Don't Say a Word (2001) |
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Don't Say a Word (2001) |
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| BUY IT |
| General | Extras | ||
| Category | Thriller |
Main Menu Audio & Animation Dolby Digital Trailer-Rain Audio Commentary-Gary Fleder (Director) Audio Commentary-Scene-Specific (10) Featurette-Screen Test: Brittany Murphy Storyboard Comparisons-2 Featurette-Producing Workshop with the Kopelsons Featurette-You Are There (3) Featurette-Screening Room Dailies: Aggie Escapes Featurette-Set Tour with Production Designer Nelson Coates Featurette-Conversation with Director Gary Fleder Featurette-Thriller Themes Featurette-Inside A Scene: Trench Sequence Deleted Scenes-3 Featurette-Making Of Biographies-Cast & Crew |
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| Rating |
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| Year Of Production | 2001 | ||
| Running Time | 108:56 | ||
| RSDL / Flipper | RSDL (34:02) | Cast & Crew | |
| Start Up | Ads Then Menu | ||
| Region Coding | 4 | Directed By | Gary Fleder |
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Studio
Distributor |
 Roadshow Home Entertainment |
Starring |
Michael Douglas Sean Bean Brittany Murphy Guy Torry Jennifer Esposito Famke Janssen Oliver Platt |
| Case | Amaray-Transparent | ||
| RPI | $34.95 | Music | Mark Isham |
| Video | Audio | ||
| Pan & Scan/Full Frame | None |
English Dolby Digital 5.1 (448Kb/s) English Audio Commentary Dolby Digital 2.0  (96Kb/s)
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| Widescreen Aspect Ratio | 2.35:1 | ||
| 16x9 Enhancement |
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| Video Format | 576i (PAL) | ||
| Original Aspect Ratio | 2.40:1 | Miscellaneous | |
| Jacket Pictures | No | ||
| Subtitles | English for the Hearing Impaired | Smoking | Yes, frequently |
| Annoying Product Placement | Yes, Apple computers get a good plug | ||
| Action In or After Credits | No | ||
I can think of one major reason why I rallied hard to review Don't Say A Word: having seen it theatrically, I put it into the same class as films like As Good As It Gets. Instead of portraying mental patients as ne'er-do-wells hell-bent on the destruction of humanity as was the case in most pre-1990s films to feature them, or to portray mental illness as being fun, even fashionable, like some 1990s films I won't glorify by mentioning here, it portrays the ugly reality without flinching. But whereas As Good As It Gets portrays an episode in the life of a patient who has ample money for healthcare and an otherwise beautiful lifestyle, Don't Say A Word portrays the living hell that mental illness is for the vast majority of the one in five who will suffer it in some form during their lives. Obviously, the makers of this film have actually seen the inside of a mental hospital, which instantly raises this film above all the puerile, trendy crap that has jumped on the "let's try and exploit the mental illness of the month" bandwagon.
The film begins with a bungled burglary of a bank, in which one group of perpetrators splits into two with one man taking the loot, a red diamond, and the other half-dozen or so men eager to find him. As to how they find him and what they do with him, well, that should be fairly obvious, but the details are slowly revealed to us over the course of the film, and they are not pretty. Suffice it to say that one little girl walks away from the whole affair with a secret that she will do anything to keep to herself.
Doctor Nathan Conrad (Michael Douglas) is a respected psychiatrist who bills at hundreds of dollars an hour, while seemingly having it all, especially in the shape of a beautiful wife named Agatha (Famke Janssen) and a daughter named Jessie (Skye McCole Bartusiak). One evening, he gets a call from an old colleague, who works in a state-run mental hospital, by the name of Doctor Louis Sachs (Oliver Platt). Louis has a patient who is virtually catatonic, and truly a product of the system's ignorance towards the needs of the seriously mentally ill - she has literally been diagnosed with just about every diagnosis under the sun, all those trendy and not so trendy. Elisabeth Maddox-Burrows (Brittany Murphy) is the patient in question, and just happens to be the little girl mentioned in the previous paragraph, only now she is a young adult, and one who has become quite a textbook case.
Of course, the group of men who are after the diamond would prefer that they be told the location of their precious bounty the moment that Elisabeth decides to let someone know about it. These men, led by the especially despicable Patrick Koster (Sean Bean), then proceed to kidnap Jessie and issue an ultimatum to Nathan - find out what Elisabeth has done with the diamond they are in search of. Meanwhile, we learn how Koster and his men have been keeping a watchful eye on the Conrads for some time, planning this elaborate scheme to divine the location of the diamond from a young woman who seems barely communicative. I'd be lying if I didn't say it required some suspension of disbelief, but that is more than easily accomplished by the establishing scenes when Nathan first meets with Elisabeth. You could honestly be forgiven for thinking they simply stuck a real psychiatrist with a real seriously ill patient in a room, then sat back and photographed it.
