Extras : Scene index, Trailer, Filmographies/Biographies, EPK - Making of
Featurette
Director:
Dominic Sena
(Gone in 60 Seconds, Kalifornia)
Producers:
Steve Golin, Aristides McGarry and Sigurjon Sighvatsson
Screenplay:
Stephen Levy and Tim Metcalfe
Music:
Carter Burwell
Cast:
Early Grayce: Brad Pitt (Being John Malkovich, Cool World, The Devil's Own, Fight Club, Happy Together, Interview with the Vampire, Johnny Suede, Kalifornia, Legends of the Fall, Less Than Zero, Meet Joe Black, No Man's Land,
A River Runs Through It, Seven, Seven Years In Tibet, Sleepers, Snatch, Thelma and Louise, True Romance, Twelve Monkeys, TV: Too Young To Die?)
Adele Corners: Juliette Lewis (Basketball Diaries, Cape Fear, Evening Star, From Dusk Till Dawn, Husbands and Wives, Kalifornia, Mixed Nuts, My Stepmother is an Alien, National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation, Natural Born Killers,
Romeo is Bleeding, Room to Rent, Strange Days, That Night, What's Eating Gilbert Grape?, TV: Too Young To Die?, The Wonder Years)
Brian Kessler: David Duchovny (Bad Influence, Beethoven, Chaplin, Don't Tell Mom the Babysitter's Dead, Julia Has Two Lovers, Kalifornia, Playing God, The Rapture, Return to Me, Ruby, Working Girl,
The X-Files: Fight the Future, TV:The Red Shoe Diaries, Twin Peaks, The X-Files)
Carrie Laughlin: Michelle Forbes (Kalifornia, Swimming with Sharks)
Kalifornia
is a film I enjoyed hugely upon its release in 1993. Brian Kessler (David Duchovny)
and his curvy, photographer girlfriend Carrie Laughlin (Michelle Forbes) are researching
a book about serial killers and in order to save money on their road trip, they pick up
a couple of hitch-hikers in the unfortunate form of Early Grayce (an excellent, uncompromising
performance Brad Pitt) and his girlfriend Adele Corners (Juliette Lewis - one time
lover of Brad and co-star in the TV movie, Too Young To Die?).
The problem is that Early's a serial killer himself - you can tell because of his long
shoulder-length hair, scruffy goatee beard and drunken Southern brawl. I could go on at length
about the road trip turning into hell as they travel through California and the killing
spree that ensues, but this presentation here really doesn't deserve it.
Dominic Sena's directorial debut featured some class 2.35:1 compositions with
startling clarity. However, what we have here is something that's not fit to lick Channel 5's
boots.
Although anamorphic, not only has this been cropped to a 16:9 ratio, but some attempt to
preserve horizontal width has been made by squashing the picture up making everyone look
way too thin. Coupled with a seemingly out-of-focus picture, such a great piece of entertainment
is really done a bad turn here. One of the many scenes ruined comes 33 mins
in as Pitt holds up some scissors to the camera on the left of the screen,
whilst Juliette sits in the background on the right.
The stupid thing is that the film was shot with the Super-35 process which could produce a
watchable 16:9 transfer and that could've been used instead, but hey, why not go the whole
hog and actually use the PROPER 2.35:1 ratio?! Just a thought (!)
The sound is fine and in Dolby Digital Stereo, but has a surround element.
Extras :
Chapters :
Just 20 chapters break up the 118-minute film. It could use a few more.
Languages/Subtitles :
Dolby Digital 2.0 (Stereo) in English alone and, surprisingly, no subtitles.
And there's more... :
But not a great deal. The Filmogs/Biogs are for the director and the
three main cast members, while the EPK - Making of Featurette is just a
5-minute piece of PR chit-chat from cast and crew members interspersed with
clips from the film. The theatrical trailer rounds off the package.
Menu :
Static and silent copy of the front cover with the usual options.
Overall, if you like this film, get the Region 1 DVD. It may not have an anamorphic
picture, but at least it's in the correct ratio and also features interviews with
Pitt and the director. If only Columbia would recall this disc and restore the balance.
All we can really hope for though is that Sena's 2000 summer blockbuster Gone in 60 Seconds
starring Nic Cage and Angelina Jolie is treated with more respect.
Fear Never Travels Alone, but this DVD deserves to.
DVD Trivia: Why "K" for Kalifornia? No reason. Sena just wanted it that
way.
DVDs reviewed by the editor are watched on a Panasonic TXW32R4 32" widescreen TV
connected to either a Creative Dxr2 DVD-ROM player or Microsoft Xbox and
played through a Sony STR-DB930 amplifier.
PC games reviewed by the editor are on:
Since Nov 2005: Intel Pentium D 830 3.0Ghz, 1Gb RAM, 128Mb nVidia GeForce 6700XL, Windows XP
Since Aug 2003: Intel Pentium 4 2.66Ghz, 512Mb RAM, 128Mb GeForce4 MX440 graphics, Windows XP
Since May 2003: Intel Pentium 4 2.6Ghz, 512Mb RAM, 128Mb ATI Radeon 9600TX graphics, Windows XP
Since Jun 2002: Intel Pentium III 600Mhz, 384Mb RAM, Windows 98 SE, 64Mb ATI Radeon 8500LE
Since May 2000: Intel Pentium III 600Mhz, 384Mb RAM, Windows 98 SE, Voodoo 3 3000 AGP
