Review: Trenchant and Timely, 4K Restoration of 'The Parallax View' is Essential

Alan Pakula's "The Parallax View" is often emulated, but never matched. Whether that can be attributed to the adapter, or the fact that 2021 offers a vastly different brand of paranoia than the 1970s, is left to be determined. Yet, that emulation not only speaks to the incisiveness of the work, but also the terror brought on by unknown forces living on the peripheries of our collective consciousness. Pakula was a master at showcasing that terror, letting the actions of an invisible force take place just off screen. Not the kind of off-screen that's remarked on by a character, but the kind we can feel and makes the hairs stand up on the back of our necks.

The Criterion Collection brings "The Parallax View" to Blu-ray with a brand new 4K restoration from the original camera negative supervised by the original color timer, Jon Boorstin. If that's not enough proof that this new edition offers the presentation the film so rightly deserves, then know that it comes with a wealth of extras in tow that revel in the real-life conspiracies that influenced the film. This is the definitive edition you've always wanted.

"The Parallax View" starts with a bang, observing the brutal murder of a state senator atop Seattle's Space Needle. The murder was reportedly the work of a crazed man, but some of the people who observed the murder have a different story. Newspaper reporter Joe Frady (Warren Beatty) is visited by TV newswoman Lee Carter (Paula Prentiss), a former lover and someone who was at the Space Needle and witnessed the murder, and is told that six people just like her have perished under mysterious circumstances. She fears she's next. Soon after, Carter is found dead, and Joe goes on the hunt for the truth.

As someone who has heard of "The Parallax View" and was waiting for the optimum viewing experience to take it in for the first time, it's important to note that the new Criterion Blu-ray is the next best thing to seeing the film projected on 35mm. The layer of film grain offers incredible texture inherent in a lot of '70s filmmaking, and there's no sign of digital noise reduction to be spoken of. The colors are vibrant and given incredible depth, which makes Pakula's observational approach all the better.

Simply put, and without spoiling anything, "The Parallax View" remains a trenchant film about distrust of government and the structures that our society is propped upon. It's a discouraging affair when all is said and done, yet it breathlessly details how paranoia can engulf and distort reality. And when that paranoia turns out to be warranted, where can we run to?

Special features include:

� New introduction by filmmaker Alex Cox
� Interviews with director Alan J. Pakula from 1974 and 1995
� New program on cinematographer Gordon Willis featuring an interview with Willis from 2004
� New interview with Jon Boorstin, assistant to Pakula on "The Parallax View"
� English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing
� Booklet with essay by critic Nathan Heller and a 1974 interview with Pakula

"The Parallax View" is available on Blu-ray from The Criterion Collection now.