Cinema Verite (2011/HBO Blu-ray)/Who Do You
Think You Are? – Season Two (2011/Acorn Media DVD Set)
Picture:
B/C+ Sound: B/B- Extras: C+/D Main Programs: C+/B-
Do we
have to know everything about everyone’s life?
Is it healthy? Is there a way to
show this without trivializing it and ruining lives? I ask these questions often and here are two
of the better releases with which to ask again.
Shari
Springer Berman and Robert Pulcini co-directed Cinema Verite (2011) for HBO about how an ambitious producer (James
Gandolfini) organizes a special project for PBS public television in the 1970s
where he will follow a family with film cameras and make that into a
mini-series event. They convince the
Loud family to participate and what seems like a Brady Bunch type of set-up quickly descends into chaos as the
husband and wife (Tim Robbins, Diane Lane) are having serious martial problems,
one of the sons is openly gay at a time when that is still shocking and the
other children have to juggle those and other items, though the guys are
forming a rock band.
This is a
good, but somewhat predictable, simple take on the story and on the 1970s,
which it may represent in style but not always substance. Of course, the makers are saying that this
was the invention of the evil cycle of “reality TV”, but even that is
debatable. This is not a smug cable
telefilm, but it could have been better, though hiring Patrick Fugit as one of
the filmmakers was a sly plus. Not
great, but not bad, Kathleen Quinlan, Lolita Davidovich and Thomas Dekker also
star.
Extras
include a Making Of featurette and
feature length audio commentary with Berman, Pulcini and Lane.
Who Do You Think You Are? – Season
Two (2011) is
much like that original mini-series, but this is a show where big stars decide
it is fine to look up people in their family tree and everyone watching gets to
know secret history whether we should really know or not. To get an idea of the show, try the link to
my coverage of Season One of the
show here:
http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/review/10845/Beautiful+Truth+(w/Dying+To+Have
Interesting
and sometimes painful in a sad way, the famous people revealing their past this
time are Vanessa Williams, Tim McGraw, Rosie O’Donnell, Kim Cattrall, Lionel
Ritchie, Steve Buscemi, Gwyneth Paltrow and Ashley Judd. Again, your enjoyment may also depend on how
much you like a given star, but it is a well-done show and no matter how popular,
all involved are very brave to do this on camera.
There are
no extras.
The 1080p
1.78 X 1 digital High Definition image transfer on Verite looks really good despite stylizing choices that usually
degrade the image. Here, all looks
consistently good if not always great and once again, HBO shows they have some
of the best Blu-rays on the market. The
anamorphically enhanced 1.78 X 1 image on Think
is softer and has motion blur like the last set, but is as good as it is going
to look in the format.
The
DTS-HD MA (Master Audio) 5.1 lossless mix on Verite is good, but not great and the telefilm also has monophonic
moments on purpose to imitate the audio playback and final TV show that is
being filmed at the time. This can also
be quiet at times, but is a really good recording. The lossy Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo on Think is the same as before, with good
location recording that is usually professional and mixed well, if not always
sounding great. Sometimes there is too
much music.
- Nicholas Sheffo
