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Blu-ray Review: “Weak Spot” Lacks The Thrills You’d Expect From The Thriller Genre

An innocent tourist agent is accused of belonging to an underground resistance and has to play a cat-and-mouse game with the secret police.

The camera rests outside an apartment building. Shortly after, two cars pull up, and a group of men get out, rushing inside. As the camera pans up, we hear shouting from inside the building. Coming to a rest several floors up, the camera observes as a man rushes onto a balcony and jumps. This mission, whatever it was, has apparently failed. Directed by Peter Fleischmann, “Weak Spot” opens with this riveting sequence — edited to appear as if done in a single shot (there’s a brief jump in the film that unfortunately destroys that illusion) — in an otherwise lackluster ‘thriller,’ as proclaimed on the box of this 1975 film.

Fleischmann changes gears, coming to focus on Georgis (Ugo Tognazzi). Georgis goes to a sports bar, where several Secret Service agents pick him up following an altercation with a fellow patron. The altercation between the men isn’t unusual, causing the viewer to instantly question why these agents have decided to take this man in for questioning. The initial questioning doesn’t give these agents their hoped-for responses, leading to Georgis being escorted by car to Central by The Investigator (Michel Piccoli). From there, things continually disintegrate.

While this film is labeled as a thriller, it doesn’t fit that mold; the movie doesn’t really put itself into any genre classification. This was a frustrating watch for me. Perhaps I’m missing some key bit of information or historical context? As it stands, I was mostly left questioning why things were happening and the movie’s point. Regardless, this is a nicely photographed film with a score from Ennio Morricone (even if it’s not one of his better ones). The acting is mostly decent, although some moments are unintentionally funny.

This is a Limited-Edition Blu-ray release from Radiance Films. As usual, it looks nice. There was one moment when an odd flicker appeared on the left side of the image. I suspect that was an anomaly captured in the film itself and not a problem with the transfer. Overall, I liked the way this disc looked. I had no issues with the audio or the subtitle presentation.

The disc comes with a Limited-Edition booklet featuring an essay by Kat Ellinger. For those curious enough to dive deeper into the film, there are also a small number of on-disc features, including an audio commentary on the film with film critic Travis Woods, an archival interview with star Michel Piccoli, and a discussion with Lovely Jon about Morricone’s score.

Although the disc is up to the usual technical standards, I think a featurette or two about the film itself might have been welcome, especially for those (like myself) who don’t want to watch their films with commentary tracks. This was ultimately a movie that didn’t do much for me. I was more than ready for it to end by the time it finally ended. Personal opinion (which the rating for this review is based on) aside, this disc is worth a viewing if this era of filmmaking interests you.

Now available on a Limited Edition Blu-ray™ from Radiance Films

 

 

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