August: Osage County (Blu-ray) (2013)

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General		Extras
Category	Drama	Featurette-Making Of-(19:45) An Evening with Meryl Streep : 1080p. Deleted Scenes-(!2:22) Four added scenes plus alternate sequence. Featurette-Making Of-(7:41) Written by Tracy Letts: 1080p. Audio Commentary-With the Director and Cinematographer. Theatrical Trailer-(2:25) Long Walk to Freedom : 1080p./ 2.40:1. Theatrical Trailer-(1:59) Nebraska : 1080p. / 2.40:1. Theatrical Trailer-(1:55) Inside LLewyn Davis : 1080p. / 1.78:1.
Rating
Year Of Production	2013
Running Time	120:55
RSDL / Flipper	No/No	Cast & Crew
Start Up	Ads Then Menu
Region Coding	4	Directed By	John Wells
Studio Distributor	Weinstein Company Roadshow Home Entertainment	Starring	Meryl Streep Julia Roberts Julianne Nicholson Ewan McGregor Chris Cooper Juliette Lewis Margo Martindale Benedict Cumberbatch Dermot Mulroney Abigail Breslin Misty Upham Sam Shepard
Case	Standard Blu-ray
RPI	$39.95	Music	Gustavo Santaolalla

Video		Audio
Pan & Scan/Full Frame	None	English DTS HD Master Audio 5.1 (448Kb/s) English Dolby Digital 2.0 (448Kb/s) English Audio Commentary Dolby Digital 2.0 (448Kb/s)
Widescreen Aspect Ratio	2.40:1
16x9 Enhancement
Video Format	1080p
Original Aspect Ratio	2.40:1	Miscellaneous
Jacket Pictures	Yes
Subtitles	English for the Hearing Impaired	Smoking	Yes, smoking a plot point.
		Annoying Product Placement	Yes
		Action In or After Credits	Yes, prologue then credits begin at 6:11.

     August : Osage County is an outstandingly good movie. With its stage origins there are some who will say it is too stagey and contrived, but I have always seen those aspects of a film version of a stage success as positive rather than negative attributes.

     Originally produced at the Steppenwolf Theatre in Chicago in 2007, the play transferred to Broadway late that same year, cast virtually intact, and played for eighteen previews and 648 performances. It was a major box-office hit. The author, Tracy Letts, won the Pulitzer Prize for Drama in 2008, and the production won a swag of Tony Awards. This is a strong, solid American play. Many consider it an instant classic, and if you've had the good fortune to see such a work in a Broadway theatre you are pretty sure what you'll get. It's a three acter, plus a prologue, so the structure will be tight with a dramatic climax at the end of the first two acts, and a provocative, thought provoking conclusion. There will be highly literate exchanges of dialogue between a variety of character combinations, lots of drama, a sensational revelation or two and laughs along the way. This film version of the play has "opened up" the drama to some extent, but for the great majority of the film the action is played out in and around the one location, the Oklahoma homestead of the Weston family.

     With a screenplay from the play's author, we have a movie that sticks closely to the original. In the prologue we meet the patriarch of the Weston family, Beverly (Sam Shepard) and Johnna (Misty Upham), the Native American maid he is in the process of employing. Beverly, an alcoholic poet, is married to Violet (Meryl Streep), bitter, cynical, cancer stricken and pill addicted, with only one of their three forty-something daughters still at home. This is Ivy (Julianne Nicholson), the middle one, sensitive and becoming increasingly disillusioned. The eldest, Barbara (Julia Roberts) and the youngest, Karen (Juliette Lewis) have left home years ago. There is a crisis in the family which causes all members to return to the family homestead. Barbara, a caustic younger version of her mother, is accompanied by her secretly estranged husband Bob (Ewan McGregor) and teenaged daughter Jean (Abigail Breslin), a closet pot smoker and a devotee of old movies. Karen (Juliette Lewis) , flighty and forty, has in tow her new intended, Steve (Dermot Mulroney), fifty, multi-wed and sleazy. Journeying from closer to home, in fact just down the road, are Violet's sister Mattie Fae (Margo Martindale), effusive and overweight, and her husband, the gentle Charlie (Chris Cooper). A late bus arrival is their son, Young Charles (Benedict Cumberbatch), in his late thirties and on the dim-witted side. For two hours we are entertained - and that we are for sure - by family feuds and long concealed secrets, all revealed within the claustrophobic confines of the Weston household.

     This is a well-constructed, literate and entertaining play, but it is the performances here that really stay with you. Last year was an exceptional year for Oscar-worthy roles in so many excellent movies. In another year August : Osage County could very easily have picked up three of the acting awards, none of the male roles being large enough to justify a nomination in the "Best Actor" category. Meryl Streep is blisteringly excellent - much better than in her superficial impersonation of Margaret Thatcher. Never do we "catch her acting", despite the fact that she must have had a whale of a time with Violet. Matching her scene by scene is Julia Roberts in her best performance since Erin Brockovich. Though dramatically deglamourized, baring her age in searing close-ups, the actress remains a stunning beauty, and gives a touching portrayal of a woman well on the path to becoming a duplicate of her frequently despised mother. Julianne Nicholson, all Carson McCullers sensitivity and fragility, is equally as good, while Juliette Lewis is perfect as Karen. Best of all, for me at least, were Margo Martindale and Chris Cooper. Martindale has been a favourite of mine from TV (The Riches, Dexter, Justified, The Americans to name just a few) and here ascends into Maureen Stapleton territory. Chris Cooper is marvellously understated in his depiction of the character who, to me, is the emotional heart of the drama. The rest of the cast are excellent - even the usually dreaded Abigail Breslin who, somewhere on her journey from Nim's Island to Osage County has discovered the value of restraint. She is fascinating as she pensively and silently observes the adult conflicts being played out around her. The other pensive observer is the maid Johnna, beautifully played by Misty Upham, and the plot device by which these two are brought together is just one aspect of the beautiful construction of this play, now movie. Benedict Cumberbatch is relentlessly heart wrenching as Young Charlie. His first scene where Chris Cooper meets him at the bus is agonisingly touching. Ewan McGregor, despite some accent problems, is impressive, as he, the most charismatic of actors, convincingly plays a man who is fundamentally dull. The plot has these characters verbally, and even physically, sparring for two hours in probably the best piece of truly ensemble acting I have seen since Katharine Hepburn, Ralph Richardson, Jason Robards and Dean Stockwell in Sidney Lumet's Long Day's Journey Into Night (1962). There is a richness and complexity to the relationships of these characters that has me wanting to return to Osage County as soon as possible.

     Technically the film is excellent, the production smooth and classy. The sets bring to mind the artistic heightened reality that Broadway exhibits in so many straight plays. The detail in the decor is so spot on, and the high definition transfer does it full justice. Director John Wells, whose only other feature is The Company Men, invisibly handles his large cast, with not one member falling into any overwrought dramatics - no, not even Meryl. I have only one complaint about the direction, or maybe it's the editing. I was aware a couple of times that I was not being shown what I wanted to see. A character would be speaking important, crucial dialogue, and the camera would cut away to a reaction shot. This was a momentary, though irritating, lapse in two hours of a superb drama and comedy.

     August : Osage County is a rich feast of a drama. If you enjoy the likes of Cat on a Hot Tin Roof or Summer and Smoke you will relish this. It is star-studded, beautifully produced, great to look at and has dialogue that is a treat for the mind and heart. It might fall short of being a truly great film, but it's a pretty marvellous one.

Video

     August : Osage County is a unified work with every element contributing to the whole. In the play's transfer to the screen, the "look" of the film is a major contribution to the effect on the audience. Happily, in its Blu-ray release, that look is preserved and delivered in immaculate quality.

     The film is presented at the ratio of 2.40:1, the original theatrical ratio. Director John Wells and cinematographer Gustavo Santaolloa make excellent use of the widescreen image, frequently creating stunning compositions, though never appearing to be clever for the sake of cleverness. The detail of the interiors of the Weston homestead is minute, with the darkest corners never disintegrating into a dark blur. The opening sequence, with Sam Shepard in his darkened study, sets the standard and this is sustained for the next two hours. The close-ups are ruthlessly revealing on the actresses, the three daughters all in their forties and looking it - and looking stunningly beautiful. Colours throughout are muted, with the palette consistent through every frame of the film. From the feature commentary we learn that this aspect of the film was a major concern of digital post-production. Skin tones are excellent. This is an absolutely perfect presentation of the movie.

     Subtitles, centred at the foot of the screen, are in white and accurately follow the dense dialogue of the film.

Video Ratings Summary

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

Audio

     There are three audio streams : English DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 encoded at 48 kHz, English Dolby Digital 2.0 Surround Encoded at 48 kHz and English Commentary Dolby Digital 2.0 Surround Encoded at 48 kHz.

     This film is obviously dialogue driven, and this is delivered with extreme clarity front and centre, without any sync problems. There is moderate movement across the front, with exits and entrances obvious opportunities for some separation. There are a few side channel contributions from motor vehicles, but little else. Very early in the film there is a mightily impressive roll of thunder resonating from the rear channels, but after this the surrounds provide ambience in the few scenes where this is possible, but mainly are utilised for the music, from Gustavo Santaolalla (Brokeback Mountain), atmospheric and with heavy use of guitar. There is also extensive use of catalogue music from a variety of sources, most memorably Lay Down Sally from Eric Clapton which enters when the credits begin, mentioned in the dialogue. Over the final credits we hear Kings of Leon singing the song written specifically for the film, Last Mile Home. All of the music, original and catalogue, sounds brilliant. After the early roll of thunder, the subwoofer contributes little else than a solid bass to the music.

     This is a flawless soundtrack for the movie in question. No tricks, with the emphasis on the dialogue - and the music.

Audio Ratings Summary

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

     There is a total of forty minutes of visual extras, plus the feature length commentary. This is a reasonably generous bundle, and interesting for anyone who has enjoyed the film.

Menu

An Evening With Meryl Streep : August Osage County (19:45)

     This is not really what it purports to be. As we see a large proscenium and Meryl Streep and Margo Martindale walk on stage a voice-over welcomes us to "a conversation on the making of August : Osage County". What we in fact get is a combination of at least three separate Q&A situations, ranging from the two ladies already mentioned, to one with the full cast and director on stage seated on stools. These pieces are supplemented by individual talking head interview contributions from most of the cast and the director, plus excerpts from the movie, which must make up almost half of the length of the featurette. Everyone pays homage to Meryl Streep, and she has good things to say about everyone else. Very little is contributed to enrichment of our appreciation of the film. All is presented in crystal clear high definition, the excerpts 2.40:1 and the remainder 1.78:1.

Deleted Scenes (12:22)

     As a play August : Osage County had a playing time of almost three hours, so obviously some of the dialogue has been cut for a two hour film. Here we get seven minutes more of that dialogue in the first four scenes, ranging in length from less than thirty seconds to almost four minutes. The final "deleted scene" is in fact an alternate filming of a reunion sequence between the three sisters, which runs almost five and a half minutes. All scenes are presented in the same quality as the feature, with Dolby Digital 2.0 sound. The individual scenes are:

• Bill and Barbara Fight (3:52)
• Violet Nags Ivy (1:40)
• I'm Really Happy (1:03)
• Little Charles on the Bus (0:26)
• Sisters Reunited Alternate) (5:21)

August Osage County - Written by Tracy Letts (7:41)

     With interview footage at 1.78:1, plus excerpts from film at 2.40:1, all presented in 1080p, we get insights into the production. On screen we have interview footage of author Tracy Letts, director John Wells, and cast members including Julia Roberts and Ewan McGregor plus Meryl Streep and Margo Martindale from their Q&A session. There is one short glimpse taken actually "behind the camera". Although only just over seven minutes long this is genuinely insightful, with revealing comments from the author regarding the origins of the play, partly autobiographical, and his relationship to his work. He states that he enjoys being a collaborator, and, through the hands of a director and the work of the actors, he says of his work: "It's always different, it's always better." A fascinating seven minutes.

Audio Commentary with Director and Cinematographer

     This feature length discussion comes from Director John Wells and Cinematographer Adriano Goldman. The emphasis here begins by concentrating on the technical aspects of the film and progresses into a richly satisfying discussion of the entire creative process of filming. They begin by discussing the choice to shoot on Kodak film, rather than to go digital. All post production was done digitally, and the advantages of using film are discussed. It is also revealed that an actual house was used for the filming, purchased for the production. The problem of shooting in such confined places is explored, and the efforts made to create depth with corners, mirrors and decor. It seems that the kitchen was the most difficult room in which to film. The play was cut for the screenplay, but Wells reveals that a number of actors wanted pieces of dialogue restored - and most of these restorations are in the final film. The pair discuss the approach to lighting the film, from the gloomy interiors of the house at the opening to the blinding natural, unfiltered sunlight outdoors. The discussion is very scene specific, covering not just the viewpoint of those behind the camera, but also the actors. They give me even greater appreciation of the scene where Meryl Streep dances to Lay Down Sally. This is an excellent commentary, insightful, enriching and, best of all, gives more reasons to go back and watch this outstanding film over again.

Start-up Trailers

     At start up there is a trio of excellent trailers, all presented in sparkling 1080p high definition: Long Walk to Freedom (2:25) 2.40:1, Nebraska (1:59) 2.40:1, Inside Llewyn Davis (1:55) 1.78:1.

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     The local release misses out on Spanish and French soundtracks, both in Dolby Digital 5.1, and Spanish Subtitles.

     Here is one of the best films of the year. A great script, funny and dramatic, twelve memorable characters and a mighty cast at the top of their form. Meryl Streep is at her best and Julia Roberts is an actress reborn. The movie is totally absorbing, beautiful to look at and provides much food for thought as we watch a family, called together at a time of crisis, come to emotional, verbal and physical blows. The high def. transfer is outstanding, and the music an added pleasure. This is an immensely entertaining, moving and memorable movie. The extras are a little meagre, with a fair bit of duplication, but there is an excellent feature length commentary. August : Osage County is a top film and not to be missed.

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall