Tennessee (2009/Vivendi DVD)
Picture:
C Sound: C+ Extras: C Film: C
Produced
by Lee Daniels, whose Precious is
one of the best films of 2009, Aaron Woodley’s Tennessee (also 2009) is a drama with potential that turns into
another disease-of-the-week project as two brothers who are rather dissimilar
decide to go find their estranged father before one of them dies. On the way, they meet a streetwise waitress
(Mariah Carey delivering a fairly good performance) who is in an abusive
relationship and decides to join them on their road trip.
While the
acting and casting of Carey, Ethan Peck and Adam Rothenberg is good, the film
never achieves anything memorable or different, even when it seems like it
might start. I was disappointed and
realized why I had not heard much about this film, so any idea this might be a
buried treasure ended quickly. Oh, and
Carey sings the song “Right To Dream”
and it is not very memorable either.
Still, if you like her or like these kinds of stories, you’ll want to see
it. Others will be rightly bored.
The anamorphically
enhanced 2.35 X 1 image is once again one of those many recent productions that
want to gut the color (who cares if it is by filters or digitally, the result
is the same dull, boring clichéd look) and detail also suffers. This is too soft, has some motion blur and
has a flat look. The Dolby Digital 5.1
mix tries to spread out the dialogue-based recording and thin low-budget
location recording too thin. The only
extra is a making of featurette. Glad we
were spared a Music Video.
- Nicholas Sheffo
