“The Passing” intertwines the lives of three browbeaten souls. The first are a pair of World War II buddies, John and Rose, who managed to retain a close friendship through war and racism, but as they live their lives together in a single home on the outskirts of town, they’re also dying together when becoming elderly becomes an unescapable truth. Parallel to their withering story, a young father, Wade, has everything he could desire, a beautiful wife and a infantile son, as he embarks on a bright horizon, but Wade’s world is turned upside when he exacts vindictive vengeance upon his wife’s brutal rapists, resulting in an accidental gruesome death. Charged with murder and given the death penalty, Wade just doesn’t lose his wife and child to his ghastly actions, he also loses his youth as an involuntary subject for an experiment procedure involving removing a conscious for integration into a youthful body in which changes the mortality timelines of John and Rose.
Perhaps one of the most ambitious independent films to be crafted in the early 1980s, “The Passing” is a dramatic tragedy with a brazen science fictional twist from director John Huckert Released in 1984 and finding new ground onto a dual format, DVD & Blu-ray, home video release from Vinegar Syndrome, the co-written story by Huckert and his former English professor, Mary Marcua, took 7 long years from pen to completion, a journey born and bred regionally in the Northern Virginia and Baltimore area, and stemmed from the basis of Hurkert’s short film, “John & Rose.” Clocking in at 96 minutes, the story that revolves around loneliness and death is practically divided into two polar segments, a systematic outline of aforesaid two themes that wholeheartedly kicks your teeth in and hammer in the fact that being alone equates to worthlessness and death is something to be inarguably afraid of and the second portion is truly a surrealistic buildup that drops frighteningly utilitarian future right into the middle of a science fiction perplexity.
For a cast comprised of first timers and unrecognizable amateur talent, “The Passing” has remarkable performances. Perhaps not award worthy, but solid, A-for-effort performances, especially from the two golden agers in James Carroll Plaster and Walton Benjamin Johnson as an aging duo, Ernie and Rose, who have a case of the lonesome, death-is-coming-for-me blues. Plaster, who died shortly after filming and to whom the film was dedicated to, continued with his true to life longtime companionship with Johnson, making their dynamic pleasantly nature on screen. Hurkert saddles himself into Wade's tidal wave of tribulations. The director's sizable role didn't deviate from his focus on the story, keeping the film on track to tell the tale of two flawed factions coming together as one in subtle dystopian way. The remaining modest cast is mostly film students and amateur actors as well, including Lynn Odell ("Dinocro") and Albert B. Smith,
Unique in it's relatively depressive tone that's sharply amended in short term to only be, again, in a state of melancholy, "The Passing" does have some delightful uppers one can indulge in. For instance, the synch-score with the Mark Silverman constructed computer generated title sequences give a "Tron" impression that can be hooking. Also, Hurkert's ingenuity in creating simple atmospherics, interesting camera angles, and some top notch editing techniques keeps "The Passing" from feeling like low budget production. Hurkert's transitions should really be noted as the filmmaker segues were seriously seamless with one action leading into another and, yet, jarring when necessary to forge magnetic scenes out of uneasy subject matter, like rape and sodomy.
Vinegar Syndrome presents "The Passing" onto an all region 2-disc, dual format, DVD & Blu-ray, release with a newly scanned and restored 2k transfer from the original 16mm archival elements and is exhibited in the orignial aspect ratio, 1.33:1. There is a forewarning precursor that states that this transfer was the best known surviving copy and print damage, such as scratches and dirt, will be evident; however, much of transfer is quite pristine despite the warning. A few momentary glitches in the film's matrix will still leave a seamless experience of era norm natural grain on top of natural hue and tone. Basement scenes and the underwater shots are hazy and fragmented due to not only the dreamlike sequences, but also because the technology and technique, or lack of funding there of, was not up to the visionary John Hurket level of filmmaking.
The English language DTS-HD Master Audio mono track balances nicely through with dialogue prominent over layered ambient and score tracks. Depth and range have an absent presence, adding to the weirdness of Hurkert's tale, but the voiceovers did add a little something to the depth when in attendance. SDH English subtitles are available.
Special features include an audio commentary with director John Huckert and moderated by EXP TV personality Tom Fitzgerald, an interview entitled "Water Under the Bridge" with producer/co-writer Mary Maruca who explains her involvement with much of the film over the course of 7 years, another interview entitled "Passing Time" with cinematographer Richard Chisolm and his disbelief that "The Passing" has a cult following, promotional and article gallery, and John Huckert short films, including "The Water That is Passed," "Ernie & Rose," "Einmal," and "Quack." There's also reversible cover art.
"The Passing" isn't a fantastical adventure through time, space, or the future, but the Sci-Fi Odd-yssey has strong thematic bones underneath a fleshy tale of the ill-fated side effects of loneliness, time, and death that controversially begs the question - what if we could start all over again if we sacrifice someone's life? Much like Ernie in the film, the mystifying idea of the unknown terrifies and causes apprehension and even perhaps more of the same. Don't the "The Passing" pass you; check out this Vinegar Syndrome release! Recommended.
The Passing
Director - John Huckert
Cast - James Carroll Plaster, Walton Benjamin, John Huckert, Lynn Odell
Country Of Origin - U.S.
Distributor - Vinegar Syndrome
Number of discs – 2
Reviewed by - Steve Lewis
Date- 08/06/2019
