Little Accidents (Blu-ray) (2014)

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General		Extras
Category	Drama	Trailer-Accent Entertainment trailers x 4 Trailer-Little Accidents
Rating
Year Of Production	2014
Running Time	100:16
RSDL / Flipper	No/No	Cast & Crew
Start Up	Ads Then Menu
Region Coding	4	Directed By	Sara Colangelo
Studio Distributor	Accent Film Entertainment	Starring	Elizabeth Banks Boyd Holbrook Jacob Lofland Chloe Sevigny Josh Lucas
Case	Standard Blu-ray
RPI	?	Music	Marcelo Zarvos

Video		Audio
Pan & Scan/Full Frame	None	English Dolby Digital 5.1 (448Kb/s)
Widescreen Aspect Ratio	2.40:1
16x9 Enhancement
Video Format	1080i
Original Aspect Ratio	2.35:1	Miscellaneous
Jacket Pictures	No
Subtitles	None	Smoking	Yes
		Annoying Product Placement	No
		Action In or After Credits	No

     When a coal mine shaft collapses killing ten workers a small town in the Appalachian Mountains of West Virginia is devastated. The sole survivor of the disaster is Amos Jenkins (Boyd Holbrook) who is left with physical and psychological injuries. But this is only the start of Amos’ ordeal for he is required to give evidence at the inquiry and is being pressured by the union and families of the deceased workers to help them get compensation but also by the other miners who do not want his evidence to close the mine and destroy their jobs. Amos is having memory lapses and guilt feelings at his survival and just wants his old life back. The community mostly blames mine manager Bill Doyle (Josh Lucas) for the disaster, and the mine owners seem willing to make Bill the scapegoat. He is suspended but tries to carry on which puts pressure on his wife Diana (Elizabeth Banks) and fifteen year old son JT (Travis Tope).

     The father of Owen Briggs (Jacob Lofland) was one of those killed in the mine. Owen is in junior high school and lives with his widowed mother Kendra (Chloe Sevigny) and his autistic younger brother James (Beau Wright). Owen is the type of boy who tries to curry favour with the older boys, including JT, by bringing them alcohol in the woods where they hang out. But one day in a fight Owen accidentally kills JT; only James is also there and Owen hides JT’s body in an abandoned shaft. JT is listed as missing which devastates Diana and she further withdraws from what is left of her marriage. To escape she joins a bible study group where she meets Amos and the two commence a torrid love affair even though it will be Amos who will give evidence against her husband at the inquiry. At the same time Owen is consumed with guilt at the death of JT and contrives to do odd jobs for Diana in an attempt to atone. Clearly, these complicated situations cannot last.

     Little Accidents was written and directed by Sara Colangelo as her first feature although she has made three short films, including a 2010 short also called Little Accidents, although the two cover very different circumstances. Little Accidents, the feature, is a slow moving and intense drama about the accidents, little or otherwise, which polarise and pull a small community apart on a number of levels; management and business, workers, families, victims and children are all affected. There are no evil people here, or villains, just people caught up in events more or less beyond their control. As the plot summary indicates, Colangelo’s script covers a range of intersecting storylines and I have not mentioned other strands such as Amos’ ailing ex-miner father (James Parker). Indeed Little Accidents is a film which feels it has just too much plot; Owen’s story is certainly about the results of an accident, but this strand feels unconvincing and diverts attention away from the other strands involving Bill’s complicity in the mine accident or Amos and Diana’s relationship, both of which remain unresolved as the film ends.

     While Little Accidents may be plot heavy it is worth watching for the good performances, especially Elizabeth Banks, and the score by Marcelo Zarvos which is atmospheric and adds the sense of melancholy. The Appalachian landscape is beautifully rendered courtesy of experienced cinematographer Rachel Morrison (Fruitvale Station) although I could have done without the constantly moving hand held camera in the dialogue scenes.

     Little Accidents is overwritten and certainly intense, but it is never bleak due to its good acting, beautiful visuals and the open ending.

Video

     Little Accidents is presented in an aspect ratio of 2.40:1, close to the original 2.35:1, in 1080i using the MPEG-4 AVC code.

     Unlike many independent films, Little Accidents was filmed using Arricam LT film camera. Detail is sharp in both close-up and longer shots and pleasing film grain is evident. Colours are muted, reflective of a small coal mining town, but the greens and greys of the Appalachian mountains and forests look beautiful. Blacks are solid, shadow detail fine, skin tones natural, brightness and contrast consistent.

     I did not see any obvious marks or artefacts.

     There are no subtitles.

Video Ratings Summary

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

Audio

     Audio is an English Dolby Digital 5.1 at 448 Kbps, i.e., not lossless.

     This is not a film that required an enveloping audio and the surrounds really only came into use for the score, occasional thunder and the opening mine sequence. Dialogue was sometimes unclear due to accents or soft delivery of lines, when subtitles would have helped. The subwoofer was used for music and occasional effects.

     The original music by Marcelo Zarvos was atmospheric and effective.

     I did not notice any lip synchronisation issues.

     The audio did what was requited.

Audio Ratings Summary

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

Trailers

     Trailers for War Story (1:52), I’ll Follow You Down (2:12), It’s a Disaster (2:23) and The Big Ask (1:37) play on start-up. The same trailers, plus one for Little Accidents (2:09), can be selected from the menu.

     At this time Amazon.com lists only our Australian version of Little Accidents.

     Little Accidents is an earnest and intense film. I found the premise compelling, the film looks beautiful and it builds up a good tension with the interlocking story lines which seem to be heading for further tragedy. Yet at the end very little is resolved; I was a bit let down but I suppose you could say life is like that!

     The video is 1080i, the audio is not loss-less, but the presentation is still good. Extras are only trailers.

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall