Charlie is failing as a businessman and failing in life. His business is in cars and he has bought expensive imports that no one will purchase. He is failing in life because his father died and he doesn’t care. Desperate for money, Charlie is left out of his estranged father’s three million dollar estate, which has been given to a man he didn’t know. When Charlie goes to seek out the man he soon finds out that the stranger is in fact his long lost brother, Raymond. Raymond is autistic and stuck in an institution for mentally handicap folks who can’t live on their own. In attempt to save his own life, and business, Charlie takes Raymond out of the institution to see how he can somehow obtain a portion of the three million. Along the way Charlie discovers a lot more about Raymond than he bargained for.
I don’t have to tell you how absolutely fantastic this film is, as you already should know that. Winner of the ‘Best Picture’ Academy Award in 1988, this film put both Dustin Hoffman and Tom Cruise on a new level of acting. Hoffman’s ability to not break his role as autistic patient Raymond Babbitt is nothing short of unreal. He truly is one of the best actors in the last Hollywood century. Not to be outdone there is also Tom Cruise. Cruise had played it safe up to this point in his film career, so when he opted to play Charlie Babbitt the a-hole, estranged brother (sort of the evil character in the film) it certainly didn’t put him a good light, but it was a risk that certainly paid off. Offering new dimensions to his acting ability, Cruise’s change from evil to good was one of the more interesting facets to the film, and a powerful one. The differences in the characters and the way they’re played makes the ending to the movie seem far more powerful than people probably expected.
Give credit to director Barry Levinson and writers Ronald Bass and Barry Morrow, who did an outstanding job of taking the story of two brothers and making the journey they have together emotionally rewarding for the audience. Having to get the autistic details right for Hoffman’s character and meticulously weaving together a believable story was nothing short of a miracle for those gentlemen, but they pulled it off perfectly.
If you have never seen or experienced Rain Man then this is the best time to do it. For any budding filmmaker this is the perfect example of how a perfect story and characters is crafted.
So what about the Blu-ray? The Blu-ray is the ‘not-so-great’ part of this release. While certainly the video looks better than DVD, the amount of grain and artifacts leftover in the picture is unacceptable. Had this been Lost in Space then I would say, “Hey, you did your best.” This was an Academy Award winning film from 1988. This movie is considered one of the best films of all-time. This made two actors better than they had ever been before in their careers. This is probably the biggest achievement in Levinson’s directorial career. This Blu-ray should be perfect and it is not. When you see the opening of the film you’ll understand how grainy an HD transfer can get. I know that MGM and 20th Century Fox could do better than this because I’ve seen Warner Brothers and Sony Pictures produce older films on Blu-ray that look outstanding. The only redeeming pleasure about the video is the audio. It comes packed with 5.1 DTS HD audio and the soundtrack is damn good.
Gripes aside, the special features are pretty rich. You get three great audio commentaries from director and writers. You also get a great special feature on Rain Main and a fantastic featurette on autism. Add a deleted scene and a trailer and you’ve got a good complete package.
