Light of Day (1987) [SF078-5229]This film has sat on the to watch pile for a long time. Plucked it off the shelf and gave it a spin tonight and ended up pleasantly surprised. Light of Day is a 1987 drama starring Michael J Fox and Joan Jett as brother and sister from a dysfunctional family who play together in a band to earn a few bucks to get by.
There's a bit of a same old same old feel to the story initially but as the film progresses it becomes clear the film is more focused on the troubles of Patti (Jett) and her relationship with her parents as well as the mess her life is generally in. Given Jett doesn't boast a long and illustrious acting career, she gives an excellent performance here and comes across as natural. Michael J Fox feels a tiny bit miscast (took a lot for me to say that as he's one of my favourite actors). He puts in a great shift, nothing wrong with the performance at all, it's just he might have been better in another role. He can do gritty roles, he's proved that, just here it works for the most part but you are left with a slightly annoying feeling he could have been better utilised. There's a great moment between Jett and Foxabout halfway through though that really pulls the film up a level and all is forgiven.
A lot of Light Of Day revolves around music and thus it's where this Laserdisc comes in to it's own. Light Of Day is presently unavailable on DVD (afaik) or better and will apparently not be appearing on any modern formats any time soon. The problem appears to be with music rights, and Light Of Day looks set to remain in red tape hell for much longer than the 34 years it's already been lost in. And that is a shame because this is a decent drama with good music and a decent cast, especially Jett who turns in a decent performance here.
As for the Laserdisc, it's a decent little package. With the Japan disc you get a nice little letterbox presentation, which is apparently a Japan exclusive as the USA discs are P&S according to LDDB at least. The picture is nice and clean, especially with some of the darker scenes in nightclubs and bars and the multi-coloured stage lighting. This looks like a direct transfer from the.negatives as the whole films is littered with cue marks. Not that that is a complaint, I think it adds to the charm of the image quality. There are in-picture burned-in subtitles but they don't really distract the viewer.
Sound quality is fairly good, you get a Dolby Surround track which isn't really necessary for this film. It doesn't do much surround stuff and gets a little scratchy on some of the louder music tracks. For the most part though it's perfectly fine. You can only imagine what a nice DTS HD MA track could be like.
Light Of Day is a great film and excels purely on the basis of Michael J Fox's hair, which is absolutely majestic from start to finish. The sheer quality of his mulletacious mane is even highlighted by Jett early in the film who suggests he needs a hair cut.
Hair aside, Light Of Day is a great little film. The ending is especially poignant. It is a shame it didn't do so well at the box office but watching it today you just wish it would be picked up by someone and given the HD or UHD treatment it deserves.
Pick this disc up if you can, preferably the Japanese Letterboxed release. Give it a go and enjoy. Pick up the soundtrack too (pictured) if you get a chance, it's very good.