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Directed by |
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Specs |
- Widescreen 2.35:1
- 16:9 Enhanced
- Dual Layer (RSDL 81.13)
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Languages |
- English: Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround
- English: Dolby Digital Surround
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Subtitles |
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Extras |
- Teaser trailer
- Theatrical trailer
- Audio commentary - Director, Producer, Writer
- 14 Cast/crew biographies
- Featurette - 40 min
- Photo gallery
- Animated menus
- Music-only track
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Lantana |
Palace Films/20th Century Fox .
R4 . COLOR . 116 mins .
M15+ . PAL |
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This is a revised and updated version of a review of the rental-only edition of this disc originally published in April 2002. It's funny, in a way, that the Australian films that seem to get all the big-media attention are the ones that kick serious financial butt in "The States", usually by taking those things that outsiders regard as being quintessentially Australian and amplifying them to a larger-than-life level, then mixing it up with a solid dose of Hollywood-style kitsch because, well, you're supposed to make movies that way. Oh, make no mistake, it's not just Australian cinema that suffers this ignominy; after all, most non-film-buff types think of British cinema as The Full Monty and Four Weddings and a Funeral times a thousand. But those wacky Australians - why, they seem incapable of making a film that isn't brash, confronting and downright quirky! They're so good at it! Muriel's Wedding! Priscilla Queen of the Desert! Moulin Rouge! (hell, that last one even has an exclamation mark in its title!!!) But serious Australian films? Naah, they don't make those any more, do they? Didn't all that go out of fashion with the world when Peter Weir went international? Well, actually no. Australian cinema has for a great many years been producing accomplished films that haven't attracted the kind of patriotic attention that seems mandatory for both the defiantly-strange big-budget efforts and those others that seem to so desperately want international sales they come out the other end looking and feeling like they were American product. For every glitz or hype-packed extravaganza there's a couple of dozen fascinating stories captured on film and plaintively looking for a distributor; many eventually go straight to video and never reach the audience they so richly deserve (though the ever-growing popularity of DVD is starting to change all that). Then there are the ones that get attention simply through word of mouth. Lantana is one such film. Its may have looked deceptively unambitious and claustrophobic in its pre-release trailer, but as soon as the finished film started getting shown people started talking about it. By the time last November's Australian Film Institute Awards rolled around, Lantana was the hot favourite to be seriously lauded. And it was; it won the seven biggest non-technical awards you can get, including Best Picture, Director, Adapted Screenplay, Actor, Actress, Supporting Actor and Supporting Actress. If you're thinking that makes Lantana sound like it's something of an actors' showcase, you'd be right (it was, after all, adapted from a stage play). But this is no dry, wordy exercise in intellectualism - exquisitely crafted and cleverly constructed, it's one of the most entrancing human dramas in recent memory. While ostensibly a kind of low-key murder mystery and an exhumation of the dark underbelly of everyday life (it opens, in a shot eerily reminiscent of the opening of David Lynch's Blue Velvet, with a corpse lying in Lantana bushes and examines with almost dispassionate detail the events that led up to that moment) Lantana is first and foremost about something way more interesting than any of that. It's about the breakdown of relationships (in this case, four marriages) to the point where they become habit and obligation. Long-time cop Leon (Anthony LaPaglia), for example, has become unable to feel much at all despite having what appears on the surface to be the perfect marriage to Sonja (Kerry Armstrong, whose performance is remarkable). Unable to feel anything, that is, except anger, which he takes out on the rest of the world as much as he does on himself. He's having an affair with Jane (Rachael Blake) who is separated from her husband Pete (Glenn Robbins, completely believable in a non-comic role) and who lives next door to Nik and Paula, a solidly married couple whose loyalty is about to be tested by events involving the disintegrating marriage of psychiatrist Valerie Somers (Barbara Hershey) and her cynically intellectual husband John Knox (Geoffrey Rush). A tangled web? Absolutely, but Andrew Bovell's screenplay never lets the story get bogged down in either excess melodrama or needless detail; it's an exceptional piece of writing that unravels its stories and character detail with a natural ease that's purely riveting. But the best script in the world can't save a poorly made film; fortunately, this one benefits hugely from the intuitive skill of director Ray Lawrence (who won the Best Director AFI way back in 1985 for his terrific filming of Peter Carey's Bliss, and hasn't directed a feature since; hopefully it won't be as long a wait for the next one). Cinematographer Mandy Walker turns straightforward dramatic scenes into poetry with her inspired widescreen photography - this is a film that must be seen in its true aspect ratio to be properly appreciated. And the music score - by Paul Kelly along with a bunch of regular collaborators including guitarist Shane O'Mara - is spot-on, an earthily atmospheric companion to the events unfolding on screen. Ultimately there's little point in trying to describe what this film is like - it's far better to see for yourself. Suffice to say that Lantana is so effortlessly good you come away wondering why they don't always make films like this. One thing's certain - Australian cinema is not only alive and well and delivering more fascinating movies than ever, but people are actually paying attention to a greater depth and breadth of them. And though Baz may get all the press, it's the Lantanas of this world that make that happen.
Video |
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Like it was in its rental edition, Lantana has been beautifully transferred to digital video at its original 2.35:1 aspect ratio and is of course 16:9 enhanced; not surprisingly, it’s exactly the same transfer as used on the rental disc, which in this case is a Good Thing indeed. Right from the outset, the image is clear and sharp (but not over-sharp) and loaded with detail. Colour resolution is strong but completely natural, and the more difficult scenes in the film - scenes shot with deliberately overexposed backgrounds, for example - come up perfectly on DVD. Shadow detail is excellent save for a couple of shots where the closest thing to black is a kind of murky brown; with the rest of the transfer so spot-on terms of colour and contrast balance this was obviously intentional. There's so little to complain about with this transfer that it seems almost churlish to point out the minor glitch that is visible early on, at the 4.19 mark - the same glitch that was present on the rental disc. As Leon's car pulls in to the kerb, the image seems to "skip"; a close frame by frame look reveals that a single frame is repeated twice here for no immediately apparent reason. It’s probably a problem with the digital master tape, and the fact that it’s still there despite the DVD’s producers having been well aware of it on the rental disc means it’s probably on the first-generation master as well. No big deal - like we said last time, most people won't even notice it. There are no compression problems evident at all throughout the film's two hour running time; roughly the same amount of space has been used for the movie as the rental disc. Though we expected them to be included on the retail version of the disc, there are actually no subtitles provided, which is surprising (and undoubtedly annoying to hearing-impaired people that wanted to see the movie). Once again provided on a dual-layered DVD, the film is interrupted a little later in proceedings for the layer change than it was on the rental edition; once again it’s a very fast layer switch, if not in quite as neat a place in the film as it was last time.
Audio |
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The two audio tracks provided for the movie give you the choice between the original Dolby Digital 5.1 mix of the movie's audio as heard in cinemas, or the Dolby Surround version prepared for non-digital cinemas and, of course, VHS and television. There’s also a commentary track this time around (see the extras section for details on that). The 5.1 mix is noticeably cleaner and better defined - even in downmix - than the Surround version. This is a heavily dialogue-centred movie, and much of the time it's only the centre channel that is pressed into service in any meaningful way; Paul Kelly's music score, though, is mixed in full 5.1 and sounds terrific. Much use of the surround stage is also made for the various ambient noises of suburbia and nature that are an almost constant - if usually extremely subliminal - feature of the soundtrack; the frenzied chirping of cicadas and other creatures is used at an extremely high volume for effect on occasion (such as during the opening scene of the film) and occasionally get so loud you are in danger of trying to swat the invisible insects away and wiping out a beer, a bowl of chips and your right surround speaker instead. The LFE channel is used well and extremely sparingly, the audio team resisting the urge to succumb to the usual SES problem (Subsonic Everything Syndrome!) The Dolby Surround track, by the way, is correctly flagged as surround for those of you with receivers that pay attention to such things.
Extras |
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Overall |
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One of the finest films of last year regardless of country of origin, Lantana is an unpretentious, mature and insightful piece of storytelling, acting and filmmaking that's a breath of fresh air and a reminder, as if any was needed, that the best movies are always the ones that don't need to get hyped like diet soft drink, but instead get to stand on their own merits. Like its rental predecessor, this DVD presents the film beautifully and near-flawlessly; this time we can say "rush out and buy it," and you should at the first opportunity. It’s worth the asking price for the movie alone; to get some worthwhile insight into the film from its creators as a bonus just makes the experience that much more rewarding.
LINK: http://www.dvd.net.au/review.cgi?review_id=1744
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Review Equipment |
- DVD Player:
Sony DVP-NS300
- TV:
Panasonic - The One
- Receiver:
Sony STR-DB870
- Speakers:
Klipsch Tangent 500
- Centre Speaker:
Panasonic
- Surrounds:
Jamo
- Audio Cables:
Standard Optical
- Video Cables:
Monster s-video
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