The Illustrated Family Doctor (2005) |
BUY IT |
General | Extras | ||
Category | Black Comedy |
Theatrical Trailer Gallery-Photo Biographies-Cast & Crew Trailer-Erskineville Kings, Tom White, Laurel Canyon Trailer-The Goddess Of 1967 |
|
Rating | |||
Year Of Production | 2005 | ||
Running Time | 96:34 (Case: 100) | ||
RSDL / Flipper | No/No | Cast & Crew | |
Start Up | Ads Then Menu | ||
Region Coding | 1,2,3,4,5,6 | Directed By | Kriv Stenders |
Studio
Distributor |
Twentieth Century Fox |
Starring |
Samuel Johnson Colin Friels Jessica Napier Sacha Horler Kestie Morassi Brian Meegan Paul Sonkkila Sarah Pierse Jason Gann William Zappa Emma Randall Andrew Ausage Beth Armstrong |
Case | ? | ||
RPI | ? | Music | Severed Heads |
Video | Audio | ||
Pan & Scan/Full Frame | Auto Pan & Scan Encoded | English Dolby Digital 5.1 (448Kb/s) | |
Widescreen Aspect Ratio | 1.78:1 | ||
16x9 Enhancement |
|
||
Video Format | 576i (PAL) | ||
Original Aspect Ratio | 1.78:1 | Miscellaneous | |
Jacket Pictures | No | ||
Subtitles | English for the Hearing Impaired | Smoking | Yes |
Annoying Product Placement | No | ||
Action In or After Credits | No |
The Illustrated Family Doctor is an Australian movie which was released in 2005. Fortunately or unfortunately it screened amongst films which marked a minor renaissance of Australian cinema after years in the doldrums. These included Little Fish, Look Both Ways and The Proposition.
Adapted from the novel by author David Snell and Director Kriv Stenders The Illustrated Family Doctor is a bold attempt at a black comedy. The script was nominated for an AFI award. Director Kriv Stenders has said in interviews that he views the film as a fable and that he drew influences for the movie from Jaques Tati’s Playtime. This is apparent in the cold and sterile setting for the movie.
It deserves praise for avoiding the broad stereotypes of recent Australian comedies, such as You and Your Stupid Mate and The Extra, although the finished product is somewhat difficult to categorise. The DVD cover carries the by-line “A comedy that’s not all well” yet a sample of the theatrical trailer suggests a dark thriller. The movie is neither really comedy nor drama nor thriller.
Gary Kelp (Samuel Johnston) is a young man in the middle of a profound slump. His father has just died and a visit to the morgue leads to a revelation that his father’s body has been harvested for organs. Gary struggles with the meaning of life and death vainly pleading: “You are more than the sum of your body parts.”
Gary works at a publishing house where they condense books. Desperate to work on fiction he is instead given the task of condensing The Illustrated Family Doctor. Aghast at the horrific photos of disease Gary slowly begins to assume the symptoms of some of the ailments in the book.
His physical decline is matched by the failure of his relationship with girlfriend Jennifer (Wolf Creek's Kestie Morassi) and strange encounters with an aggressive stranger played by Paul Sonkkila. His only real friend is Ray Gill (Colin Friels) who has given up a life amongst nature to condense fiction but keeps the deleted sections for himself as a private treasure trove. A love interest in the form of a mysterious woman is fraught with its own problems.
The acting in The Illustrated Family Doctor is variable in quality with Johnson giving a credible performance as sad sack Gary whose glum presence appears in almost every frame of the movie. However, it’s difficult to empathise with his character, and nor does Stenders want us to. He is a man besieged by the tedious absurdities of modern life.
The environment shifts between Gary's sterile workplace and his sparsely furnished apartment in a highly stylised use of colours and production design. It doesn’t feel real nor is the whole film pitched in a fantasy world which keeps the viewer on edge. The audience is trapped along with Gary in his Kafkaesque nightmare. It’s a matter of personal taste if you want to go on that journey.
Recently shot on 35mm The Illustrated Family Doctor comes to DVD as a clean 1.78:1 16x9 enhanced transfer. There are no artefacts or flaws with either the source print or the transfer and the shadow detail is clear if a little soft.
The colour palette is decidedly muted in keeping with the downbeat subject matter. There is a predominance of cool greens and greys although for reasons which are not entirely clear there is a recurrent visual motif of primary reds and greens throughout the movie.
Given the desire of the director to emphasize the sterility of the surroundings it is not surprising that the characters and scenes are often framed obliquely, such as in front of deep corridors or open doors. Stenders uses this technique to alienate the viewer. Gary’s world is cold and grey and the cinematography and production design reflect this world.
The film has subtitles for the hearing impaired and these were adequate at providing a clear rendering of the dialogue and a description of the sounds.
Sharpness | |
Shadow Detail | |
Colour | |
Grain/Pixelization | |
Film-To-Video Artefacts | |
Film Artefacts | |
Overall |
The Illustrated Family Doctor offers an English Dolby Digital 5.1 surround mix (448 kbps).
The dialogue is clear and easy to understand. The only exceptions are in a few of the bathroom scenes where the dialogue is a little difficult to hear. There were no problems with audio sync.
The surround effects are appropriate to the film which is dialogue driven.
The score is by electronic experimentalists Severed Heads and it provides an unsettling background to the action. At various times during the film the subwoofer swells with a throbbing bass tone which underscores the troubled state of mind (and body) in which Gary finds himself.
The rest of the sound is appropriately rendered although surround sound is used modestly.
Dialogue | |
Audio Sync | |
Clicks/Pops/Dropouts | |
Surround Channel Use | |
Subwoofer | |
Overall |
The extras on this disc are fairly minimal and not particularly interesting.
The menu screen has some little animations which make for a few moments of diversion.
As previously mentioned, the trailer paints the movie as a kind of action/drama/thriller which it certainly is not. There are other trailers on the DVD.
The Biographies are text based and explain the credentials of the Director, Producer and chief cast members which largely revolve around television.
The photo gallery consists of a series of approximately twelve images from the movie.
A further word about the extras: A Special Edition of the movie is or will be released which apparently has a featurette and some other extras although no feature commentary.
Those keen on this movie may wish to buy the Special Edition.
NOTE: To view non-R4 releases, your equipment needs to be multi-zone compatible and usually also NTSC compatible.
There does not appear to be any Region 1 version of this movie.
An interesting addition to the recent crop of quality Australian films, The Illustrated Family Doctor should be seen as a quirky and sometimes funny diagnosis of the ills of modern society. The DVD presents this film in its best light and those who like their movies dour, dark and offbeat should give it a try.
Video | |
Audio | |
Extras | |
Plot | |
Overall |
Review Equipment | |
DVD | Onkyo DV-SP300, using Component output |
Display | NEC PlasmaSync 42" MP4 1024 x 768. This display device has not been calibrated. This display device is 16x9 capable. |
Audio Decoder | Built in to amplifier/receiver. |
Amplification | Onkyo TX-SR600 with DD-EX and DTS-ES |
Speakers | JBL Simply Cinema SCS178 5.1 |