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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.
Down from the Mountain (2000)

Down from the Mountain (2000)

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Released 13-Aug-2002

Cover Art

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Details At A Glance

General Extras
Category Music Booklet
Main Menu Audio & Animation
Rating Rated E
Year Of Production 2000
Running Time 94:04
RSDL / Flipper No/No Cast & Crew
Start Up Menu
Region Coding 1,2,3,4,5,6 Directed By Nick Doob
Chris Hegedus
D. A. Pennebaker
Studio
Distributor

Universal Pictures Home Video
Starring The Cox Family
Fairfield Four
Emmylou Harris
John Hartford
Chris Thomas King
Alison Krauss
David Rawlings
Gillian Welch
Ralph Stanley
The Whites
Case Amaray-Transparent
RPI $39.95 Music Various


Video Audio
Pan & Scan/Full Frame Full Frame English Dolby Digital 2.0 (192Kb/s)
Widescreen Aspect Ratio None
16x9 Enhancement No
Video Format 576i (PAL)
Original Aspect Ratio 1.78:1 Miscellaneous
Jacket Pictures No
Subtitles None Smoking No
Annoying Product Placement No
Action In or After Credits Yes, the final song plays over the closing credits.

NOTE: The Profanity Filter is ON. Turn it off here.

Plot Synopsis

    Down From The Mountain is both a concert and a documentary. This is a problem, because while the concert is good, and quite enjoyable, the documentary is rather boring. The fact that the menu screens allow a direct jump into the concert is an advantage, but the editing has a nasty habit of jumping back into documentary mode just when a good song is playing - giving a very interrupted feel (fortunately this does not happen very often during the concert).

    Down From The Mountain is a documentary of the concert given by the artists featured on the soundtrack to (and in the movie) O Brother, Where Art Thou? It is easy to figure out if you will like this presentation - if the music in O Brother was grating and annoying and just got in the way of staring at George Clooney, then this is definitely not for you. If, on the other hand, the music of O Brother intrigued and enchanted, then this may well be a good thing to put next to the movie on your shelf. There are, undeniably, some very fine artists on stage in this presentation, and this is where the true strength of Down From The Mountain lies - it is an exhibition of pure musicianship. While events like this within the pop and rock world would be surrounded by enormous hype, and many egos, from this documentary, it appears the bluegrass and folk artists involved in this production were really there for the rare chance to play with other masters of their musical genre.

    As for the documentary portion of Down From The Mountain, it is best left unwatched. By most definitions, a documentary should at least try to tell a story - albeit a real story as opposed to a fictional one. This effort, however, is more a case of pointing the camera randomly at the artists as they rehearse for the concert, and hoping that it all comes out okay. There is no purpose, and no point, to the documentary, and it really shows.

    In the end, Down From The Mountain is better in the idea than the execution - it would make a fantastic audio CD (and in fact does - it is available separately as an audio CD), it makes a good concert experience - even one interrupted on occasion (mid-song mind) by "documentary" inserts - but it makes a very poor documentary. Get it and enjoy it for the concert - just forget about the documentary.

    One point to note is that the track-listing on the back cover of the DVD is rather wrong. I can only assume it is the track-listing for the CD, as the concert contains many songs not listed on this track listing, while the track listing contains some songs not found in the concert. All round, rather strange.

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Track Listing

1. Po' Lazarus
2. Big Rock Candy Mountain
3. Blue and Lonesome
4. Green Pastures
5. Indian War Whoop
6. (Didn't Leave) Nobody But The Baby
7. John Law Burned Down The Liquor Sto
8. I Am Weary (Let Me Rest)
9. Stars In My Crown
10. In The Highways
11. Down To The River To Pray
12. Violin Solo
13. My Dear Someone
14. I Want To Sing That Rock 'N Roll
15. Keep On The Sunny Side Of Life
16. Hogfoot
17. O Death
18. Angel Band
19. I'll Fly Away

Transfer Quality

Video

    The video transfer presented here is good enough for the job at hand, but it does have its fair share of problems that keeps it from being a quality presentation.

