Little Buddha (1993/Umbrella Entertainment/Region Four/4/PAL)
Picture:
C Sound: C+ Extras: C- Film: C
PLEASE NOTE: This DVD can only be operated on
machines capable of playing back DVDs that can handle Region 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.
After The Last Emperor, Bernardo Bertolucci
delved into filmmaking that was increasingly less effective and more abstract
in ways that did not work, as exemplified by The Sheltering Sky and Stealing
Beauty, only to finally make a comeback with The Dreamers. Despite being
less abstract than others in this period of lush drought, Little Buddha (1993) was one of three films on Buddha that did not
do box office or find much critical acclaim.
Martin Scorsese’s Kundun was
the best and the Brad Pitt starrer Seven
Years In Tibet was too standard to work.
Here, a
couple (Chris Isaac, Bridget Fonda) find out the son they love is being
considered a reincarnation of Buddha himself.
From this, we get flashbacks to the actual life of Buddha (Keanu Reeves)
and spend 135 minutes seeing if they are going to lose their son to something
they might not believe in. I never
believed it, never thought it was plausible the way it is done here and in the
end never adds up to much. Performances
are not bad and the film can look good, but it is eventually boring because it
never adds up.
The
anamorphically enhanced 2.35 X 1 color PAL image is on the soft side much like the
Umbrella PAL Last Emperor reviewed
elsewhere on this site, but the Buddha sequences with Reeves are shot in
Todd-AO 70mm and really suffer, meaning the DVD format even at its best is
going to have trouble with this material at its best. The rest of the film was shot by the great
Vittorio Storaro, A.I.C./A.S.C., in anamorphic 35mm Technovision. The Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo here is in no
way able to capture the sound of the 4.1 Dolby Magnetic multi-channel
soundmaster the film was released in its 70mm prints, but fares a bit better
than the image, though any Pro Logic surrounds are weak. Extras are few and only include a trailer and
15-minutes interview with Bertolucci.
As noted above, you can order this PAL DVD import
exclusively from Umbrella at:
http://www.umbrellaent.com.au/
- Nicholas Sheffo
