Big Chill, The: 15th Anniversary Collectors Ed (1983)

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General		Extras
Category	Comedy	Deleted Scenes Featurette-The Big Chill - A Reunion (56 mins) Filmographies-Cast & Crew DVD Teaser Trailer-#2
Rating
Year Of Production	1983
Running Time	100:51
RSDL / Flipper	RSDL (75:43)	Cast & Crew
Start Up	Menu
Region Coding	2,4	Directed By	Lawrence Kasdan
Studio Distributor	Sony Pictures Home Entertain	Starring	Tom Berenger Glenn Close Jeff Goldblum William Hurt Kevin Kline Mary Kay Place Meg Tilly Jobeth Williams
Case	Brackley-Trans-No Lip
RPI	$36.95	Music	Meg Kasdan

Video		Audio
Pan & Scan/Full Frame	None	English Dolby Digital 2.0 (192Kb/s) English Dolby Digital 5.1 (384Kb/s) French Dolby Digital 2.0 (192Kb/s) German Dolby Digital 2.0 (192Kb/s) Italian Dolby Digital 2.0 (192Kb/s) Spanish Dolby Digital 2.0 (192Kb/s)
Widescreen Aspect Ratio	1.78:1
16x9 Enhancement
Video Format	576i (PAL)
Original Aspect Ratio	1.85:1	Miscellaneous
Jacket Pictures	No
Subtitles	English French German Italian Spanish Dutch Portuguese Arabic Czech Danish Finnish Greek Hebrew Hindi Hungarian Icelandic Norwegian Polish Swedish Turkish	Smoking	Yes
		Annoying Product Placement	No
		Action In or After Credits	No

    From this very simple premise, director Lawrence Kasdan has woven a glorious tapestry of a film, filled with emotion, conflict and humour that is, quite frankly, one of the best films of the 1980's. This is an ensemble cast of the highest order and the quality of the performances are unexcelled. Accompanied by one of the most memorable soundtracks of movie history, made up completely of some of the great songs of the sixties and early seventies, this is a film that more than any other will define the work of Lawrence Kasdan.

    Beyond that of course, the film is also noteworthy for the fact that it also starred Kevin Costner as Alex (the suicidee). Only problem was that his role was cut out entirely from the film, so he only briefly appears as unrecognizable parts of the deceased's body.

Video

    The video transfer is presented at an aspect ratio of 1.78:1, 16x9 enhanced.

    In general, the transfer is very sharp indeed with some quite wonderful definition (check out the windscreen of the jeep reflecting the roadside details). Shadow detail was in general very good for the age of the film, although obviously this cannot compete with more recent films in this regard.

    Colours are in general very well rendered, giving a very natural look to the film. These are not artificially vibrant colours and some indeed may consider them a little muted, but you cannot argue with the overall consistency in the look of the film.

    There were no MPEG artefacts seen and video artefacts were restricted to some very, very minor aliasing which probably would not be noticed unless you were looking for it. Obviously for a film of this age we would expect film artefacts, and unfortunately these are present throughout the film. However they are not especially noticeable and at no time a distraction to the video.

    The disc is an RSDL disc, with the layer change at 75:43. Whilst it is noticeable, it is not especially disruptive to the film.

Audio

    There are six soundtracks on the DVD. The default track is English Dolby Digital 2.0 surround-encoded, whilst the rest are: English Dolby Digital 5.1 soundtrack, French Dolby Digital 2.0 surround encoded, German Dolby Digital 2.0 surround encoded, Italian Dolby Digital 2.0 surround encoded and Spanish Dolby Digital 2.0 surround encoded. I listened to both the default English Dolby Digital 2.0 soundtrack and the Dolby Digital 5.1 soundtrack.

    Dialogue was clear and easy to understand at all times in both soundtracks, which is extremely important given the importance of dialogue to the film.

    There did not seem to be any audio sync problems at all with the transfers.

    There is no music score to the film, rather Meg Kasdan has compiled a rather delightful collection of some of the great songs of the sixties and early seventies. These do not bear direct relationships to the onscreen action usually, but are very appropriate to the general story line. This is one of the best such uses of contemporary songs that I have heard in a film, and it is surprising that it is not a style used more often.

    Despite the remastered 5.1 soundtrack, this is not an exceptionally well balanced nor detailed soundtrack. The rear surround channels are hardly used at all and most of the action comes out of the front and centre channels throughout, apart from the music.

    The subwoofer only comes into play during the music, and in my view there was a little too much bass in the mixing of the songs. This is a minor quibble only however, and represents the only essential difference between the Dolby Digital 5.1 soundtrack and the Dolby Digital 2.0 soundtrack.

(Editor's Note: The packaging lists the original theatrical trailer as an extra on this disc. It is not present on the disc.)

Menu

Deleted Scenes

Documentary - "The Big Chill - A Reunion"

Filmographies

    A wonderfully remastered video transfer, marred only by minor film artefacts which are to be expected in a film of this age.

    A good quality audio transfer, especially of the essential music that aids the film no end.

    A particularly good collection of extras that adds much to the overall pleasure of the disc.

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall