A Good Year (Widescreen DVD-Video)
Picture: B- Sound: B- Extras: B- Film: B-
Until
recently, the odd consensus was that Ridley Scott was a mechanical filmmaker,
something owed in part no doubt to his Kubrickian tendencies. Thelma
& Louise (1991) began to change that, but it took Gladiator (2000) to break down that myth. So it is with some irony that his 2006
comedy/drama A Good Year was ignored
by critics, missed by audiences and that Fox gave up on it without giving it a
chance.
The romantic
story without immature comedy is about the life of Max Skinner (Russell Crowe)
from childhood to ace stock broker, tellings its story from the adult time,
adding flashbacks with Freddie Highmore as a young Max Skinner and Albert
Finney as surrogate parent/guardian and blood Uncle Henry. It was a happy but distant time, a suppressed
period about to return when Henry passes away and leaves his place in France to
Max in the middle of his latest financial successes.
There he
meets a sexy woman who eventually becomes a love interest (Marion Cotillard as
Fanny Chenal) and Abbie Cornish plays blond Californian hiking gal Christine,
who may be Henry's illegitimate daughter. Completing the trio of interesting women in
Max’s life is Archie Panjabi as Gemma, his secretary and schedule juggler. In all this, Scott tries to evoke the great
romantic foreign and silent films of the past while keeping a lively narrative
going.
The film
is more of a success than failure and by faux emotional standards, is as
“human” as anything he has made to date.
It is far from his best work, but he is able to delve into style and
class with a panache most directors would not begin to consider. Crowe is also very good, though the yellow
journalists are more interested in painting him to be the Tazmanian Devil than
giving him the credit as an actor he deserves, which may have hurt the
remarkable Cinderella Man (reviewed elsewhere on this site) and is cheating the
audience out of some very strong, enjoyable work.
I hope
DVD, the eventual Blu-ray and cable/satellite broadcasts will show everyone
what they missed. Cotillard and Panjabi
are stars on the rise and Cornish might surprise us soon too, proving Scott’s
knack for finding new talent. If you
have not sent his film and would like to see something that does not insult
your intelligence, then see A Good Year.
The
anamorphically enhanced 2.35 X 1 image was shot by Marc Streitenfeld and has
some visually pleasant moments, the kind people used to go to see in films all
the time. Now, too many seem to settle
for second best of late. Especially if
you have a nice TV or HDTV, you will want to see how nice this is. Though the DVD can only capture so much of the
detail, it is a nice image and one you’ll want to try out once. The Dolby Digital 5.1 mix is good, typical of
Scott’s films, and has a good mix of ambiance, music and dialogue. Extras include thee Music Videos with Crowe
singing, trailers & TV spots for the film, Postcards From Providence
making of featurette and Crowe/Scott promo for the film.
- Nicholas Sheffo
