Oyster Farmer (Icon) (2004)

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General		Extras
Category	Drama	Audio Commentary-Anna Reeves - Director Audio Commentary-Anthony Buckley - Producer & David Field - Actor Short Film-La Vie En Rose Short Film-The Imploding Self Deleted Scenes Interviews-Cast & Crew Interviews-Crew-On the set with Andrew Urban - Urban Cinefile Trailer-Propaganda Trailers
Rating
Year Of Production	2004
Running Time	86:46
RSDL / Flipper	RSDL (63:35)	Cast & Crew
Start Up	Menu
Region Coding	4	Directed By	Anna Reeves
Studio Distributor	Dendy Icon Entertainment	Starring	Alex O'Loughlin Jim Norton Diana Glenn David Field Kerry Armstrong Claudia Harrison Alan Cinis Jack Thompson Brady Kitchingham Gary Henderson Bill Wisely Brian Howarth Ian Johnson
Case	Amaray-Transparent-Secure Clip
RPI	?	Music	Stephen Warbeck

Video		Audio
Pan & Scan/Full Frame	None	English Dolby Digital 5.1 (448Kb/s) English Dolby Digital 2.0 (224Kb/s) English Audio Commentary Dolby Digital 2.0 (192Kb/s) English Audio Commentary Dolby Digital 2.0 (192Kb/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	No
		Annoying Product Placement	No
		Action In or After Credits	No

    You may or may not be aware that the Dendy films back catalogue has moved distributor in Australia from Magna Pacific to Icon. As part of this move many films are being re-released on DVD by Icon. Some of these titles are being released on Blu-ray for the first time. Some of the standard definition releases are exactly the same as their Magna Pacific forebears and others have some changes. In this case, Oyster Farmer, the film was originally released by Magna Pacific in 2006 and reviewed by us here . This new edition is exactly the same as the previous release (right down to the placement of the layer change) and owners of that disc need read no further as there is certainly no reason to re-purchase.

    The previous review by Steve Crawford gives a good rundown of the film's plot which does not need to be repeated here. I will however make some observations regarding my impressions of this film. I was fairly disappointed by the film, which although by no means a waste of time, did leave me wondering what the point of it was. It seemed to me that this film was a series of intertwined vignettes in one community rather than having a clear story and well-constructed narrative. Some parts of the story were reasonably well told, others seemed fairly pointless such as Jack's relationship with Skippy which made little sense to me. Maybe I went into this film with my expectations set to high but I was certainly hoping for more from an AFI Best Film nominee. On the positive side, I enjoyed the cast's performances and the locations and houses certainly had an air of authenticity.

    All in all, this re-release is only occurring due to a change in distributor and does not offer anything more than the previous edition, which was of quite good quality.

Video

    The feature is presented in an approximately 1.78:1 aspect ratio which is cropped from the original aspect ratio of 2.35:1. It is 16x9 enhanced widescreen.

    The picture was reasonably clear and sharp but somewhat indistinct in the backgrounds. Shadow detail was reasonable. There was some light grain at times.

    The colour was good but not overly vibrant which is in line with the film's colour scheme.

    There were some mild MPEG artefacts especially around motion.

    There are no subtitles.

    The layer change was not noticeable but occurs at 63:35.
    

Video Ratings Summary

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

Audio

    The audio is good.

    This DVD contains four audio tracks, English Dolby Digital 5.1 (448Kb/s), English Dolby Digital 2.0 (224Kb/s) and two separate tracks of English Audio Commentary Dolby Digital 2.0 (192Kb/s).

    Dialogue was generally clear and easy to understand.

    The music by Stephen Warbeck is quite Irish/bush band flavoured and did not really appeal to me.

    The surround speakers were used for regular atmosphere without really standing out and the subwoofer was used for music mostly.

Audio Ratings Summary

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

    There has been no change that I can discover in global editions of this film since the previous review. Accordingly this new Icon release is now the best available globally.

    The video quality is good but at the wrong aspect ratio.

    The audio is good.

    Extras are extensive but the same as the previous release.

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall