Synopsis
A single mother, harried beyond all bounds and desperate for work, is forced to leave heryoung, resentful son in the care of his deaf-mute grandmother for a couple of months. The seven-year-old is mightily displeased, and repulses his grandmother’s attempts to create a bond.Gradually, however, she begins to win him over. A low-key, thoughtful film, The Way Homebenefits from very real performances, and a kid who is convincingly mean and spiteful in theearly goings.
Audio
The sound perfectly complements the film. The environmental effects are absolutely superb,surrounding you with the songs of birds and insects in the rural setting, nicely emphasizing thesudden shift from urban to rural that so perturbs the protagonist. The left-right separation isequally strong. The sound is clean, and somehow manages to be both very impressive yetunobtrusively low key at the same time.
Video
The aspect ratio is, to all available evidence, 1.78:1 anamorphic widescreen. The colours aregood. They aren’t vibrant, but they are clearly not meant to be — the feel of the film, instead, isone of grit and dust. The flesh tones are good, too, as are the blacks. I saw no edge enhancementhalos or other transfer difficulties, and the picture resolution is extremely sharp. Fine work.
Special Features
Nothing at all, which is really too bad.
Closing Thoughts
Some more information on the film, by way of special features, would have been nice. Wedon’t even have the trailer here. The transfer, however, is a strong one, somewhat making up forthe paucity of features.
