Love me like you do - Blu-ray

Content: Street musician Ryan Brenner (Ben Barnes) really just wants to make a quick stop in the small town of Ogden, Utha. But then he meets former successful singer Jackie Laurel (Katherine Heigl), who has fled New York for her old home to escape a bitter custody battle. It's a meeting that will have a lasting impact on the lives of both. For it is not only that they are strongly attracted to each other. The two lost souls are also connected by their love of music. Together they learn how important it is to believe in themselves and to have the courage to go new ways. But is that enough for a happy future together?

Love me like you do feels a little like Nicholas Sparks directed a remake of Once. Director Ami Canaan Mann tells what is, at its core, a very conventional love story, with her narrative style leaning more towards American independent cinema. This has a certain appeal, as the landscape shots and also the people exude a certain authenticity. However, this kind of staging also makes sure that there are some unnecessary lengths and that some moments come across as rather unwieldy. This is already true for the opening sequence, which strains the nerves of the audience with too long shots and very tiring banjo music. This makes it hard to get into the story and develop a real interest in the characters.

Once Ryan and Jackie get to know each other, there is some momentum to the story. To be sure, there continues to be dialogue that exudes a certain boredom due to its lack of content. And although Ben Barnes and Katherine Heigl deliver absolutely solid performances, the big emotions just don't want to arise. All this may not sound very positive. But despite these valid criticisms, the film works quite well overall. The romance is pleasantly restrained and does without any form of kitsch, which is actually common in this genre. And even if there aren't any really big sparks, there is a coherent chemistry between the main characters that makes the course of the plot in the second half of the film quite believable - however contrived it may be.

Love me like you do is an ambitious piece of work. Ami Canaan Mann attempts to tell a love story beyond the mainstream. This is commendable and also very refreshing. It's a pity that her attempt comes across a bit too strained and thus too tough. Nevertheless, the film offers all hopeless romantics who appreciate quiet love stories, American folk music and films beyond the well-trodden RomCom paths, enough good entertainment to deserve in the end with small deductions still a worth seeing!

Picture + Sound: The Blu-ray's image is convincing with natural, powerful coloration, a high level of detail and decent image depth. No noise, artifacts or other glitches cannot be made out and even in the darker moments, the presentation still has a very good level of detail. The sound, which is in a DTS-HD 5.1 Master Audio mix, matches the tone of the film. Quiet, atmospheric, and primarily dominated by the dialogue is how the mix presents itself, and while it doesn't have any quite big surround moments to offer, it does transport the film out of the speakers in a very atmospheric manner. Very good!

Extras: In addition to the trailer and other program tips, the disc also has a pretty decent making of (approx. 17:36 min.) to offer.

Conclusion: Love me like you do is a nice romance with a likeable pair of actors and plenty of music. The pacing is a bit too carried in places, which gets in the way of the emotional impact of the story. But despite a few flaws, this independent production is a home movie premiere worth watching for hopeless romantics. The Blu-ray impresses with a good audiovisual realization of the film and a decent making of. For this there is at the end a satisfied: Recommendable!

An article by Frankfurt-Tipp