Don't let the IMDB rating of 6.2 out of ten fool you, either - this is NOT a "typical Fall thriller". This film belongs in a unique class of films that build a story upon a very realistic setting, a very realistic premise (although some of the plot devices are almost as acute as Elisabeth's illness), and some very real characters. This is a film that demands one's attention in a big way.
By the way, a message to whomsoever put this slick together: "Cognitive Distortion" only has one G in it. Consistency is also a good thing - the proper spelling of Elisabeth's name is used in the Chapter List, but it is spelled Elizabeth on the back cover. Another thing I'd like to point out is that putting a commercial that shows the difference between VHS and DVD on this disc is basically preaching to the converted - I think playing it on television more would be a better idea.
This is a beautiful transfer that only misses out on reference status because of a minor problem with aliasing, a problem that I find nearly all 2.35:1 transfers exhibiting to some degree, but that's a minor aside.
The transfer is presented in an aspect ratio of 2.35:1, and as you'd rightly expect for a recent 2.35:1 feature, it is 16x9 Enhanced.
This transfer is very sharp, and it would want to be, considering that one item of extreme importance to the plot happens to be a small red diamond that is barely bigger than a fingernail. The shadow detail is a little limited, but this is more because of the fact that this is a very dark picture, and it is best watched with as little light in the room as is possible. There is no low-level noise in this transfer.
The colours in this film mostly consist of dark blues and steel tones, with the occasional dingy browns or dirty greens thrown in for good measure - you certainly won't find your fairytale, polished-looking hospitals in here. The transfer represents these colour schemes very well, with no noticeable oversaturation or composite artefacting.
MPEG artefacts were not found in this transfer. Film-to-video artefacts were rather minor, with the only real problems being the steel brace that holds Famke Janssen's leg cast during much of the film, with one shot at 9:25 being especially problematic. Given that it took sixty-eight minutes to notice another instance of aliasing after a grille in the hospital at 13:01, and that one on a bridge at 81:09 was again very minor indeed, there really is very little to complain about here. There were a few small film artefacts, but these were definitely not a distraction.
There are English for the Hearing Impaired subtitles on this disc, and they are mostly faithful to the spoken dialogue. There are one or two variances in each scene, but nothing that I'd be too upset about.
This disc is RSDL formatted, with the layer change taking place at 34:02, part of the way through Chapter 9. This is just after Sean Bean puts his hand to his jaw, and I almost missed it the first time, it is that relatively brief.
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Accompanying a video transfer that is almost of reference quality is an audio transfer that is quite simply of reference quality - it is an example of how good a film can sound when all six channels are put to work.
There are two soundtracks on this DVD: the original English dialogue in Dolby Digital 5.1 with a bitrate of 448 kilobits per second, and an English Audio Commentary in Dolby Digital 2.0 with surround-encoding and a bitrate of 96 kilobits per second. I listened to both of these soundtracks.
The dialogue is clear and easy to understand at all times, although Brittany Murphy's incoherent mumbling does take a little adapting to in order to understand fully. There were no discernable problems with audio sync.
The music in this film is credited to Mark Isham, and it is a positively haunting effort, at that. Themes of fear and paranoia are the order of the day in this film, and they are used to build a subtle but very powerful undercurrent from about twenty minutes into the film to its very end. This is definitely not a good film to watch alone, and the music is one of the reasons why.
The surround channels are used in a subtle but very enveloping fashion to spread the soundtrack all around the viewer, especially in such locations as the island graveyard and the hospital. At first, I took notes about the nice manner in which the surrounds are used to support a passing train at 1:21, but the surrounds do not let up very often at all in this film. Even in quiet dialogue sequences, the surrounds have the odd minor ambient sound coming out of them, just to remind the viewer that they are there.
The subwoofer was also used in a subtle, but very immersive manner to support gunshots, fights, break-ins, trains, cars, and a whole host of other effects that made sure the LFE channel was doing at least something at all times. The subwoofer was always present in this soundtrack without calling undue attention to itself.
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While I do like to see a large collection of extras, what I most certainly don't like to see is when a large proportion of them are not any fun to sit through. I found myself unable to comment about some of them after watching them for the first time in numerous reviews, which should be enough of a sign.
The menu is themed around the film, animated, and accompanied by Dolby Digital 2.0 stereo audio. It is 16x9 Enhanced.
Am I the only one who feels like pointing out to Dolby that rain does not make any sound until it hits something, such as concrete or tiles?
