Olivier, Olivier (1992/Umbrella Entertainment/Region Four/4/PAL DVD Set)
Picture:
C Sound: C+ Extras: C- Film: C+
PLEASE NOTE: This TV show on DVD can only be
operated on machines capable of playing back DVDs that can handle Region
Four/4/PAL format software, and can be ordered from our friends at Umbrella
Entertainment at the website address provided at the end of the review.
Agnieszka Holland is a good but overrated filmmaker,
getting raves for her work, yet it tends to be the subject matter that is the
reason more than the content of her films and a fine example of this is her
1992 opus Olivier, Oliver. It is a thriller for people (and frankly,
snobs) who hate thrillers the son of a not-so-happy family named Olivier
disappears. After a search, a young man
shows up later claiming to be Olivier, but there are many reasons to suspect he
is not and things “get complicated.”
The film is then essentially a character study of this
dysfunctional family, but it is so melodramatic and uneven that the film never
achieves anything it starts in full despite its ambitions and talents on the
part of the filmmaker and cast. It is
based on actual events and though it does not use that as a crutch, the film
never adds up to a complete experience that is either totally realistic or a
film that is able to finish what it starts in making any big statement or
delivering a payoff that hit the nail on the head about the events that unfold.
See for yourself.
The letterboxed
1.85 X 1 image is very much on the soft side, coming from an older analog
transfer whose flaws are even more apparent in the PAL format, though it
features some nice location shooting.
The Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono is actually a bit better, but the age of the
recording along with this transfer being down a generation adds distortion
throughout. The only extra is trailers
to other Umbrella DVD releases including Holland’s Europa Europa.
As noted
above, you can order this import DVD exclusively from Umbrella at:
http://www.umbrellaent.com.au/
- Nicholas Sheffo
