Aberdeen

 

Picture: C+     Sound: C+     Extras: D     Film: B-

 

 

Hollywood has problems with being honest and realistic in its dramas.  Notice how the best films keep coming from the independent circuit or from the studio’s boutique subdivisions, not including imports, of course.  That is why it is such a nice surprise to see a film as bold as Aberdeen (2001), which does not pretend the idea of family is some sacred, mystical entity that is always protected by an overseeing force from above.  It does not share the infantilizing ideology that everything will work out, no matter how bad things are or dysfunctional a family is.

 

The long-estranged father of young businesswoman Kaisa (Lena Headley of The Remains Of The Day) gets unexpectedly reunited with him.  The motivation for their awkward reunion comes from her very ill mother (Charlotte Rampling) asking her to go and retrieve him.  It’s ten years after they last had seen each other when she tracks him down, and he is still the worthless guy she always thought he was, she thinks.  He is a drunk, unemployed, inappropriate, and a mess.

 

Stellan Skarsgard is one of those actors you have seen often, but did not know who he was, in films like The Hunt For Red October, Ronin and Good Will Hunting for starters.  He also originated the role Al Pacino took on in the original version of Insomnia.  He is a great character actor, as well as a great lead actor. This DVD offers the widescreen version of a film that turns out to be really good, despite covering some seemingly familiar territory.  What is unfamiliar is its honesty.

 

The image quality of the 1.85 X 1 letterboxed transfer is average, recycling a PAL transfer from a film print with a limited color range to begin with.  This is not a film about much glamorous, with everything from hospitals, to the streets, to an alcoholic in full swing, but the few scenes of the daughter’s happier life in business and getting a promotion do not have anything too heightened about the image or its color.  The softness and muted colors do not distract too much from the drama, but more clarity and fidelity would bring the viewer even closer with its subjects.

 

The Dolby Digital 2.0 Surround is also average, since films like this often are built around their dialogue.  The film may have even been Dolby Digital 5.1 or 4.1 theatrically, but the difference between the two cannot be found on this DVD, since First Run does not offer a 5.1 or 4.1-track choice.  This is still not enough of a combination problem to deter anyone serious about the film to prevent watching it, since the materials used are in pristine shape, so there are not any additional distractions.

           

Four trailers are here, including one for this film, 42 Up, Fluffer, and Cleopatra’s Second Husband, but only Aberdeen is indicated on the box.  You also get 4 biographies and an 8 minutes long interview with the director.  The extras pertaining to the film are good, but the other trailers vary in promise.

 

Behind the camera:  Screenplay by Hans Petter Moland, Music by Zbigniew Preisner, Edited by Sophie Hesselberg, Cinematography by Philip Ogaard, Produced by Tom Remlov & Petter J. Borgli, and Directed by Hans Petter Moland.

 

This is a recent film, so it is surprising it did not get more press, for how good it is.  It did manage to find some limited art house success, making it at least a limited hit, but this DVD could eventually make it the much better known film it deserves to be.  First Run Features Home Video has a fine title here.

 

So much about the film works, that its discovery and rediscovery seem inevitable, but there are still many a buried gem that are on disc and have not been turned up by enough people.  That is why anyone who might be interested in Aberdeen will not be disappointed if they go out of their way for it.  This is one of the better films of 2001.

 

 

- Nicholas Sheffo