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PLEASE NOTE: Michael D's is currently in READ ONLY MODE. Anything submitted will simply not be written to the database.
Lots of stuff is still broken, but at least reviews can now be looked up and read.
The Barber (2001)

The Barber (2001)

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Tentatively Due Out for Sale 25-May-2004
Available for Rent

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Details At A Glance

General Extras
Category Drama Main Menu Audio & Animation
Theatrical Trailer
Trailer-Nine Lives, Crime Spree, For The Moment, Black Cadillac
Rating Rated M
Year Of Production 2001
Running Time 90:11 (Case: 95)
RSDL / Flipper No/No Cast & Crew
Start Up Menu
Region Coding 4 Directed By Michael Bafaro
Studio
Distributor

Imagine Entertainment
Starring Malcolm McDowell
Jeremy Ratchford
Garwin Sanford
Brenda James
Paul Jarrett
Philip Granger
C. Ernst Harth
Vince Murdocco
John B. Destry
Erin Wright
David Abbott
Arnie Walters
Ralph J. Alderman
Case Amaray-Transparent-Secure Clip
RPI ? Music Peter Allen


Video Audio
Pan & Scan/Full Frame None English Dolby Digital 5.1 (448Kb/s)
Widescreen Aspect Ratio 1.78:1
16x9 Enhancement
16x9 Enhanced
Video Format 576i (PAL)
Original Aspect Ratio Unknown Miscellaneous
Jacket Pictures No
Subtitles None Smoking Yes
Annoying Product Placement No
Action In or After Credits No

NOTE: The Profanity Filter is ON. Turn it off here.

Plot Synopsis

    The Barber was made for a cinematic release, but for some reason went straight to video in Region 1. This is underselling a film that offers much more than you might infer from the straight-to-video tag. Malcolm McDowell plays Dex Miles, a local barber in the small Alaskan town of Revelstoke (population 253). The most striking feature of the town is that, thanks to its extreme northerly location, it spends the winter in unending darkness. Nothing much happens around these parts...that is until a young woman's body is found entombed in the snow by a couple of drunken locals.

    The local police chief, Vance Corgan (Jeremy Ratchford) is soon out of his depth with the investigation. Fortunately, the FBI is brought in to save the day - in the form of haughty Agent Crawley (Garwin Sanford) - and before long he discovers that every man in the town has slept with the victim at some point. When it is revealed that Chief Corgan is one of those who partook of the victim's "special" taxi services, he is removed from the case.

    Of course it doesn't take too long before more female bodies start to appear. It seems that the current spate of murders may be the work of the Green Bay killer - a man who has killed over fifteen women in the Seattle area years before. Strangely enough, that was right around the time that Chief Corgan was working the very same case - just before his nervous breakdown. Meanwhile Dex, a seemingly kindly old friend to all and sundry, is behaving in ever more devious ways...

    There is something very naturalistic about this movie which made it quite an enjoyable watch for this reviewer. The acting is uniformly good, the script is credible and the setting novel. This film will never be hailed a classic, but it is a very solid piece nonetheless. It brought back memories of Fargo and Twin Peaks, for the setting and quirky character of the townsfolk. This film teeters between thriller and black comedy, and tends to walk that tightrope pretty well overall. Recommended as a rental.

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Transfer Quality

Video

    The video quality of this transfer is quite good.

    The film is presented 16x9 enhanced in a ratio of 1.78:1, which I assume is the original aspect ratio. The entire film, except for the opening scene, is set in permanent darkness. Luckily, the shadow detail is very good which avoids the eye strain which could otherwise result. Black levels are inky and deep with no evidence of low level noise to spoil the broody atmosphere. Despite this lack of light in many scenes, the transfer is acceptably sharp at all times. There is some minor softness and background grain in evidence, but never enough to become distracting.

    Colours are a solid with no evidence of bleeding. They are a little muted by the low lighting, but where primaries do crop up, in the Christmas lights or bottles on the coroner's shelves for instance, they are clean and clear. Overall there is a cold blue tint to many of the scenes, which is appropriate given the wintry setting.

    There are no significant MPEG artefacts present. There are only fleeting instances of mild edge enhancement and aliasing was never an issue.

    There are a few fleeting film artefacts present, but this is a clean transfer overall.

    There are no subtitles available.

    The disc is in a single sided and single layered DVD 5 format so there is no layer change present.

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

Audio

    The overall audio transfer is acceptable but unremarkable.

    The sole audio track is presented in Dolby Digital 5.1 encoded at 448 kbps. It is free from major defects with no clicks, pops or hiss noted. Dialogue was always clear and audio sync was just fine throughout.

    Original music is credited to Peter Allen whose other work is unknown to me. It is a fairly typical strings and percussion piece, although it does sometimes manage to sway between an ominous feel and a slightly more mischievous vibe. It's alright I guess.

    The soundstage is heavily frontal, sounding pretty much like a stereo track. The front speakers carry the dialogue cleanly with only minimal evidence of separation across the front soundstage. The surround speakers are used, but only in the most minor of ways to carry some musical activity and little more.

    The subwoofer is used to carry bass notes from the musical score but really doesn't contribute anything significant to the film. There really is nothing apparent in the way of LFE presence.

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

Extras

    There are minimal extras present.

Menu

    The main menu is an animated shot over Dex's shoulder, while the theme music plays in the background. It allows the options of playing the feature, selecting one of twelve chapter stops, or playing the following extras:

Trailer

    Running for 2:14 this is presented in a non 16x9 enhanced letterboxed format with a Dolby Digital 2.0 audio track encoded at 224 kbps.

Imagine Trailers

    Four trailers for other Imagine releases, all presented fullscreen with a Dolby Digital 2.0 soundtrack encoded at 224 kbps:

R4 vs R1

NOTE: To view non-R4 releases, your equipment needs to be multi-zone compatible and usually also NTSC compatible.

    From the limited information I can find, the Region 1 release appears similar to our own. The Region 2 has a full frame transfer and a Dolby Digital 2.0 audio track, but does have a short interview with McDowell which is missing on the Region 4 release. I would prefer the cheaper of the widescreen releases.

Summary

    The Barber is an enjoyable film which belies its straight-to-video obscurity. McDowell gives a very strong performance (sounding a little like Anthony Hopkins at times), and this is matched by a great (largely Canadian) supporting cast. Reminiscent of Twin Peaks and Fargo this is a small movie which can provide some genuine entertainment. Recommended as a rental, especially for fans of slightly off-kilter thrillers with more than a touch of black humour.

    The video quality is pretty good.

    The audio transfer is a tad uninspiring.

    The extras are negligible.

Ratings (out of 5)

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall

© Daniel O'Donoghue (You think my bio is funny? Funny how?)
Sunday, February 15, 2004
Review Equipment
DVDHarmony DVD Video/Audio PAL Progressive, using Component output
DisplaySanyo PLV-Z2 WXGA projector. Calibrated with Video Essentials/Digital Video Essentials. This display device is 16x9 capable. This display device has a maximum native resolution of 720p.
Audio DecoderBuilt in to amplifier/receiver. Calibrated with Video Essentials/Digital Video Essentials.
AmplificationOnkyo TX-SR600 with DD-EX and DTS-ES
SpeakersJensenSPX-9 fronts, Jensen SPX-13 Centre, Jensen SPX-5 surrounds, Jensen SPX-17 subwoofer

Other Reviews NONE