Where the Heart Is (Rental)

Natalie Portman has become a big star. I first noticed her in Luc Besson’s brilliant “Leon�, or more commonly know as ‘The Professional�. She caught my eye with her extremely natural acting ability. When she popped up again in “Beautiful Girls�, I knew she was destined for bigger and better things. In that movie she played a young kid, flirting with a much older man. She did unsurprisingly, relate to the title of that movie quite well.

George Lucas, or one of his casting agents, obviously saw something too, and cast her in Star Wars Episode 1. Since then, her stardom has been growing rapidly, and will continue, as the Pre-Trilogy also continues.

Why am I rambling on about Natalie? Well, without her, this movie would be pretty average. She gives a fine performance, and you really feel for her character from the very first scene. For some reason “the critics� didn’t rate her role so highly. One reason could be her accent. I think its fine. The rest of the cast are equally impressive, including Ashley Judd, and even more so, Stockard Channing.

The story is one of struggles, and how Natalie’s character manages to overcome all the setbacks life has dealt her. First of all, she is left barefoot and pregnant, by her boyfriend, at a Wal-Mart store. What happens from then on is a personal epic.

Having recently watched the brilliant DVD press of “Gone with the Wind�, I am reminded of that movie whilst watching this. “Where the heart is� is definitely nowhere near the scale of GWTW, but, both are about struggles, both are set in “the South�, and both DVD’s are Full Frame 4:3. GWTW is full frame due to its age, whilst this disc is a Fox rental disc. That’s about where the similarities between this movie and GWTW end. I say this, without devaluing WTHI, but it comparing Gone with the Wind to anything is most definitely an uphill battle.

It’s been a long time since I’ve watched a non 16:9 enhanced DVD on my system, and to be honest, it wasn’t as bad as I thought. I did see this film in the cinema, and tried to identify scenes where it was Panned and Scanned, but had a hard time finding any. This was most likely due to the time between viewings more than anything else. The transfer is very clean, and nice and sharp. No mpeg artifacting can be seen anywhere.

There aren’t any extras on this press, so there was plenty of space on the disc to use a high video encoding bitrate. It definitely feels less like a movie being Full frame, however there aren’t any commercial breaks, so I still felt like I was watching a DVD and obviously, it looked and sounded a lot better than any VHS tape I have seen. This is generally a very bright movie, with most scenes in sunny daylight, so colours are nice and bright, as they should be. Black levels are fine, there are a few dark scenes, and they are filled with detail. This could be related to the fact that there aren’t any special filming techniques or effects used, but the general view is that it’s a good press.

I firmly believe, that anyone renting this movie, would not mind at all, but in fact would appreciate, an accurate transfer, meaning, a 1.85:1 ratio.

Luckily, there isn’t any skimping in the sound department, we get the full 5.1 Dolby Digital mix that the retail sale version will get. And there isn’t anything wrong with this mix at all. There aren’t too many standout features of this press, but the one thing which did, is the thunderstorm during labour scene. This is amongst the most accurate thunder and lightning I’ve ever heard.

There is a lot of dialogue in this film, and all of it is very clear. Not once did I have to turn the volume up to above average levels to pick up what had been said. The score may be a little boring, and does not standout in any way, but if that is what the director wanted, then so be it. That said, I always like good music and a good score in my movies, and this one fails to meet my expectations.

This is a Fox rental title. The back cover made me laugh. In the bold blue box, under the large Special Features heading, the two points are: Interactive menus, and Scene Access.

Very special indeed. I would actually be interested in finding out what the retail version would have in terms of extras.

Well, this movie, will not appeal to everyone. It is a more than the typical story of overcoming adversity, and then finding love, as there is a definite feeling for the characters. I guess this was one of the main themes the director/writers intended, and it works well. This movie does get too “mushy�, and can be watched by an audience of a wide demographic, young and old will like it.

Another reason is that Lowell Ganz was credited with the screenplay. Lowell is a legend, he is responsible for such classics as Splash, City Slickers, and Parenthood, however the comedy is quite rare and subtle here. Lowell has show that he is just as good with drama.

One small piece of trivia, worth mentioning, is that during filming at the Wal-Mart store, various pictures of Natalie Portman as Queen Amidala in Star Wars: Episode I: The Phantom Menace had to be removed. See, I told you she is a Star.