Presented in Dolby Digital 2.0 with surround-encoding and at a rather paltry bitrate of 96 kilobits per second, this audio commentary features Fleder rambling about various aspects of the film and such things as who he was paying homage to in each shot. It is not particularly interesting as commentaries go, and could have used the participation of one of the actors.
This is a collection of commentaries about certain scenes in the film by the five leads. In order, we have Michael Douglas commentating on the scenes First Meeting and Lost Child, Sean Bean commentating on Heist and The Trench, Famke Janssen commentating on The Phone Call and Escape, Brittany Murphy commentating on Connection and Subway Nightmare, and finally we have Oliver Platt commentating on Office Intrusion and Confrontation. All of the scenes are presented in an aspect ratio of 2.35:1 with Dolby Digital 2.0 surround-encoded sound, and 16x9 Enhancement. I really wish that Brittany Murphy had been on hand to do a feature-length audio commentary with the director, as she is much more interesting to listen to.
Presented in the aspect ratios of 1.33:1 and 1.66:1 with Dolby Digital 2.0 stereo sound, this featurette begins with an introduction by Gary Fleder before the screen test with Brittany Murphy and Michael Douglas begins. Personally, I feel after seeing Brittany Murphy's performance in this film that the winner of this year's Oscar for best actress got it because of the Academy's attempt to be politically correct, not for merit.
The storyboard to scene comparisons are presented in a split-screen style, with two windows of an approximate 2.35:1 shape. They are accompanied by Dolby Digital 2.0 stereo sound, and cover two scenes: Bank Heist, which runs for five minutes and eight seconds, and Potter's Field, which runs for four minutes and thirty-six seconds. They are not 16x9 Enhanced.
This seven minute and fourteen second featurette is basically an interview with the Kopelsons about producing Don't Say A Word, and not that interesting. It is presented in an aspect ratio of 1.33:1 with Dolby Digital 2.0 stereo sound.
This is actually three separate features, totalling seven minutes and twenty-eight seconds, about shooting in three different locations. They are all presented in an aspect ratio of 1.33:1 with Dolby Digital 2.0 stereo sound.
This is actually a collection of ten featurettes, nine of them being different snippets of footage that were used to comprise one shot, and the last one being the finished shot. Each one is presented in an aspect ratio of 2.35:1 with Dolby Digital 2.0 stereo sound.
Three deleted scenes totalling two minutes and fifty-four seconds are presented under this menu, presented in 2.35:1 with Dolby Digital 2.0 stereo sound. They are not 16x9 Enhanced (there is timing information at the bottom of the frame, however). Quite frankly, these scenes add nothing at all to the film, and I am pleased that they were cut.
This seven minute and thirty-six second featurette is presented in the aspect ratios of 2.35:1 and 1.33:1 with Dolby Digital 2.0 sound. It is not 16x9 Enhanced.
Biographies for Michael Douglas, Sean Bean, Famke Janssen, Brittany Murphy, Oliver Platt, director Gary Fleder, producer Anne Kopelson, and producer Arnold Kopelson, are presented under this submenu. They are of minor interest, but I'd only return to the ones about the actors I am particularly interested in.
NOTE: To view non-R4 releases, your equipment needs to be multi-zone compatible and usually also NTSC compatible.
The Region 4 version of this disc misses out on;
We miss out on a DTS soundtrack, which I feel this film really would benefit from. Despite the fact that the Region 1 version reportedly suffers from edge enhancement and smeared details as a result of noise reduction, I have to say "make mine a Region 1, thank you". (Ed. I would have to disagree and would favour the R4 disc for the PAL image despite the lack of the 1/2 bitrate DTS soundtrack.)
Don't Say A Word is one of the most underappreciated films of 2001, and I highly recommend it for anyone who is tired of the usual Hollywood fluff. Those who have a problem with films that depict the world as it really is need not apply, either.
The video transfer is excellent, with only minor problems.
The audio transfer is of reference quality.
The extras are numerous, but most of them are just tiring fluff.
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| Review Equipment | |
| DVD | Toshiba 2109, using S-Video output |
| Display | Samsung CS-823AMF (80cm). Calibrated with Ultimate DVD Platinum. This display device is 16x9 capable. This display device has a maximum native resolution of 576i (PAL). |
| Audio Decoder | Built in to amplifier/receiver. Calibrated with Ultimate DVD Platinum. |
| Amplification | Sony STR DE-835 |
| Speakers | Yamaha NS-45 Front Speakers, Yamaha NS-90 Rear Speakers, Yamaha NSC-120 Centre Speaker, JBL Digital 10 Active Subwoofer |