Chocolate Strawberry Vanilla (2014)

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General		Extras
Category	Black Comedy/Drama	Audio Commentary Featurette-Making Of Deleted Scenes Theatrical Trailer-x 2 Short Film-Full Around the Block Episodes (13:01) Short Film-Baby did a Bat Bat Thing (3:47) Poster-Film Poster More…-Text Inside Cover Trailer-More from Monster Pictures x 6
Rating
Year Of Production	2014
Running Time	77:46
RSDL / Flipper	Dual Layered	Cast & Crew
Start Up	Ads Then Menu
Region Coding	1,2,3,4,5,6	Directed By	Stuart Simpson
Studio Distributor	Gryphon Entertainment	Starring	Glenn Maynard Kyrie Capri Aston Elliot Michelle Myers
Case	Amaray-Transparent
RPI	?	Music	Heath Brown

Video		Audio
Pan & Scan/Full Frame	None	English Dolby Digital 2.0 (192Kb/s) English Audio Commentary Dolby Digital 2.0 (192Kb/s)
Widescreen Aspect Ratio	1.78:1
16x9 Enhancement
Video Format	576i (PAL)
Original Aspect Ratio	1.85:1	Miscellaneous
Jacket Pictures	No
Subtitles	None	Smoking	Yes
		Annoying Product Placement	No
		Action In or After Credits	No

     Warren Thompson (Glenn Maynard) is a sad and lonely man. He walks with a limp, has an intellectual disability, lives alone except for a cat (which as the film starts he accidentally runs over and kills) and was teased and bullied at school. His world consists of the ice cream van which he operates and watching television. He is obsessed with the soap opera Round the Block (a sort of Home and Away), especially soapie starlet Katey George (Kyrie Capri) over who Warren masturbates while watching the show. Warren has no friends, with the possible exception of Ruby (Michelle Myers) who works at the Post Office, but receives regular abuse and beatings from Rocko (Aston Elliot), a violent thug and pimp who runs his girls from the railway underpass near where Warren parks his van. Warren’s fragile grip on reality gradually frays and, in his quest to connect with Katey, fiction and reality become intertwined with tragic consequences.

     Chocolate Strawberry Vanilla is a low budget black comedy filmed on the back streets of Footscray, Melbourne, the brainchild of director / cameraman / editor Stuart Simpson and writer Addison Heath. The film is sad and melancholy, centring on an obsessive, lonely man whom society has forgotten. Chocolate Strawberry Vanilla could be depressing but it isn’t because, while the film is darkly humorous, the humour is never at the expense of, nor directed at, the character of Warren. Some scenes are very funny, such as where Warren, sexually frustrated because Around the Block is cancelled for the evening due to a footy telecast, rings a sex line and ends up discussing with the sex worker the characters in Around the Block! Likewise, when Warren faces down Rocko in a shoot-out straight out of The Good, the Bad and the Ugly, it is fun cinema.

     The film also benefits from a wonderful performance by Glenn Maynard, who makes Warren very real, including all his faults and obsessions. Whether talking to his video diary, serving ice creams or, especially, getting ready for his date with Katey, we cannot help but feel for Warren and the lot he has been served in life. That it will end badly is, however, never much in doubt.

     Chocolate Strawberry Vanilla is a funny, sad and off centre look at loneliness and obsession which in the last 15 minutes does take a right angle turn into Taxi Driver territory. Until then, at least, the film is very realistic and watchable, anchored by the excellent performance of Glenn Maynard.

Video

     Chocolate Strawberry Vanilla is presented in an aspect ratio of 1.78:1, close to the original 1.85:1, and is 16x9 enhanced.

     This is not a print to show off your system. Outdoor colours are bright and natural but indoor scenes, especially in Warren’s flat, look quite dull and brown. The print is also quite soft and the brightness and contrast varies. Blacks are fine, but some shadow detail is indistinct.

     The Around the Block episodes watched by Warren have deliberate interlacing errors and other artefacts. In the film proper, there was some ghosting with movement but otherwise artefacts and marks were not evident.

     There are no subtitles.

     The layer change at 63:24 created a pause mid-scene and mid-song, so was quite disruptive.

Video Ratings Summary

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Audio

     The audio is English Dolby Digital 2.0 at a low 192 Kbps plus an audio commentary, also Dolby Digital 2.0 at 192 Kbps.

     The audio is surround encoded, but in reality only some music and train noises were directed to the rears and the sub-woofer was silent, except in one sequence as Warren fell apart. Effects were however sharp enough, and dialogue understandable.

     The music by Heath Brown was effective.

     There were no lip synchronisation issues.

Audio Ratings Summary

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

Feature Commentary

     Director / cameraman / editor Stuart Simpson, writer Addison Heath and cast Aston Elliot and Glenn Maynard provide a disappointing commentary. They share very little information about the shoot, there are gaps and they laugh and chat about a range of things unrelated to the film including footy teams, losing their virginity and cricket. Occasionally they discuss cast members, locations and soapies.

Cast & Crew Interviews (13:01)

     Rather than interviews as the menu shows, this featurette is titled Behind the Scenes of Chocolate, Strawberry, Vanilla and includes on set footage plus comments from Stuart Simpson, Addison Heath ,Aston Elliot and Glenn Maynard. This is light-hearted and funny as they discuss the inception of the project, influences, locations, favourite days and exposing one’s p**** on screen.

Deleted Scenes (7:00)

    Eight deleted / extensions of existing scenes of varying length.

Trailers

     Two trailers for the film (1:19 and 1:29).

Full Around the Block Episodes (13:01)

     Three episodes, complete with ad breaks and station news, of the soapie that “Katey George” appears in.

Baby did a Bat Bat Thing Short (3:47)

    A short film by Stuart Simpson about a virus outbreak spread by a special kind of bat. Interesting gory effects!

More from Monster Pictures

     On start-up there were trailers for Dark Tourist (1:55), The Search for Weng Weng (2:56) and Gun Woman (1:59). These can also be selected from the menu plus trailers for Antisocial (1:34), Devil’s Tower (1:46) and Across the River (1:13).

Film Poster

Text Inside Cover

     The referral of Warren by a psychiatrist to a specialist, outlining his behaviours, after the events shown in Chocolate Strawberry Vanilla.

     Chocolate Strawberry Vanilla is currently not available in Region 1 US. The Region UK release is identical to our All Region version.

     Chocolate Strawberry Vanilla is a surprisingly affecting story about loneliness and obsession. It is funny, sad and melancholy but is not depressing thanks to a wonderful performance by Glenn Maynard.

     The video and audio are functional. The extras are surprisingly extensive; they are a mixed bag but do provide insight into the film.

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall