The Plot:
It's 1849. After a successful speaking engagement in Virginia (and a chance to catch up with an old flame) famed author Edgar Allan Poe is off to New York to raise capital for a publishing venture. He will never make it. After meeting up with a genial gentleman at the docks, he decides to head to Baltimore and look up the three financiers his newfound friend has suggested. Checking into a local boarding house, Poe begins the arduous process of selling himself to the disinterested tycoons. All the while, he feels his mental state slipping away. Consumed by the death of his first wife, and uneasy with his prospects both as a creative and career individual, he has started to lose track of things, and hears voices in his head. One night, after picking up the bottle after several years sans alcohol, Poe is robbed by a pair of associates and left for dead – or at the very least, stinking drunk - in the city streets. Unfortunately, some political types who want to use his unconscious cooperation in rigging a current election pick him up. By the time he ends up in Dr. Moran's questionable care, he is ready to join hands with the Grim Reaper. Indeed, a frazzled mental state and a poor constitution may be the reason he is dying but there just may be more to The Death of Poe than meets the eye.

The DVD:
The Death of Poe is an abstraction. It is not meant to be a literal literary biopic. In between all the fever dreams and hallucinatory delusions, amidst the speculation about political fraud and its place in the demise of a famed American author, co-writer/director Mark Redfield is out to create a kind of visual poetry, not draw any fact-based conclusions. He is more concerned about what's going on inside Poe's head than he is the circumstance surrounding his everyday existence. It's what makes this movie so fascinating at first, and so frustrating after a while. As the title literary giant, a man whose life still remains a mystery to this very day, Redfield is all icon and very little insight. He looks the part of Poe, and can handle the period piece details quite well. He never breaks mood, or hints at his contemporary heritage. But unless it's visualized during one of the many montages that make up the dementia raging inside the writer's heavy head, we learn very little about the man. Obviously tormented over the loss of his wife and the lack of opportunities present within his particular vocation, this is a writer wriggling right on the edge. Why he persists in staying there, and the ancillary events that seem to push him closer and closer to the end, are ill defined and very vague indeed.

It's not that the movie lacks structure. Indeed, Redfield decides to focus on the last week of Poe's life, threading the narrow needle-like narrative with a subplot involving the raising of money for a magazine. During these sequences, when the famous author is forced to sell himself to people not really interested in backing his business, Redfield really shines. His set-ups are superb and the payoff to each scene – even with the occasional amateurish acting turn – is expertly realized. Similarly, the last act stay in a sanitarium, where a devious Dr. John Moran may be stalling Poe's recovery due to the value of his remains to the medical science community, has a nice, straightforward flow. Poe goes crazy, our physician shows cockeyed concern, his patient calms down. Where The Death of Poe goes particularly potty is in the decision to tie the corrupt election practices of Baltimore circa 1849 to his passing. Indeed, the film infers that the author was driven mad by the combination of an alcoholic relapse, a series of severe beatings, and a lack of sleep and/or proper care. That he may have cast several illegal ballots during said campaign is not really important. The abuse he reportedly faced while in the 'care' of the campaign goons is our resolution's raison d'etra.

This is clearly a case of amiable ambitions being slowly and significantly scuttled by limited fiscal parameters. Had Redfield the money to fully realize his vision, had he the cash to pull off the elaborate backdrops he so desperately wanted us to witness (instead, they're formed out of occasionally obvious low rent CGI), maybe we'd be less aware of the film's overall bare bones feel. This is a movie that takes place in several stark rooms, medium shots making up for a real lack of art and/or set design. In addition, Redfield really enjoys keeping us at arms length when it comes to Poe's literary contributions. People mention his famous works (like "The Tell Tale Heart" and "The Raven") but we really don't understand how this mentally unhinged man came up with such chilling ideas. It's almost as if Poe's prose and poetry have very little connection with who he is as a human being – at least, in Redfield's view. Still, there is enough inherent intrigue here to warrant a look. And since he's functioning within his own – not some studios – aesthetic, what we see is a true representation of an outsider filmmaker's artistic abilities. Though it's not always entertaining, or decipherable for that matter, The Death of Poe has some very interesting elements. That they fail to come together as an overall experience is a flaw not even unlimited finances can overcome.

The Video:
Presented in a fake monochrome 1.33:1 full screen image, The Death of Poe looks very good. Again, this is not real black and white cinematography, but a digital post-production process that purposefully drains all the color out of the sequences. Redfield has a keen eye for the balance between shadow and light, and several shots in the film look absolutely ravishing in their crisp contrasts. There are times when things are more shades of gray than anything else, yet for its limited budgetary issues, The Death of Poe looks very good on the digital domain.

The Audio:
Lacking any real depth or aural dimension, the standard Dolby Digital Stereo mix is shallow and absent any major channel challenging components. The dialogue is always discernible (except in those situations where Redfield allows his cast to whisper on purpose) and the musical score has some nice sonic suggestion. While not the most professional audio facet featured on a 2007 DVD, The Death of Poe's sound is more or less acceptable.

The Extras:
Kudos to Alpha New Cinema for taking the time to really flesh out this home video package. Over the course of three discs, we get the following added content: Disc 1 – a Making Of The Death of Poe featurette (filled with excellent insights and detail) and a series of trailers from the director's Redfield Arts production house. Disc 2 – The Haunting of Poe House (an episode of a particularly cheesy Canadian Unsolved Mysteries style show) Edgar Allan Poe's Baltimore (a taxing music video tribute to the author's hometown) and two classic silent films; 1915's The Raven (more or less a history of Poe's family) and 1914's The Avenging Conscious, directed by the legendary D.W. Griffith himself. Both movies are nice historical artifacts. Finally, Disc 3 features an audio compilation of Poe's work (and one additional piece inspired by the author) all read by Redfield. They include "Danse Macabre", "The Raven", "The Cask of Amontillado", "The Haunted Palace", "The City in the Sea", "Hop Frog", "The Tell-Tale Heart", "The Conqueror Worm", and "Annabel Lee". Overall, the quality here is very high – there is as much performance as pure reading going on during the recitations. As for the silent films on the second disc, they look the worse for wear, but make a nice supplement to the myth and legacy of Poe.

Final Thoughts:
Earning a begrudging Recommended rating for the sheer amount of drive and determination showed in its creation, The Death of Poe will certainly find an audience eager to go along with its creator's awkward ideas. Some will even forgive a few of the more self-indulgent moments to speculate that this is some manner of masterwork. But looks can be deceiving, and in this case, the only admirable elements on display are Mark Redfield's ferocious purpose and uncanny resemblance to the late, great writer. If you want to learn more about the life and times of this disturbed literary genius, you're curiosity will not be quelled by this film. If, on the other hand, you want to see an experimental attempt at both contextualizing and compartmentalizing a lifetime into a single week, The Death of Poe will be your avant-garde guide. It's lovely to look at, and at times wonderfully effective. But there is more to the writer's life than a series of madness montages. Sadly, that's mostly what Redfield has to offer.

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