Tortoise in Love (2012)

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General		Extras
Category	Comedy	Main Menu Audio Gallery-Photo Featurette-Behind The Scenes
Rating
Year Of Production	2012
Running Time	80:51 (Case: 90)
RSDL / Flipper	Dual Layered	Cast & Crew
Start Up	Menu
Region Coding	4	Directed By	Guy Browning
Studio Distributor	Rialto Gryphon Entertainment	Starring	Tom Mitchelson Alice Zawadzki Tom Yates Mike Kemp Steven Elder Duncan Armitage Des Brittain Lesley Staples Sharon Gavin
Case	Amaray-Transparent
RPI	?	Music	Geoff Cottrell

Video		Audio
Pan & Scan/Full Frame	None	English Dolby Digital 5.1 English dts 5.1
Widescreen Aspect Ratio	2.35:1
16x9 Enhancement
Video Format	576i (PAL)
Original Aspect Ratio	2.35:1	Miscellaneous
Jacket Pictures	No
Subtitles	None	Smoking	No
		Annoying Product Placement	No
		Action In or After Credits	Yes

    Do you ever have an evening whether either you (or your partner) want to watch something light, amusing and warm hearted but can't find anything that fills the bill? This little film is certainly not the greatest film ever made but it certainly fills the bill for just that sort of evening. This film, Tortoise in Love, is also worth knowing about due to the interesting approach taken to getting it made. First-time director Guy Browning, who is known as a newspaper columnist and radio personality in the UK wanted to make a film and knew he would struggle to get funding from the normal sources. Instead of trying he approached the people of the small village in Oxfordshire in which he lives, Kingston Bagpuize, to help. He rallied the people of the village to provide cash donations in return for shares in the film as well as services to reduce the cost of production, such as hair styling, catering, being extras, transport, health & safety, accommodation and much more. The village (well most of them anyway) supported him and become the crew & some of the cast for this film. The music was composed by a local composer. A core group of professionals constitute the technical crew and the main characters. It is certainly an interesting approach and something we may see more of over coming years. The whole film was made for about $250,000.

    The story is a simple romantic comedy set in the village which funded the film, Kingston Bagpuize. A young man, Tom Cobben (Tom Mitchelson), returns to the village after three years away working as a Microbiologist. He throws in his job and moves back to the village taking up a job as a gardener at Kingston House, the local manor. The manor is now owned by a merchant banker, Jason Grandage (Duncan Armitage)  who doesn't care about village life and seems to care very little for his wife & young son, Harry (Tom Yates). At the beginning of the film, Harry also returns home from boarding school for the summer holidays much to the annoyance of his father. As usual, the father has hired an au pair to look after Harry for the summer. This time she is a beautiful young lady from Poland, Anya (Alice Zawadski) who certainly makes an immediate impact on the men of the village especially Tom. Despite being smitten Tom is painfully shy with women and cannot find the courage to make an approach. The villagers decide to help.

    This film is not blessed with a great script, incredible performances, marvellous effects or spectacular cinematography, however, it does have a gentle, warm-hearted humour which makes it a pleasurable viewing experience. If you want great cinema, look somewhere else, but if you are seeking gentle, feel-good entertainment this will probably fill the bill quite well. It was shot on RED cameras so looks pretty good on screen. There are some amusing sequences and the quirky characters from the village provide added warmth and humour to proceedings.

    If you go into this one expecting too much you will be disappointed, however, it does provide gentle pleasures.

Video

    The video quality is very good.

    The feature is presented in a 2.35:1 aspect ratio which is the original aspect ratio.

    The picture was quite clear and sharp throughout. Shadow detail was very good.

    The colour was bright and well rendered.

    There was some mild motion blur.

    There are no subtitles.

Video Ratings Summary

Sharpness
Shadow Detail
Colour
Grain/Pixelization
Film-To-Video Artefacts
Film Artefacts
Overall

Audio

    The audio quality is very good.

    This disc contains English soundtracks in Dolby Digital 5.1 and DTS 5.1. It is probably a bit over the top to have both formats for a film of this ilk, but it is always nice to have the option and the DTS provides a good surround experience without being a reference quality track.

    Dialogue was clear and easy to hear and understand.

    The music is jaunty orchestral music which suits the film without standing out. It was written by a local composer Geoff Cottrell.

    The surround speakers are used for mild surround effects such as when the red arrows fly over and for music and atmosphere.

    The subwoofer supports occasional things like the Red Arrows and the music.

Audio Ratings Summary

Dialogue
Audio Sync
Clicks/Pops/Dropouts
Surround Channel Use
Subwoofer
Overall

Menu

    The menu included music.

Image Gallery

    Less than 10 stills from the film. ZZZZZ.

Behind the Scenes (12:55)

    A poor quality standard definition making of which covers how the village came together to make the film and introduces many of the people who had roles in the production such as assistant directors, catering supervisors etc who were not professional. Includes behind the scenes footage of shooting and various meetings in the village. Worth a look.

Trailers

    This show is available in the UK with some added deleted scenes but without the DTS option. Not available currently in Region 1. You need to choose between DTS and the deleted scenes. I think the local option is the best.

    The video quality is very good.

    The audio quality is very good.

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall