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analysis w/e 14.5.11 |
DVDs out 9.5.11 |
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@ DVDfever Youtube |
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May 11 2011 
DVDfever co uk
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The rebellion starts early as eldest son Nazir (Ian Aspinall), PC Colin Jitlada in BBC1's City Central), giving a definite no to an arranged marriage by walking out during the ceremony, despite his propsective wife being a peach compared to the prune-faces to appear later on. Next up to face the walk up the aisle are Tariq (Jimi Mistry, best known recently as gay Dr. Fonseca in Eastenders) and Abdul (Raji James). Tariq has other plans since he's currently dating the dance-round-yer-handbag-type Stella (Emma Rydal, with a dodgy wig that takes the edge off her appearance in the Channel 4 sitcom Small Potatoes... (swoon :) She is followed round day and night by her best friend Peggy (Ruth Jones). Saleem (Chris Bisson, currently playing Vikram Desai in Coronation Street) hasn't been fixed up yet but he'll want to be out of the house as soon as he finishes his college course and his dubious 'sculpture' which isn't revealed until the final scene. The others that make up the Khan household are "Daddy's Boy" Maneer (Emil Marwa) who doesn't take to the "English" lifestyle like the rest do, Meenah (Archie Panjabi), a tomboy who's out to defy her parents' wishes and youngest son Sajid (Jordan Routledge), forever wearing his Parker coat and belatedly suffering the indignity of circumcision.
Many of this film's comedy moments are genuinely very funny, but perhaps it's down to seeing plenty of them on TV beforehand that took the edge out of the film. That said, I also saw scores of American Pie clips before I watched that and still thought the same scenes were a hoot. Both films had their slow scenes though and were both advertised as out-and-out comedies, but that's the mistake this one made. It has a number of moments punctuated as anything but comedy, usually when ruler-of-the-house George puts his foot down seriously or strikes out at his wife Ella. Thus, I didn't enjoy the film as much as I'd expect because it was difficult to accept the swinging changes in attitude at unexpected times. That said, one thing the film did get right which few films manage to do is the characterisation. Every character, even down to Ella's nosey best friend Annie (Lesley Nichol), is well-defined for what they have to do and leaves a lasting impression.
The picture quality is typical of most VCI releases: an anamorphic print, here in a 16:9 ratio, but it has a tinge of fuzziness throughout. Such is something you won't spot if watching from the usual viewing distance on the sofa, but you'll notice it if you look close up. The average bitrate is a superb 7.31Mb/s, but the bitrate graph over time varies wildly, but uniformly, throughout. The sound quality is presented in Dolby Digital 5.1 and is very good. However, it's not used for much apart from dialogue and tunes of the day such as The Hollies' "On a Carousel" and the much more recent, "Moving" by Supergrass.
Extras :
Chapters and Trailers :17 chapters, 16 for the film and one separate for the end credits. The film isn't that long but I never say no to more chapters. The original theatrical trailer is included as is the Dolby Digital "helicopter" trailer, which can be seen on the DVD, Dolby Digital Demo: We've Got The Whole World Listening.Two TV Spots are included. These are brief TV adverts from when it was being advertised as being at the cinema. They only last 10 and 20 seconds, respectively, but it's nice to see VCI taking the bother to get them classified and adds to the collectable value.
Languages/Subtitles :English Dolby Digital 5.1, with subtitles in English for the hard of hearing. Also, as with VCI's The War Zone, this disc comes complete with a feature-length audio-descriptive track, read out by actor Joe Duttine, which details the scenes in terms of backdrop and what happens in the foreground. It seemed to be running ahead of itself by a few seconds as the action didn't occur until a short while after it was spoken, but perhaps, at times, this had to happen so as not to clash with the dialogue.It's very well done indeed and I hope more discs carry this feature in future. Occasionally there are errors, such as when it's stated that Tariq is adjusting his sister's sari, when it's actually Saleem.
And there's more... :Behind the Scenes is nine-and-a-half minutes in the life of the cast and crew as they made the film, is more of a typical featurette that can be found on a DVD these days and incorporates clips from the interviews I'm about to mention next.The Interviews section last 17 minutes and seems to include all the major characters apart from the one whose views I'd like to hear, Emma Rydal. Director Damien O'Donnell gets to comment on his film, as does producer Leslee Udwin, who I instantly recognised - although the years haven't been to her as kind as they might - as Joy from the ill-fated 1992/93 BBC soap opera, Eldorado, despite throughly enjoying it! The extras continue with four Deleted Scenes, each of which can be viewed with or without additional commentary from the director and were probably best left out, although the first canal scene may well have had a place in the final cut as would the pub scene near the end, in which Abdul finally gets to do something majorly memorable. The package is nicely rounded off with a feature-length Director's Commentary.
Menu :The main menu is animated with clips from the film and musical accompanient from the aforementioned Hollies tune. The sub-menus are static and contain more sombre music that I originally thought was lifted straight from that used for the recent The War Zone DVD, but it wasn't.Options are available to to start the film, select a scene, or visit the audio or extras menu.
Overall, the film could have benefitted from being advertised more as a comedy/drama, but it makes up for this shortcoming with a huge number of extras. Now, if only they'd reissue the soundtrack on an 8-track cartridge :) N.B.: To see any of the menu pictures larger, just click on them. DVD Trivia: To link Eastenders and Eldorado further, the second actress to play Danish export Trine, Clare Wilkie, is currently one of the few Di Marcos staying in the East End soap as Sandra. A long way from her days working at Demon Internet, I'll bet :) Also, the actor who plays Vikram's elder brother Ravi in Coronation Street also has a small part early on.
Review copyright © Dominic Robinson, 2000Check out VCI's and Film Four's Web site as well as the Official East is East Web site.
As of April 2009, Blu-rays and DVDs reviewed by the editor are watched on a Panasonic TH-37PX80B 37" Plasma TV with a Sony BDP-1500 Blu-ray player and played through a Yamaha DSP-AX820 amplifier. PC games reviewed by the editor are on:
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