The Commitments
Picture: B Sound: B Extras: A- Film: B+
Alan Parker is a filmmaker
I was respected very much. His body of
work includes Bugsy Malone (1976), Midnight Express (1978), Pink Floyd’s The Wall (1982), Angel Heart (1987), Mississippi Burning (1988), and then
something went wrong…? His last few
films have been disastrous on almost all levels. First there was Evita (1996), which even with Madonna’s fine performance, was a
total nightmare on a different level.
Then we have the overly sappy Angela’s
Ashes from 1999 and his worst film to date: The Life of David Gale (2003), which managed to waste away the
acting talents of both Kevin Spacey and Kate Winslet. Somewhere between his good years and his
recent decline was 1991’s The Commitments,
which has made its appearance onto DVD courtesy of Fox.
The Commitment’s is a film that few will understand, and not because it’s subject
matter is difficult or that it’s so philosophical, but rather none of
those. The reason is because the film
pertains to people that have actual tried to be in a band, were in a band, or
have any inkling into what it’s like trying to make it big in the industry with
a striving musical crew. This is also a
film that sits very close to the heart of many, those that identify with the
film on many levels.
The film deals with soul
music at a time when soul music was out.
Taking place in Dublin a young man decides to assemble a band that will
tour and attempt to bring back the music of yesteryear. Filled with drama and comedy about the bands
rise in power, but addresses some of the inner turmoil is combining clashing
personalities with hectic tour schedules. The material is very solid and the
music is certainly the high point, but those that are turned off by Motown,
well first off that’s a real problem, but secondly you will not be that into
this film.
Fox has done some real
justice in unveiling this film for DVD knowing that there is a real following
for it. Presented in a 1.85 X 1
transfer, the film retains its original aspect ratio, which looks pretty
good. Those familiar with most of Alan
Parker’s films know that he typically goes for a natural or gritty looking
palette for his movies. This is no
exception keeping a darker looking tone to the film. This makes the DVD appear to have a much more
lackluster appearance, but detail and depth is good. Colors are defined well, even when they
appear to bleed towards the edges more.
Larger TV’s will pick this up more.
Softness is not a problem overall, which once again with it being a
darker looking film, is certainly a good thing.
The audio is presented in a Dolby Digital 5.1 mix, which is average at
best. The preferred way to go would have
been with an optional DTS mix in order to better accommodate the musical
portion of the film. DTS is better to
begin with for any film, but certainly music oriented films need that high bit rate in order to achieve higher clarity, fidelity, and depth that
is appreciated in good music recording.
Disc One delivers the film as well as a commentary with director Alan Parker,
who typically does commentaries for his films.
Disc Two is where all the treats reside starting with a ‘making of’,
which runs about 22-minutes total time.
Then there is a lengthier segment called “Looking Back”, which takes modern interviews and runs
50-minutes. Dublin Soul: The
Working Class and Changing Face of Dublin” is almost like a continuation of “Looking Back” only it focuses more on
the music in general and is about 15-minutes in length. There is also another ‘making of’ featurette,
which appears to be a more modern, yet shortened version of the longer ‘making
of’ extra. The video for ‘Treat Her Right’ is also on the DVD
with an introduction by Alan Parker.
Disc Two also contains some minor extras such as the theatrical trailers
and spots as well as other information on the cast and few.
With music education
declining at a rapid rate in the U.S. and music appreciate as a whole in a very bad state;
it’s unfortunate that a film like this will probably not appeal to many new
viewers to the film. However, those that
are already fans will certainly enjoy this DVD that Fox has graced us
with. While the audio could have been
pumped up with DTS, they did more work on the extras and tried to appeal to the
demographics of those just concerned with knowing more about the film and the
production. Needless to say that there
needs to be a fresh breath blown into the music industry and perhaps a film
like this might inspire some band out there to take make the commitment into
bringing some fresh or even something rare to the spotlight, or shall we say
radio waves, and make something of it.
Listeners now have become like zombies not even aware of what they are
listening to. Also highly recommended would be 2002’s Standing in the Shadows of Motown (reviewed on this site) and
2003’s Only the Strong Survive,
which is a celebration of soul in general.
- Nate Goss
