The Best Of Global Lens: China (Dam Street/Luxury Car/Stolen Life/Uniform/First Run Features DVD Set)

 

Picture: C     Sound: C/C/C+/C+     Extras: C (Uniform: C+)     Films: B-/C/C+/B

 

 

First Run continues to release some very comprehensive set of titles from their underrated, underseen catalog; the kind of smart films that are interesting, even when they do not necessarily work.  When they do, it is especially nice.  The Best Of Global Lens: China includes four films and we have actually covered three of them, so we offer the links to our reviews of them where applicable as follows:

 

Dam Street (2005)

http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/review/7153/Dam+Street+(2005/First+Run+Feature

 

Luxury Car (2006)

http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/review/9315/Luxury+Car+(2006/First+Run+Feature

 

I did not originally review this one and thought it was uneven, but my fellow writer liked it more and offers some insight as to why.

 

Stolen Life (2003) is the one we had not covered, but I thought it was not bad in its tale of a young lady who is given to her relatives by poor parents who hardly know her, then is mistreated and left in isolated positions.  She seems to find love with a young man, but that does not guarantee happiness.  Though we have seen much of this story before, there are some nice differences beyond a different location and some honest moments I appreciated, but I did not see it as a masterwork.  However, the fact that anything even this honest got made in China is remarkable in itself.

 

Shot on digital video, the letterboxed 1.78 X 1 image has some good color, but is on the soft side, while the Dolby Digital 2.0 sound is somewhat stereo in nature and the recording is decent.  Extras include a PDF teaching guide and Global Lens pieces for that time.

 

Uniform (2003)

http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/review/4254/Uniform+(2003/China)

 

 

-   Nicholas Sheffo