Disco Pigs (AV Channel) (2001)

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General		Extras
Category	Drama	Featurette Interviews-Cast & Crew Featurette-Behind The Scenes Theatrical Trailer Trailer-The Kid Stays In The Picture, 24 Hour Party People, Trailer-Live Forever, Satin Rouge, Russian Ark
Rating
Year Of Production	2001
Running Time	89:47 (Case: 94)
RSDL / Flipper	RSDL (85:30)	Cast & Crew
Start Up	Menu
Region Coding	1,2,3,4,5,6	Directed By	Kirsten Sheridan
Studio Distributor	Renaissance Films Madman Entertainment	Starring	Elaine Cassidy Cillian Murphy Brian O'Byrne Eleanor Methven Geraldine O'Rawe Darren Healy
Case	Amaray-Transparent-Secure Clip
RPI	?	Music	Gavin Friday Maurice Seezer

Video		Audio
Pan & Scan/Full Frame	None	English Dolby Digital 5.1 (448Kb/s)
Widescreen Aspect Ratio	1.85:1
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

    Disco Pigs will make you sit up and pay attention. It is surely is one of the stranger films I have watched in the past few years. Occasionally stylish, fairly confronting and initially rather intriguing, it will not be to everyone's taste, but for fans of low budget independent films, it may float your boat.

    The film opens as a newborn Irish baby narrates its first experiences just before, during and immediately after birth. This baby is "Runt" (Elaine Cassidy), and within a few minutes of being placed in her hospital crib, she is joined by another newborn, "Pig" (Cillian Murphy), and the two form an immediate and unbreakable bond. It turns out that Pig and Runt are born to parents who live in adjoining terraced houses. The film tells the story of their strange, incredibly close relationship as they near their shared seventeenth birthday.

    Through flashbacks we see how Pig and Runt have developed an almost telepathic ability to communicate with each other. They mirror each other's thoughts, emotions and movement throughout their childhood - even developing a strange dialect all of their own. At the age of sixteen, they still fall asleep at night holding hands - through covert holes broken through the adjoining partition walls of their respective bedrooms.

    Not everyone welcomes the immense closeness of the two teenagers - they have been in trouble at school together for several years - and it seems almost inevitable that well-meaning authority figures will try and separate the two. When Runt is sent away to a different school, she slowly makes new friends and begins to develop as an individual for the first time. The unstable Pig is totally unable to function without her, however, and he sets out on a journey to reunite them. Unfortunately, Pig is becoming increasingly violent and insular, lashing out at those who dare to intervene between himself and Runt - which does not bode well for their future together.

    Disco Pigs is not mainstream cinema. It is character driven through and through, and you will either warm to the troubled lives of the characters or not. I found the story to be strangely engrossing, simply because of the unusual language and great initial set-up of the plot. There are some really sweet images here; when Runt and Pig are played by the younger actors they ooze a quirky charm from every pore. The story fails to deliver a knockout punch however, with most of the events that befall the doomed duo being rather predictable - you may feel a sense of deja vu as the story unfold. Recommended as a rental for fans of Irish cinema, or for those of you on the lookout for something just a few degrees off kilter.

Video

    The video quality of this transfer is acceptable without being particularly impressive and it is affected by some noticeable grain and pixelization.

    The video is presented 16x9 enhanced at 1.85:1 which I am assuming is the original theatrical aspect ratio. The overall transfer is rather too soft for my taste and watching it on a larger screen will certainly exacerbate the graininess inherent in many of the images. There is a fair amount of hand-held camerawork apparent, and the focus can suffer as a result of this - in the Cork street scene around 59:00 for example, focus is all over the place. The cinematography is otherwise quite pleasant on occasion - for example in some of the beach scenes. The story itself is surprisingly engrossing - though I'm not entirely sure why - and I would be surprised if you found the slight softness or graininess of the image to be too devastating a blow if you can get into the rhythm of the characters.

    Black levels are fairly good, with some nice solid rendering and no major low level noise. Shadow detail can be a bit limited at times, leading to an occasionally murky feel to the image. Colours are generally well rendered although not overly saturated so the film does feel a little cold overall. This may be the natural state of affairs given the cooler Irish setting. There is no evidence of colour bleeding and skin tones look pretty well natural (that is rather pale) throughout.

