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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.
The Deep End (Rental) (2001)

The Deep End (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 Thriller Trailer-Joy Ride; What's The Worst That Could Happen?
Trailer-Original Sin; Kiss Of The Dragon
Rating Rated MA
Year Of Production 2001
Running Time 96:50
RSDL / Flipper No/No Cast & Crew
Start Up Ads Then Menu
Region Coding 2,4 Directed By Stephen McGhee
David Siegel
Studio
Distributor

Twentieth Century Fox
Starring Tilda Swinton
Goran Visnjic
Jonathan Tucker
Raymond Barry
Josh Lucas
Peter Donat
Case ?
RPI Rental Music Stephen McGhee
David Siegel


Video Audio
Pan & Scan/Full Frame None English Dolby Digital 5.1 (384Kb/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 English for the Hearing Impaired Smoking Yes
Annoying Product Placement No
Action In or After Credits No

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Plot Synopsis

    The Deep End was a hit at the Sundance Film Festival and also at the Cannes Film Festival. It is a story about how far a parent will go to protect their children. The film was released theatrically to a limited number of screens in 2001.

    The Deep End is set around beautiful Lake Tahoe in the United States and tells the story of Margaret, a mother of three (played brilliantly by Tilda Swinton). The movie starts with Margaret going into a nightclub. She asks to speak to Darby, the owner of this particular nightclub. She wants Darby to stay away from her son, Beau (a closet homosexual), and offers him money if he will do so. That night, Darby comes around to the family home and throws stones at Beau's window until he gets his attention. The two then meet out at the boathouse, whereupon Darby informs Beau of what his mother did. A fight breaks out. The next morning, Margaret is walking to the boathouse when she sees a dead body lying on the edge of the water. At first she panics, believing her son Beau and Darby have been fighting and Beau has killed his boyfriend.

    Margaret then takes the incredible step of trying to cover up the death by dumping the body further out in the water and also disposing of Darby's car which was parked outside her house. As with all good suspense thrillers, not all goes to plan and there are people other than the police that Margaret should be worried about on her tail. Unless she pays them what they want, they will be handing over a piece of incriminating evidence to the police.

    The Deep End also stars Goran Visnjic and Jonathan Tucker.

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Transfer Quality

Video

    The video transfer of this movie is superb, and is of reference quality.

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

    The transfer of this movie is extremely sharp and detailed and exhibits a wonderfully clean and clear picture. Shadow detail was first rate in this transfer and there was no low level noise seen at all.

    The colours in this transfer also looked wonderful. They were very well balanced and saturation was not overdone. There were no irregularities with the colour rendition of this transfer.

    There were no MPEG artefacts seen. Aliasing was also non-existent and there were no problems with film artefacts, either.

    This disc is single layered, and therefore there is no layer change.

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

Audio

    The audio transfer on this disc is of very good quality and just shy of reference standard.

    There was the one audio soundtrack on this DVD being the English Dolby Digital 5.1 soundtrack.

    The dialogue was clear and easy to understand at all times. Audio sync was not a problem with this DVD and looked spot on.

    The musical score is wonderfully atmospheric and was one of the many highlights of the listening experience.

    The surround channels were used for subtle effects in this soundtrack. The surrounds were used to bring soft discrete effects into play, such as in the forests and the water of Lake Tahoe. All-in-all, they were used to great effect.

    The subwoofer was used minimally by this soundtrack. The only times I recall hearing it were during the car chase sequence and at the odd time where there was a highly suspenseful moment. For the most part, it remained fairly quiet.

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

Extras

    Being that this disc is only the rental version of this title, all we have for extras are a couple of trailers.

R4 vs R1

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 DVD misses out on;

    The Region 1 version of this DVD misses out on,

    It is unfair to compare the two versions at this time as the Region 1 version is the full retail version and our version is presently only the rental version. I am sure in due course that many, if not all, of the extras available on the Region 1 DVD will find their way on to our sell-through version. Until that time, the Region 1 version of this DVD is the preferred version.

Summary

    For me, The Deep End was a enjoyable movie. Tilda Swinton puts in an excellent performance as a mother who will do anything to protect her children.

    The video quality is superb.

    The audio quality is very good.

    The extras are non-existent apart from a couple of preview trailers which we could do without.

Ratings (out of 5)

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall

© Stephen Wilson (read my bio)
Friday, June 14, 2002
Review Equipment
DVDPioneer DV-S733A, using Component output
DisplayBarco 708mm CRT front projector (line doubled) onto a 2.5m wide 16x9 aspect screen. Calibrated with Video Essentials. This display device is 16x9 capable.
Audio DecoderMeridian 568.
AmplificationAdcom 555 mk2 x3
Speakers3 Klipsch La-Scala speakers (left, centre and right); 2 Infinity sm122 speakers (rear); 2 Mirage bps 400 subwoofers with 400w built in amps

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