Description

Performance (4K Disc)

Criterion Collection | 1970 | 105 min | Not Rated | February 25, 2025

Genres: Drama | Music | Surreal | ️‍♂️ Crime

Disc Specs

• 4K UHD Disc (BD-100)
• Video: HEVC / H.265 | Native 4K (2160p)
• HDR: Dolby Vision, HDR10
• Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1 (Original)
• Audio: English LPCM Mono (48kHz, 24-bit)
• Subtitles: English SDH
• Region: 4K UHD Region-Free

Movie

3.0/5

Part gangster noir, part psychedelic identity crisis, Performance is a chaotic cocktail of dualities—violence and sensuality, masculinity and androgyny, real and surreal. James Fox plays a fugitive gangster hiding in the decadent lair of Mick Jagger’s Turner, a rock star exiled from relevance. Together they spiral into a hallucinogenic limbo of shifting personas, taboo exploration, and fractured time.

Despite its ambition and cult legacy, Performance often feels more like a curiosity than a coherent narrative. But as a cultural artifact of late-60s counterculture, it’s fascinating, flawed, and occasionally brilliant.

4K Video Quality

4.0/5

✅ New 4K restoration from the original 35mm negative, supervised by producer Sandy Lieberson
✅ Viewed in Dolby Vision

• Detail and grain structure are beautifully preserved, giving this psychedelic trip a gritty realism
• Colors—especially browns, reds, and greens—pop with vibrancy
• Image density and depth are significantly improved over Warner’s 2014 Blu-ray
• BUT… a tendency toward steely teal/gray tones flattens some shadow nuance and gives certain scenes a cold, unnatural feel ❄️
• Density fluctuations from original cinematography are still present, more noticeable on large displays

➤ An atmospheric and faithful upgrade, but colder than expected — the film’s warm 60s haze occasionally drifts into digital chill.

Audio Quality

5.0/5

• English LPCM 1.0 mono track sounds clear, full, and incredibly stable ️
• Dynamic range is limited but faithful to the era
• Dialog can be thick with accents, but subtitles help
• Jagger’s brief performance is clean and well-balanced

➤ For a 1970 mono track, this is about as rich and clean as it gets. ✅

Special Features (on 4K Disc)

• ❌ No bonus features on the 4K disc itself.
  (All supplements are included on the companion Blu-ray)

Overall Score

4.0/5 – Recommended for Counterculture Collectors ✅

✨ Performance isn’t a film for everyone—it’s obtuse, meandering, and narratively opaque.
✨ But for those tuned to its wavelength, this Criterion 4K release offers a rich, challenging audiovisual artifact of 1970s experimentation.
Criterion’s Dolby Vision restoration mostly sings—just expect some stylistic coldness that may divide viewers.