And When Did You Last See Your Father? (2007)

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General		Extras
Category	Drama	None
Rating
Year Of Production	2007
Running Time	88:28
RSDL / Flipper	No/No	Cast & Crew
Start Up	Ads Then Menu
Region Coding	4	Directed By	Anand Tucker
Studio Distributor	Icon Entertainment	Starring	Jim Broadbent Colin Firth Juliet Stevenson Gina McKee Sarah Lancashire Elaine Cassidy Claire Skinner Matthew Beard Bradley Johnson
Case	?
RPI	?	Music	Barrington Pheloung

Video		Audio
Pan & Scan/Full Frame	None	English Dolby Digital 2.0 (224Kb/s) English Dolby Digital 5.1 (448Kb/s)
Widescreen Aspect Ratio	1.78:1
16x9 Enhancement
Video Format	576i (PAL)
Original Aspect Ratio	2.35:1	Miscellaneous
Jacket Pictures	No
Subtitles	English for the Hearing Impaired	Smoking	Yes
		Annoying Product Placement	No
		Action In or After Credits	No

    Based on the memoirs of award winning poet Blake Morrison, And When Did You Last See Your Father? is Morrison's recollection of his father Arthur Morrison. Vignettes of Blake's experiences with his father growing up are juxtaposed against scenes of Arthur's last days, spent with Blake and Arthur's faithful, but long-suffering, wife Kim.

    And When Did You Last See Your Father? is a deeply moving drama and it is hard not to identify with some aspect of it. What makes this such a moving tale is that there is no celebrity about the whole affair. Arthur Morrison was a loving father. Perhaps he was an occasional philanderer and certainly full of his own pompous opinion, but at heart he was a flawed man who cared for those around him. The examination of Arthur's influence on his son is as uplifting as his passing is sad.

    The performances in the film are all exceptional. Blake is played as an adult by Colin Firth, as a teen by Matthew Beard and as a younger child by Bradley Johnson. The three lack visual similarity somewhat, but their character portrayals are brilliantly in tune with one another. Jim Broadbent plays Arthur throughout in a magnificent performance. Juliet Stevenson is excellent as Kim.

    A brilliantly moving drama.

Video

    The film is presented in a 1.78:1 aspect ratio, which appears to be a crop of the theatrical 2.35:1 aspect ratio, and is 16x9 enhanced. Despite being cropped, the image looks reasonably well framed throughout (though this is really no excuse for cropping).

    The image is sharp and clear. There is little sign of grain in the image. There is an excellent level of detail discernable in black areas and dark scenes.

    The colour in the transfer is soft and slightly warm, which suits the period nature of the film and appears to be accurate to the intent of the filmmakers.

    There is no sign of compression artefacts or film artefacts in the transfer.

    English subtitles for the hearing impaired are present for the feature. They appear to be well timed and accurate to both spoken word and actions.

    This is a single layer disc and consequently has no layer break.

Video Ratings Summary

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

Audio

    English Dolby Digital 2.0 (224 Kbps) and 5.1 (448 Kbps) audio tracks are present for the film.

    The dialogue is clear and easy to understand throughout the film. The audio and video are well synchronised.

    The movie features subdued orchestral score, by Barrington Pheloung, which fits the film well and manages to capture its emotional resonance brilliantly.

    There is not a great deal of surround usage nor much call for it. The surrounds capture simple ambient sound well, particularly rain and the like. The subwoofer is used sparingly, but effectively picks up the bottom end of the score.

Audio Ratings Summary

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

    None, save for an irritating anti-piracy clip before the menu.

    The Region 1 edition is the clear winner in this comparison. It presents the film in its correct 2.35:1 aspect ratio and includes an audio commentary from the director and producer as well as deleted scenes that do not appear on the Region 4 edition.

    The Region 2 edition features the extras found on the Region 1 edition as well as Cast and Crew Interviews, but features a 1.78:1 aspect ratio transfer much like the Region 4 edition.

    A moving drama with an excellent cast. Have the tissues handy.

    The video is cropped, but otherwise looks very good. The audio is as good as it need be. There are no extras (bah humbug!).

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall