions will also have a 20-page booklet. 

• NEW Audio Commentary - Director Mike Figgis
• Making Of (SD 5:42)
• B-Roll (SD 10:20)
• The Shoot (SD 1:01:33)
• NEW Deleted Scene With Jessica Alba (SD 1:43)
• Interviews
• Nicolas Cage (SD 3:22)
• Elisabeth Shue (SD 3:13)
• Julian Sands (SD 2:44)
• Mike Figgis (SD 3:14)

If 1997 was a great year for movies about Los Angeles, 1995 was the year for Las Vegas stories. Each city has its own story, and Las Vegas is a place where you can shine a light on your soul, in all its ugliness, and instead of shying away from what you see, you embrace it. You don’t run away from the darkness; you crawl into it. Leaving Las Vegas is a story about depravity and addiction, but it’s a contemplative piece about the moments of light in that sea of darkness. Nicolas Cage and Elisabeth Shue put in some of the best performances of their career as two wounded souls who find each other and love each other for their darkness and create their own bright, shining light, no matter how brief it is. While it shines, it shines brilliantly. StudioCanal’s release looks beautiful and sounds great, with some terrific supplements that dive into its production history. Leaving Las Vegas is Highly Recommended. 

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