Evelyn (2002)

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General		Extras
Category	Drama	Main Menu Audio & Animation Theatrical Trailer Trailer-I Capture The Castle, Field Of Dreams, Radio
Rating
Year Of Production	2002
Running Time	90:59
RSDL / Flipper	No/No	Cast & Crew
Start Up	Menu
Region Coding	4	Directed By	Seung-wan Ryoo
Studio Distributor	Sony Pictures Home Entertain	Starring	Seung-beom Ryu So-yi Yoon Sung-kee Ahn Doo-hong Jung Ju-sang Yun
Case	?
RPI	$39.95	Music	Jae-kwon Han

Video		Audio
Pan & Scan/Full Frame	None	English Dolby Digital 2.0 (224Kb/s)
Widescreen Aspect Ratio	1.78:1
16x9 Enhancement
Video Format	576i (PAL)
Original Aspect Ratio	2.35:1	Miscellaneous
Jacket Pictures	No
Subtitles	None	Smoking	Yes
		Annoying Product Placement	No
		Action In or After Credits	No

    Evelyn is a film based upon a true story, set in Ireland in the 1950s. It focuses on the story of Desmond Doyle (Pierce Brosnan) and his children, and his fight to get custody of them when their mother runs off and leaves them. The film is named after his eldest child, Evelyn (Sophie Vavasseur), due to her part in the court case that decides the matter. The real Evelyn Doyle has written a book about her father, although the film seems to tell a slightly different version of events than her book does.

    The film follows Desmond's struggles both with his own penchant for alcohol and with the legal system in Ireland at the time. Under Irish law it was required that both parents were to give permission (assuming they were not dead) for children to be released from state custody. This meant that Doyle's requests for his children were rejected on the basis that his departed wife had not given permission, despite the fact that no-one knew her whereabouts. Along the way he takes on both the Catholic Church and the state in his fight to get his children back. He receives help from a number of people including a friendly barmaid, Bernadette Beattie (Julianna Marguiles from E.R), who gives him incentive to work on his alcohol problem and introduces him to her brother, a solicitor. Her brother, Michael Beattie (Stephen Rea), builds a legal team to fight his case which includes Nick Barron (Aidan Quinn), an Irish born American lawyer who has the right to appear before Irish courts and Tom Connolly (Alan Bates), a retired Family law expert who is not afraid to rock the boat. They try a number of legal angles looking for a way to make the state change its approach and finally resort to challenging the Children's Act as unconstitutional.

    The film is directed by Bruce Beresford, the well known Australian director and it runs the fine line between emotion and mawkishness quite well (with the occasional slip to the wrong side of the line). I found this film to be quite emotional and heart-string tugging but that may be related to the fact that I am the father of two young boys, one of whom was only born two days ago. The acting is of a good standard, and it was obviously a project which Pierce Brosnan believed in as he was one of the producers. Father Ted fans should note that Frank Kelly (Father Jack Hackett) appears as Doyle's supportive father.

    So, this is not a film for everyone, but is quite a worthwhile family drama based on a true story featuring a strong cast.

Video

    The video quality is good but not quite to the standard of other films this recent.

    The feature is presented in a 1.78:1 aspect ratio 16x9 enhanced which is NOT the original aspect ratio of 2.35:1. The cover indicates that 1.85:1 is the original aspect ratio, however, this is not correct. I don't think this makes a huge difference to this film, however, based upon our policy one star has been deducted from the overall video score due to this issue.

    The picture was generally clear and sharp throughout, with no evidence of low level noise, although this transfer is not as crisp as other films of such recent vintage. There was grain visible in some scenes, especially outdoor ones. The shadow detail was very good.

    The colour was good, albeit not overly vibrant, but this would probably be a result of the colour scheme of the production more than the transfer.

    The only artefacts visible were small and occasional white specks.

    There are no subtitles which is a shame for the hearing impaired.

    There is no layer change.
    

Video Ratings Summary

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

Audio

    The audio quality is good but only 2 channel.

    This DVD contains one audio option, an English Dolby Digital 2.0 soundtrack encoded at 192 Kb/s. The lack of a 5.1 track is not a huge issue for this style of film, however, the 5.1 track on other Region releases has been well reviewed (see below for more details of regional differences).

    Dialogue was clear and easy to understand and there was no problem with audio sync.

    The score of this film by Stephen Endelman is mostly lilting Irish music and suits the film well without standing out.

    The surround speakers did occasionally add some atmosphere, especially for the music, when played with Dolby ProLogic II.

     The subwoofer was not used.

Audio Ratings Summary

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

Menu

    The menu includes motion, music and a scene selection function.

Trailers (7:37)

    Trailers are included for this film, I Capture The Castle, Field of Dreams & Radio. The trailer for Evelyn is quite well done.

    The Region 4 version of this disc misses out on;

• Correct Aspect Ratio of 2.35:1
• Dolby Digital 5.1 soundtrack
• Subtitles
• Two Commentary tracks
• Two Featurettes

    The Region 1 & Region 2 versions of this disc miss out on;

• Nothing

   Basically we have been completely stiffed in Region 4, and if you want to purchase this film I would recommend an offshore purchase, which pains me. If you just wish to see this film, the local disc would make a fine rental.

    The video quality is good but transferred at the incorrect aspect ratio.

    The audio quality is good but only 2.0 when other regions have 5.1.

    The disc has no extras of any note, whereas other regions have significant extras.

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall