Intro
It never ceases to amaze me the amount of effort that DreamWorks puts into each and every one of their DVD releases. Not having heard of this film before, I was not sure what to expect from the DVD release. But DreamWorks came though, and even though An Everlasting Piece is a very non-mainstream film, it is still given a great treatment on DVD. What DreamWorks does best, in my opinion, is create fabulous menus, great picture quality, and best of all, amazing sound quality. Just so you have an u…derstanding of what this film is all about, here is a little write-up by the All Movie Guide…
Synopsis
“Director Barry Levinson attempts to repeat the success of several recent, low-budget British imports such as The Full Monty (1997), Waking Ned Devine (1998), and Saving Grace (2000) with this comedy about a pair of prison barbers trying to make a success of a hairpiece business in Northern Ireland. Colm (Barry McEvoy), a Catholic, and George (Brian F. O’Byrne), a Protestant, are friends who toil away in a lackluster job cutting the hair of convicts in a prison for the insane where Colm’s girlfriend Bronagh (Anna Friel) also works. When the two lads hear of a prisoner nicknamed The Scalper (Billy Connolly), they learn that he was the only seller of hairpieces in the country, and decide to begin crafting their own toupees for sale as a way to start their own business. As they ply their wares through the war-torn country, the friends are not above using their respective religions to make sales, but competition soon arrives in the form of Toupee or Not Toupee, a rival company, and a race to be the first outfit to sell 30 units quickly ensues. Politics, business, and religious beliefs soon intersect to cause big trouble for both men. Actor McEvoy also wrote the script for An Everlasting Piece, loosely basing his character on his real-life father.” — Karl Williams, All Movie Guide
Audio
DreamWorks is the rare exception of a studio that includes a DTS soundtrack on every DVD release. This disc features basic Dolby (2.0, Dolby Digital (5.1), and DTS (5.1) soundtracks. A nice 5.1 audio track (DTS or Dolby Digital), can even make a film like An Everlasting Piece sound good. The music soundtrack was entertaining, and the speakers were put to good use in playing the soundtrack. Unfortunately, this DVD does not have any alternate language tracks or even subtitles in another language. Furthermore, I would have loved to have heard an audio commentary by Barry Levinson, but no commentary track was included on this disc.
Video
As to be expected from DreamWorks, the video quality on this DVD was pretty good. The film transfer is good, but due to the subdued nature of the film, the color did not jump out at the viewer. The black levels were handled nicely, and the coloration tone set that stage for the films story. The transfer is a nice anamorphic widescreen presentation (1.85:1), and like most releases these days, there was no full-frame version included.
Features
Unfortunately, the menus are the best thing about the special features on the DVD release. Other than the basic cast and crew filmographies, trailers, and production notes, there are no other special features to mention. This is odd for DreamWorks, whom usually through in lots of goodies for the viewer to sort through. Well, even though there are not real special features to mention, at least the menus are fully animated and fun to navigate through.
Closing Thoughts
This was a cute, funny little import of a movie. It does not have a broad appeal, but it will find a following. The movie presentation on the DVD was really good. Unfortunately, some of the stuff we have come to expect from DVD’s has not been included. All in all, this was a really good movie only DVD release, which is worth renting.
Special Features List
- Filmographies
- Trailers
- Production notes