    Presented at 1.33:1, this transfer is not 16x9 enhanced. The original aspect ratio of this documentary was 1.78:1, and it was apparently shot with a digital video camera, so this presentation has been cropped.

    Sharpness is very good throughout, showing a high level of detail. Grain, however, is something of a problem, and is extremely noticeable on shots of the crowd. There are a number of other instances of grain, such as from 49:45 to 49:59, usually where the cameras go into lower-light conditions. The problem is quite distracting because of the inconsistency, and the fact that when there is no grain, the image is crisp and clear. Shadow detail is generally good, but during the shots with higher grain, the darker areas tend to meld together and become hard to see. There is no low level noise present in this transfer.

    Colours are excellent, with the costumes and even the stage lighting being rendered without any problems.

    There is a small amount of pixelisation when the grain is present, but apart from that the only compression artefacts are a few instances of posterization due to the stage lighting, such as on the girl's cheek at 20:00. The sharpness of the transfer has caused a few aliasing problems, and the usual suspects (bows, strings on guitars, fiddles etc.) are frequently causing problems. A slightly more interesting instance of aliasing was on the arm of the eldest Cox family sister at 60:01-60:06.

    There are no subtitles present on this disc.

    It is a single-layered disc, and therefore does not contain a layer-change.

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

Audio

    This is a serviceable audio transfer, one that gets the job done, but does no more.

    There is only a single audio-track present on this disc, being the original English dialogue in Dolby Digital 2.0 stereo (at 192 kbps).

    Dialogue and lyrics are generally clear and easy to understand at all times, excluding any difficulties that some may have with the deep Southern accents. The music is well mixed, and is (fortunately) the real highlight of this recording, being as good to listen to as any concert CD would be.

    Audio sync is spot-on throughout, and never presents a problem.

    The stereo mix creates a very wide soundstage. Each instrument is clearly rendered and easy to make out. This is especially important for this type of music, and the audio transfer handles it extremely well. The mix is completely enveloping, and easily draws the listener into the charm of the music.

    As there are no electric bass guitars or kick-drums in sight, it is not particularly surprising that the subwoofer gets little action. Virtually the only time it comes into play is when the double bass really gets going. Other than that, it sits dormant.

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

Extras

    There are no extras on this disc at all, although the package does contain a booklet.

Menu

    The menu is subtly animated, is not 16x9 enhanced, and features an audio track playing a non-movie version of Man of Constant Sorrow - a song that is not actually featured in the concert.

Booklet

    This booklet features a one-page introduction from O Brother, Where Art Thou? creators Joel and Ethan Coen, a two-page description of the concert by Jay Orr, the DVD credits, and numerous photos. It also includes the same, very wrong, track listing as found on the back cover of the DVD.

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 disc misses out on;     The Region 1 version of this disc misses out on;     None of the extras available on the Region 1 are compelling, but the 5.1 track gives it a slight edge. By all accounts, that track is not exactly a stellar example of surround mixing, but it would be nice to have as an option. Add the original theatrical aspect ratio to that, and the R1 is the clear winner.

Summary

    Down From The Mountain is a good, although not great, concert which brings together some very interesting music and musicians. It's just a shame about the supposed "documentary" tacked onto the start of the disc.

    The video quality is good, but does suffer from some digital grain, as well as aliasing problems.

    The audio is serviceable, and represents the music very well, but it tries for nothing more and as a result ends up some way behind the best soundtracks.

    Aside from the booklet, there are no extras in this package, although given the nature of the presentation, that is not entirely unexpected.

Ratings (out of 5)

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall

© Nick Jardine (My bio, it's short - read it anyway)
Monday, September 23, 2002
Review Equipment
DVDPioneer DV-535, using Component output
DisplayLoewe Xelos 5381ZW. Calibrated with Video Essentials. This display device is 16x9 capable.
Audio DecoderBuilt in to amplifier/receiver. Calibrated with Video Essentials.
AmplificationOnkyo TX-DS787, THX Select
SpeakersAll matching Vifa Drivers: centre 2x6.5" + 1" tweeter (d'appolito); fronts and rears 6.5" + 1" tweeter; centre rear 5" + 1" tweeter; sub 10" (150WRMS)

Other Reviews NONE