Sony's MPEG-4 AVC 1080p transfer of Aaron Schneider's folksy tale is about as good as it gets. The detail that is brought out in the picture, while retaining a film look is impressive. From the lines on faces to the depth of the woods everything pops in the crystal clear way that makes own sense depth in the frame. The range of color is captured naturally fitting the film's rustic tone. Blacks are inky and the few flashes of color really look brilliant.
The DTS-HD MA 5.1 lossless soundtrack is solid as well. The only real issue is sometimes the clarity of the dialogue is too quiet or bassy. But it was very fleeting. The balance between the music, sound effects and dialogue is nicely done. The film relies on its front speakers mainly, but outdoor scenes with the sounds of the woods and gunshots whizzing from front to back or left to right utilize the soundscape to create ambience.
The commentary track features Schneider, producer Dean Zanuck and stars Robert Duvall and Sissy Spacek. I'm not a fan of group tracks and here you sometimes lose track of whether it's Schneider or Zanuck speaking. That said the insight is good. The filmmakers share their approaches technically and artistically and how it was working with legends Duvall and Spacek. Its tone matches that of the nostalgic film and finds a balance between being artistically focused, trivia filled and antidotal.
"The Deep South: Buried Secrets" works as the disc's making of doc. The cast and crew discuss the almost decade long journey to get the film made. It serves as a nice history of the production, as well as giving the artistic ideas and themes that went into it.
"Getting Low: Getting Into Character" delves into the characters and the actors that play them. Robert Duval, Bill Murray, Sissy Spacek and Lucas Black talk about their experience. The consensus was that most of them did the movie in order to work with Duvall.
"A Screenwriter's Point of View" has C. Gaby Mitchell discussing the true-life inspiration for the film and the stories he likes to tell, which he says are hard to get made these days.
The disc also features a Cast & Crew Q&A from the Tribeca Film Festival, on the red carpet interviews, the trailer and BD-Live functionality.
Rick DeMott
Animation World Network
Creator of Rick's Flicks Picks
