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PLEASE NOTE: Michael D's is currently in READ ONLY MODE. Anything submitted will simply not be written to the database.
Lots of stuff is still broken, but at least reviews can now be looked up and read.
Lantana (Rental) (2001)

Lantana (Rental) (2001)

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Rental Version Only
Available for Rent

Cover Art

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Details At A Glance

General Extras
Category Drama Trailer-The Golden Bowl; Jalla! Jalla!
Main Menu Audio & Animation
Rating Rated M
Year Of Production 2001
Running Time 115:48
RSDL / Flipper RSDL (62:22) Cast & Crew
Start Up Ads Then Menu
Region Coding 4 Directed By Ray Lawrence
Studio
Distributor

Twentieth Century Fox
Starring Anthony LaPaglia
Geoffrey Rush
Barbara Hershey
Kerry Armstrong
Rachael Blake
Vince Colosimo
Russell Dykstra
Daniella Farinacci
Peter Phelps
Leah Purcell
Glenn Robbins
Case ?
RPI Rental Music Paul Kelly


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

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Plot Synopsis

    Lantana is an interesting Australian film centred around the lives of four couples which are linked by a series of connected events.

    Dr. Valerie Somers (Barbara Hershey) is a psychiatrist who has just released a book dealing with the death of her young daughter. John Knox (Geoffrey Rush) is married to Valerie and is dealing with the death in his own way. Sonja Zat (Kerry Armstrong) is one of Valerie's patients. She is married to Leon (Anthony LaPaglia), a Sydney police officer. Leon has had an affair with Jane (Rachael Blake) who lives next door to Paula (Daniella Farinacci) and Nik (Vince Colosimo). As the film progresses, each of these characters are drawn close together, pressure is applied to all their relationships and it becomes clear that everyone has something to hide.

    When released, this film received wide critical acclaim and was nominated for numerous IF and AFI awards. The film went on to win seven AFI awards including Best Film, Best Director, Best Actor and Best Actress in addition to five IF awards. This is a very entertaining film with an intelligent script and excellent performances that will appeal to a wide range of viewers.

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Transfer Quality

Video

    The transfer is presented in an aspect ratio of 2.35:1 and is 16x9 enhanced.

    The transfer is consistently sharp throughout and high levels of detail are always visible. No low-level noise was detected at any time during the transfer. During the numerous darkly lit scenes, excellent levels of shadow detail are always visible.

    The transfer displays a natural colour palette throughout and is always vibrant and well saturated. During a scene set in a bar, the lighting produces obvious yellow tones but this is never distracting to the viewer.

    No MPEG artefacts were detected at any time during the transfer.

    A small number of aliasing artefacts were detected during the transfer. Some examples of these artefacts may be seen at 4:19, 6:26, 8:23, 16:04 and 19:39. All of these artefacts are quite minor and are only slightly distracting to the viewer.

    A very small number of film artefacts were detected during the transfer. Some of these artefacts may be seen at 17:37, 31:11, 66:12 and 97:44 but these are all very small and are unlikely to be detected by many viewers.

    At 4:19 the image appears to skip a couple of frames. This is not distracting and is unlikely to be detected by many viewers.

    Disappointingly, no subtitles are provided on this disc.

    The layer change occurs at 62:22 part way through Chapter 12. It is not disruptive. The printing on the disc's surface incorrectly states that this is a single layered DVD-5.

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

Audio

    Two audio mixes are provided on this disc. The default track is an English Dolby Digital 448 kbps 5.1 mix. An English Dolby Digital 224 kbps 2.0 surround mix is also provided. I listened to both tracks in full and found them both to be of high quality.

    The dialogue is always clear and easy to understand at all times.

    No problems with audio sync were detected at any stage during the transfer. During the 5.1 mix, a very brief audio dropout occurs at 96:54. This dropout is not present in the 2.0 mix.

    The effective original score by Paul Kelly always matches the on-screen action without drawing significant attention to itself. In addition to the original score, a considerable amount of Latin music is featured throughout the film.

    The surround and subwoofer channels are used throughout the film to create an enveloping soundfield. These channels are used successfully for both the score and numerous directional effects.

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

Extras

    Disappointingly, no extras relating to the film are included on this disc.

Menu

    The animated menu is presented at an aspect ratio of 1.781 and is 16x9 enhanced.

Trailer: The Golden Bowl (1:40)

    This trailer is presented with a Dolby Digital 2.0 surround soundtrack at an aspect ratio of 1.85:1 and is 16x9 enhanced. This trailer is presented with a relatively poor quality video transfer when the disc is loaded before the main menu appears. Advancing chapters or pressing the menu key may skip this trailer.

Trailer: Jala! Jala! (1:00)

    This trailer is presented with a Dolby Digital 2.0 surround soundtrack at an aspect ratio of 1.85:1 and is not 16x9 enhanced. This trailer is displayed when the disc is loaded before the main menu appears and may be skipped by advancing chapters or pressing the menu key.

R4 vs R1

NOTE: To view non-R4 releases, your equipment needs to be multi-zone compatible and usually also NTSC compatible.

    This disc is not currently available in any other region.

Summary

    Lantana is an excellent Australian film dealing with a group of couples whose lives become irreversibly intertwined.

    This is an impressive video transfer that is only marred by the occasional instance of aliasing.

    The impressive, enveloping audio mix suits the feature and is consistently of high quality.

    Disappointingly, no extras are included on this rental disc.

Ratings (out of 5)

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall

© Anthony Kable (read my bio)
Friday, April 19, 2002
Review Equipment
DVDToshiba 2109, using S-Video output
DisplaySony KP-E41SN11. Calibrated with Video Essentials.
Audio DecoderBuilt in to amplifier/receiver. Calibrated with Video Essentials.
AmplificationFront left/right: ME75b; Center: DA50ES; rear left/right: DA50ES; subwoofer: NAD 2600 (Bridged)
SpeakersFront left/right: VAF DC-X; Center: VAF DC-6; rear left/right: VAF DC-7; subwoofer: Custom NHT-1259

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