Becoming Jane (Blu-ray + DVD-Video/Disney – Miramax) + Jane Austen Book Club (Blu-ray/Sony)
Picture: B/C+/C+ Sound: B+/C+/C+ Extras: C/D Films: B-/D
Now that
the adaptation of Jane Austen novels has ended, one of two things have
happened. One, a deluge of TV
productions that think they can do it better and two, feature films trying to
milk out the subject from new angles. I
expected the two coming out at about the same time on DVD and Blu-ray to be two
big condescending disasters from 2007.
The surprise is one of them is not.
Julian
Jarrod’s Becoming Jane is the good
one, with Anne Hathaway portraying the author in her not so pretty life as the
daughter of a minister (James Cromwell) in financial trouble who could have
this issued solved if his daughter would marry the son of a rich woman (the
great Maggie Smith doing the arrogant snob role to perfection) but Jane is more
interested in a man (James McAvoy) who she loves and seems to be ion love with
her. The Kevin Hood screenplay pulls no punches
about the snobbery, class division, hatred of women and oppression of society
at large of the time. It also breaks the
anti-Feminist stereotypes the recent film versions of Austen’s work showing her
as a more progressive figure than expected.
My only
complaint (spoiler warning!) of the film outside of not being longer, deeper
and more challenging or critical is that once again, make-up for the later
years of Austen’s life is about as bad as her “evil woman” look at the end of Brokeback Mountain (blame Ang Lee
again) that shows cutting her natural beauty down is extremely difficult.
By
comparison, Robin Swicord’s Jane Austen
Book Club plays like a silly, smarmy cash-in to the cycle of films where
all the characters know Austen’s six books so well, they are quoting and
referencing them as fluently as characters in the Scream films quote Horror
films. Unfortunately, these people are
not being stalked by a killer!
However,
they are so boring that repeated viewings of this film might hospitalize you with
boredom as likable actors such as Marc Blucas, Emily Blunt, Hugh Dancy, Maria
Bello, Kathy Baker, Lynn Redgrave and Jimmy Smits are among those wasted in a
mess that feels like the book-people in Ray Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451 in reverse, as you could care less about the books
or the people. And all the coincidences
between the characters and those of Austen’s are just outright juvenile.
Becoming is presented in a 2.35 X 1 frame,
with the 1080p digital High Definition Blu-ray that looks pretty good, though
has some softness, intended and not intended from the cinematography Director
of Photography Eigil Bryld, falling into the usual style for adaptations of her
books. As for the anamorphically
enhanced DVD, it is much flatter, with detail issues and poor Video Black. The 1080p 1.78 X 1 image on Book Club is lame and one of the
poorest for an HD-derived shoot we have seen in either HD format to date,
making it the kind of Blu-ray that would give consumers the wrong impression
but the format not be4ing better than standard DVD.
The PCM
24/48 5.1 mix on Becoming is nicely
recorded, has some good soundfield (if not consistent) and a good music score
by Adrian Johnston. However, the Dolby
Digital 5.1 equivalents in both formats versions (multiple languages and all)
are weaker, thinner and flat. The Dolby
TrueHD 5.1 on Book Club is one of
the poorest of any TrueHD tracks we have heard in either format to date,
further exposing the low-budget and sometimes sloppy work that resulted in this
release.
Extras on
Becoming are the same in both
formats, including interested deleted scenes, pop-up facts/footnotes on the
film, Discovering The Real Jane Austen
featurette and audio commentary with Jarrold, Hood and Producer Robert
Bernstein. Book Club has cast/crew commentary, far less interesting deleted
scenes, behind-the-scenes featurette, Los Angeles premiere footage, The Book Club Deconstructed featurette
and Life Of Jane Austen featurette
that cannot compete with Becoming
despite being one of the few highlights here.
- Nicholas Sheffo
