After Midnight (Dopo Mezzanotte) (2003)

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General		Extras
Category	Romantic Comedy	None
Rating
Year Of Production	2003
Running Time	88:13
RSDL / Flipper	No/No	Cast & Crew
Start Up	Ads Then Menu
Region Coding	1,2,3,4,5,6	Directed By	Davide Ferrario
Studio Distributor	Twentieth Century Fox	Starring	Georgio Passoti Francesca Inaudi Fabio Troiano Francesca Picozza Silvio Orlando
Case	?
RPI	Box	Music	Daniele Sepe

Video		Audio
Pan & Scan/Full Frame	None	Italian Dolby Digital 2.0 (224Kb/s)
Widescreen Aspect Ratio	1.78:1
16x9 Enhancement
Video Format	576i (PAL)
Original Aspect Ratio	1.85:1	Miscellaneous
Jacket Pictures	No
Subtitles	English (Burned In)	Smoking	Yes
		Annoying Product Placement	No
		Action In or After Credits	No

    This film is the third of eleven films in the Italian Film Festival 2004 box set. The films are very different and the only real link between them is that they were all made in Italy in the last couple of years. This one shares the second disc of the collection with Caterina in the City. They are not available separately in Region 4.

    This film is an interesting and quirky romantic comedy involving a young woman from the tough part of Turin, Amanda (Francesca Inaudi), who goes out with a car thief and gangster known as The Angel (Fabio Troiano). He doesn't treat her very well and fairly obviously is not overly faithful to her. She works until midnight at a fast food restaurant near Turin's museum of cinema, the Mole. Her boss is an annoying pig who gives her a hard time. She shares a flat with Barbara (Francesca Picozza), who has plans on The Angel herself. Every night, a shy & quiet young man, Martino (Giorgio Passotti) comes into Amanda's restaurant to buy his dinner, not because he likes the food but because he is attracted to her. She really doesn't know he exists until one night after doing something foolish she runs into him entering the Mole where he works, and begs him to hide her from the police. He is the custodian of the museum and agrees to allow her in. He lives in the museum and he introduces her to his world of old news footage and silent comedies such as Buster Keaton. Due to the police being after her she hides in the museum for a number of days and slowly her affection for him grows. But what will The Angel do when he finds out?

    This film is quite enjoyable despite a little bit of a slow start. It is part romantic comedy and partially a homage to silent movies. The acting is strong from all the main cast and the plot is interesting and intelligent. It is certainly not like any film you have seen from Hollywood, which is definitely a strength. The title refers to the fact that most of the film's action takes place in the hours after midnight.

    Fans of European cinema will enjoy this one.

Video

    The video quality is very good.

    The feature is presented in a 1.78:1 aspect ratio 16x9 enhanced which is close to the original aspect ratio of 1.85:1.

    The picture was quite clear and sharp throughout, with no evidence of low level noise. Shadow detail was very good which was essential considering that most of the film's action took place at night.

    The colour was very good with no issues to report.

    The only noticeable artefact was some aliasing such as on a grille at 64:14 and a shirt at 69:50.

    There are burned-in subtitles in English which were clear and easy to read, a first for this box set.

Video Ratings Summary

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

Audio

    The audio quality is quite good.

    This DVD contains an Italian Dolby Digital 2.0 mono soundtrack encoded at 224 Kb/s.

    Dialogue seemed clear and there was no problem with audio sync that my very limited knowledge of Italian allowed me to detect.

    The music was well chosen and consisted of Italian Pop songs and classical music.

    The surround speakers and subwoofer were not used.

Audio Ratings Summary

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

    None.

Menu

    The menu allows only for the selection of which movie to play.

    This movie has been released on DVD in Italy and as far as I can make out using Google translator it contains some extras such as a behind the scenes doco and interviews. It does not contain English subtitles but does have an Italian 5.1 track. If you can speak Italian, that is the best version, however, I'll assume most of the local audience can't and give this comparison to Region 4.

    The video quality is very good.

    The audio quality is fine.

    No extras.

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall