Committed

Joline is happy. She runs a pretty successful bar and has a generally stress free life. Her only problem is with her husband of a year and a bit, Carl. He is a photographer who wants to do photojournalism but keeps getting food shoots instead. He feels that his career is going nowhere and is getting very down about it. So down in fact, that when sent away on yet another food assignment, he decides that he needs to take some time out to get his head together.

Joline is really upset when she finds that Carl has returned to their apartment, packed some stuff and then departed leaving only a short, vague note and a bunch of flowers. At first Joline is worried and upset but as the duration of Carl's 'time out' keeps getting longer she decides that she must find him, help him and save her marriage. Her only clue to his whereabouts is a postcard but undaunted by this, Joline hires a car and on a whim heads for the big state of Texas.

To reveal anymore of the plot will spoil the movie and so you'll have to watch it for yourselves to find out what happens.

I did a rough measurement and the aspect ratio for this transfer is approximately 1.85:1. The cover of the disc states that it is 1.78:1. Not a big difference either way but a difference nevertheless. This transfer is 16x9 enhanced.

What a bonza transfer! For 99% of the film the sharpness and detail levels revealed by this transfer are close to the best of 'em! There are just a few scenes that are a little softer than the others. The colour palette is bright and bold but never over the top and skin tones are spot on. Scenes set in extreme shadow, or at night show plenty of detail and the black level is a-ok.

Artefacts, you want to know about artefacts hey? Well there are some but none are distracting. Film-To-Video artefacts such as aliasing occur in a few scenes but are always minor. I noticed some trivial moiré effects as well. You will also see some slight edge enhancement and I spotted a few tiny dust flecks from time to time. If you look for it, fine film grain is visible as well but you have to LOOK for it.

This movie is presented on a single sided, single layer disc and so there is no layer change. I guess they managed to squeeze it onto this type disc due the lack of any real extras and a fairly low key soundtrack.

As this is a mainly dialogue driven film there wasn't much of an opportunity for the guys and gals that created this transfer to give your system a work out. It is however, still a good Dolby Digital 5.1 audio transfer. The dialogue of the actors is always clear and remained in sync throughout. The surrounds carry the score and some ambient sounds although for some of the film they do nothing at all. Dialogue is not restricted to just the centre channel as on a few occasions voices can be heard in one of the other front speakers. The subwoofer is used to support the score and in this capacity it does a good job.

Extras? Well there's a Theatrical Trailer. Do we still think of this as an extra?

Fresh, modern and quirky, writer/director Lisa Krueger has put together an interesting film that I found fun to watch without it being hilariously funny. This movie was shown at the Sundance Film Festival and was nominated for two awards. Cinematographer Tom Krueger won an award for his photography and Lisa Krueger was nominated for a Grand Jury prize.

Be warned though, this movie is ALL about Joline and her determination to save her marriage. Joline is supposed to be quirky, cool and cute but if you don't relate to her then you're not going to like this movie. Fortunately, Heather Graham puts in a great performance as the free spirited Joline and she is well supported by the rest of the cast.