Erskineville
Kings (1999/Umbrella
Region Free PAL Import DVD)/Olive
Kitteridge (2014/HBO
Blu-ray Set)/Sinner's
Holiday (1930/Warner
Archive DVD)/Skating To
New York (2013/Well Go
USA Blu-ray)
Picture:
C+/B/C/B Sound: C+/B/C+/B- Extras: D/D/C-/C- Main
Programs: B-/B-/C+/B-
PLEASE
NOTE:
The Erskineville
Kings
Import DVD is now only available from our friends at Umbrella
Entertainment in Australia, can only play on DVD players that can
handle the PAL DVD and is region free, while Sinner's
Holiday
is now only available from Warner Bros. through their Warner Archive
series. Both can be ordered from the links below.
Here
are a set of coming of age/slice of life dramas you should know
about...
Alan
White's Erskineville
Kings
(1999) is at least a curio to those outside of Australia since it
features impressive early turns by Joel Edgerton and Hugh Jackman as
old friends from back in the day coming together again when the
father of the latter is dead from apparent self-destruction. His
brother (Marty Denniss) has been long away and had a bad relationship
with his ever-abusive dad, leaving older brother Wace (Jackman) to
deal with him in illness. He visits old friends he is going to stay
with (including Edgerton's) but inevitably will see Wace again.
Of
course, it will be the return of plenty of the repressed and has
plenty of real, honest moments down to some great, even brave acting.
This runs 82 solid minutes and is at least a minor classic of
Australian Cinema. We should know more than just two of the actors
from this one.
There
are no extras.
Olive
Kitteridge
(2014) may focus on the life of an older couple who were never
totally happy together, yet it too is a coming of age tale as it
shows how their choices did not work out and how it affected their
son. Frances McDormand is the title character (doing this kind of
repressed woman role again she does so well), married to a pharmacist
husband (Richard Jenkins) in this 4-episode cable TV mini-series
adaptation of the Pulitzer Prize-winning Elizabeth Strout novel.
John Gallagher Jr. (HBO's Girls)
is the son as an young adult in this first-rate production.
On
the one hand, the storyline is somewhat obvious and predictable, yet
it seems to know it is so it can say and do things about toxic
relationship situations that you might not normally find in such
dramas. The result is not bad throughout despite some minor issues,
though it could have chosen a direction more challenging, it is
compelling viewing at its best and with a solid cast, nice Maine
locales and decent directing, it is worth a look.
There
are no extras, but this was an award-winning hit that moght get a
sequel.
John
G. Adolfi's Sinner's
Holiday
(1930) lasts only about an hour, but has the distinction of being the
first film ever for James Cagney and Joan Blondell, though Grant
Withers is the male lead, they would soon become the big stars,
especially Cagney for Warner Bros. as one of their premiere big box
office stars. Taking place at a gaudy carnival, the Delano Family
does what they can to get by, but alcohol and crime starts to seep
into the already hyped world and a young man named Harry (Cagney)
lands up in unexpected trouble despite his anti-alcohol mother doing
what she can to keep him out of trouble.
For
so short a film, I liked its pace, cynicism, cast, directing and the
amusing way the penny arcade atmosphere is portrayed. Warner was
already becoming the classy, yet gritty major studio by this time and
this film seems to have helped establish their style more than
expected. Being the studio that brought sound to film, the sound
design is particularly interesting and for its time, montage complex
which helps it age better than you might think. Lucille LaVerne,
Evalyn Knapp, Warren Hymer and Noel Madison round out the cast and it
is definitely worth a look.
A
trailer is the only extra.
Finally
we have Charles Minsky's Skating
To New York
(2013), a refreshing production out of canada that has the
distinction of being a film out of that country that for once, is
actually ABOUT that country. Five young friends who love hockey,
play it often and are growing up together in a small town dream of
getting out of that small town and one day, start skating in the
middle of nowhere (they joke it they skated enough and well enough,
they could get to New York) and instead, get lost in the middle of
nowhere.
Luckily,
this is only part of the film, so this is thankfully not another
stupid stuck-in-a movie and we get plenty of character development
with the up and coming actors (Connor Jessup, Wesley Morgan, Gage
Monroe, Matthew Knight, Dylan Everett) how may well become the next
major acting names in their generation. We could do far worse for as
good as they are here, this could have that American
Graffiti
effect for them. Jason Gedrick also shows up as one of their fathers
and the makers wisely make the small town a character as well as
shoot it very well, which is all too rare these days.
If
this were any more exciting, edgy or clever, you could imagine some
kind of Canadian New Wave of filmmaking, but I'll settle for its
intelligence, fun and amusing moments that spell a return of the
repressed for an area that has been used for so many bad, often low
budget Hollywood package deals that to see the real Canada in any
kind of honest action is a comparative revelation. Dave Grusin's
music score is a plus too and I even liked the end credit song.
A
trailer is the only extra.
The
anamorphically enhanced 1.78 X 1 image on Kings
has some nice moments from a print that is clean for its age, has
some nice color shots and holds up well, so much so that I wanted to
see a film print and a Blu-ray. Only the DVD format holds it back.
The 1080p
1.78 X 1 digital High Definition image transfer on Olive
is up to HBO's high standards with solid performance throughout
including good color and detail, though it is shot to look a little
old and slightly soft at times. Otherwise, it is as good as it is
likely to look.
The
1.33 X 1 black and white image on Holiday
is a little soft and with some print damage, but has some nice shots
throughout reminding us how good even early Warner films could look.
And the 1080p 1.85 X 1 digital High Definition image transfer on
Skating
is a surprisingly consistent digital shoot that makes the Canadian
locales look better than they usually look in cheap productions by
quick-buck Hollywood types. The all-white snow shots obviously are
not the most surprising here, but composition is consistent and the
editing a plus.
As
for sound, Kings
was a Dolby Digital theatrical release, presented here in lossy Dolby
Digital 2.0 Stereo that is mixed and lossy Dolby Digital 5.1 that
sounds better, but I wondered if the soundmaster would yield even
more in a lossless version.
The
DTS-HD MA (Master Audio) 5.1 lossless mixes on Olive
and Skating
are the sonic winners here as expected, but Olive has better
recording and mixing, though Skating
is still pretty decent throughout and for dramas, but use
multi-channel sound as well as can be expected.
That
leaves the lossy Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono on Holiday
showing its age as expected for an 85 year old film, but is recorded,
mixed and edited well enough for its time just the same.
To
order the Erskineville
Kings
Umbrella import DVD, go to this link:
https://www.umbrellaent.com.au/
...and
to order the
Sinner's
Holiday
Warner Archive DVD, go to this link for them and many more great
web-exclusive releases at:
https://www.warnerarchive.com/
-
Nicholas Sheffo
