Down from the Mountain (2000) |
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General | Extras | ||
Category | Music |
Booklet Main Menu Audio & Animation |
|
Rating | |||
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. |
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.
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 |
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.
Sharpness | |
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Colour | |
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Overall |
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.
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Overall |
NOTE: To view non-R4 releases, your equipment needs to be multi-zone compatible and usually also NTSC compatible.
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.
Video | |
Audio | |
Extras | |
Plot | |
Overall |
Review Equipment | |
DVD | Pioneer DV-535, using Component output |
Display | Loewe Xelos 5381ZW. Calibrated with Video Essentials. This display device is 16x9 capable. |
Audio Decoder | Built in to amplifier/receiver. Calibrated with Video Essentials. |
Amplification | Onkyo TX-DS787, THX Select |
Speakers | All 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) |