Jermal
(2008/IndiePix DVD)
Picture: C Sound: C+ Extras: C- Film: C+
Yet
another serious tale that wants to be about a lost father-son relationship, Jermal has three directors and
surprisingly coheres well, but it is still everything we have seen before and
only does with some energy and variances to keep it from being a dud. The title refers to the
in-the-middle-of-the-sea platform a young man has been sent to work, but it
turns out the man running things is his father.
Too bad the man will not admit to this and is running away from a bad
thing he did.
In the
meantime, the newcomer is picked on by the other kids and you can figure out
the rest. This gets boring, than
something interesting happens here and there.
However, this needed more than just to be the same old obvious tale and
it is not. Still, it never becomes a
spoof of itself, but I was disappointed overall down to the ending.
The
anamorphically enhanced 1.78 X 1 image is very soft through and was likely shot
in HD video. If this is film, someone
botched the transfer. The Dolby Digital
2.0 Stereo is of a new recording and plays well enough for a dialogue-based
mix, but also expect silences. Extras
include a trailer and bloopers.
- Nicholas Sheffo