    The major issue limiting the quality of the transfer is the amount of grain/pixelization present. It can be seen throughout, with some more glaring examples cropping up on the wall at 2:13, on the house at 13:49, the bed at 53:54 or in the sky at 58:53. Edge enhancement was rarely noticeable, and only very close inspection revealed any evidence, for example a minor halo on the shot of the school building at 34:31. On a smaller screen I am sure it would not be noticed at all. Aliasing was never a problem on my system.

    Film artefacts are sporadically present as black specks and the occasional watermark, but there are insufficient instances for them to become annoying.

    There are no subtitles present, which is a damned shame. The accents in this film are as thick as they come - some people may find that it is impossible to make out some of the lines without repeated viewing.

    This disc is single sided and dual layered (RSDL) formatted with the brief layer change very strangely placed at 85:30...just a few seconds before the titles begin to roll. It is noticeable from the slight pause in the video image but crops up just before a song starts, so perhaps it was placed there to avoid corrupting the audio stream.

Video Ratings Summary

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

Audio

    The overall audio transfer is of good technical quality, being free from major glitches.

    The sole audio track is presented in English Dolby Digital 5.1 encoded at 448 kbps. The dialogue is transferred well enough, but as mentioned above it can be very difficult to understand at times. This is due to the very heavy Irish accents, and the (deliberate) strange gibberish spoken by Pig. I noticed no problems with audio sync.

    The original music is credited to Gavin Friday and Maurice Seezer who appear to have collaborated several times before (The Boxer, In The Name Of The Father) and provides a varied backdrop to the action, with some quite ethereal piano/synthesizer tunes. There are a number of bass-heavy modern "ambient" type tunes scattered through the film in the various disco scenes. Overall the musical soundtrack is rather satisfying, with some really good tunes tucked away in there, and it suits the changing moods within the film very well.

    The soundstage is mainly rather frontal, with the front speakers providing some nice clarity and reasonable separation. In particular, the musical numbers are well delivered. The surround speakers get some occasional use to support some of the musical numbers (for example at 22:19), but by no means all of them. Ambient effects through the surrounds are not a major feature, and directional or localized effects are negligible. Generally the soundstage collapses back to a fully frontal affair when the music fades.

    The subwoofer carries some heavy bass from the various musical numbers (for example at 75:25), even when they are not mixed into the surround speakers, and it does add a satisfying bottom end to the disco scenes.

Audio Ratings Summary

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

    There are a few minor (and generally boring) extras on this disc.

Menu

    The static and silent menu (a picture of Pig and Runt) allows the selection of playing the movie, choosing one of a slight sixteen chapter stops, or access to the following special features:

Featurette

    Running for 9:08 and presented at 1.33:1 (not 16x9 enhanced) with a fairly quiet Dolby Digital 2.0 soundtrack encoded at 224 kbps. This is a lightweight piece of limited interest - fairly typical EPK stuff.

Interviews

    A series of predictable short interviews with cast and crew running for 14:00. Presented at 1.33:1 (not 16x9 enhanced) with a Dolby Digital 2.0 soundtrack encoded at 224 kbps. This is only mildly interesting and will not warrant repeat viewing.

Behind The Scenes

    Running for a slight 4:14, we are given the opportunity to watch rough and noisy footage of nothing in particular happening behind the scenes on the shoot. Presented at 1.33:1 (not 16x9 enhanced) with a Dolby Digital 2.0 soundtrack encoded at 224 kbps.

Theatrical Trailer

    Running for 1:42 and presented at 1.78:1 (16x9 enhanced) with a Dolby Digital 2.0 soundtrack encoded at 224 kbps, it makes the film look rather more exciting than it really is.

Madman Propaganda

    Trailers for five other Madman releases, generally presented letterboxed at 1.33:1 with a Dolby Digital 2.0 soundtrack encoded at 224 kbps:

    The Region 1 version of this film is presented with a Pan and Scan (1.33:1) transfer and a Dolby Digital 2.0 soundtrack. It does not seem to have any extras. The Region 2 release is similar to our own in terms of audio and video transfer, but surprisingly has the trailer as the sole extra. Region 4 is the clear winner this time.

    Disco Pigs is an unusual film which will not please everyone. The characters are genuinely interesting and the initial plot set-up is innovative. Unfortunately, the subsequent story arc is a little predictable with few real surprises. Occasionally stylish and striking, this will be worth a rental for fans of Irish cinema or those looking for something different to the latest Hollywood blockbuster. The accents can be problematic at times though - and there are no subtitles to help you out!

    The video quality is adequate.

    The audio transfer is technically fine.

    The extras are somewhat boring and predictable.

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall