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Venus
R1 - America - Buena Vista Home Entertainment Review written by and copyright: Noor Razzak (5th June 2007). |
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The Film
 Before the Oscar nominations came out and before I had heard of the film "Venus" and what it was about I remember a friend and I giving the film's theatrical poster a lot of s**t for being quite possibly one of the worst posters ever! Peter O'Toole looked like he was encased in plastic and seemed to resemble a not-so-evil looking Mason Verger (The deformed character from the 2001 film "Hannibal" played by Gary Oldman). What were the marketing people at Miramax thinking? We were sure that whatever the film was about it must suck, and luckily we don't have to look at that horrid poster design anymore as the DVD case features much better cover art and as the saying goes "never judge a book by its cover" or in this case film by its poster. "Venus" tells the story of an again actor Maurice (Peter O'Toole), Maurice spends his time with his dear friend and fellow actor Ian (Leslie Phillips). Their days are spent sharing pills, engaging in conversation about their various ailments and infirmities among other things. Ian, close to death, decides to let his niece, Jessie (Jodie Whittaker) stay with him in order to look after him. Ian grows to regret this decision because she can't seem to do anything right for him, plus she drinks, smokes and goes out late. However Maurice takes a liking to her, a girl fifty years younger. "Venus" was nothing what I expected; my preconceived notion was that this film was a melodrama about an inappropriate relationship between an old man and a much younger girl. What it actually turned out to be was a lighthearted dramady about an inappropriate relationship between an old man and a much younger girl. The tone of the film made it somewhat more accessible event though the subject matter is uncomfortable for most people (let's get this out of the way now so we don't dwell on it, this relationship does not get physical). The script also included some rather humorous moments especially between Maurice and Ian and the surprising use of the word 'c***' on more than one occasion, I never though I'd ever hear Peter O'Toole utter that word in such a comfortable fashion, then again he is English (pardon...Irish) and they certainly do love that word. Subject matter aside some people may in fact also be drawn away by the occasionally slow pace of the film and the fact that it contains a lot of scenes where people talk...and that's all they do! I know how crazy is that? (in case you missed it, that was sarcasm), some audiences with a short attention span may find themselves drifting if subjected to this film, so please ensure that you do in fact like lighthearted British films otherwise this film is certainly not for you. While the target demographic for this film may in fact be aimed at the older spectrum, I certainly enjoyed the film (And I'm in my twenties) and it was made all the more enjoyable by the wonderful performance by the legend himself Peter O'Toole, who deservedly received his eight Oscar nomination for this performance. O'Toole manages to flex his chops even at the age of 74. The supporting cast is equally impressive, Leslie Phillips makes a wonderful appearance as Ian, a moaning-always-complaining fellow that's Maurice's best friend. These two make as memorable buddies as Jack Lemmon and Walter Matthau did in "The Odd Couple" (1968). While the film is certainly enjoyable I found that the female lead, Jessie, played by newcomer Jodie Whittaker was not entirely what I expected and that's mainly due to how the character was written. Jessie is a provincial girl that is rude, generally ill-mannered, lazy (at times), drinks and smokes heavily and also possess the most unattractive quality any woman can possess...a Northern English accent. In Roman mythology the God Venus represented love, beauty and fertility and while the character Jessie may have represented love and fertility I hardly saw her as something beautiful, or at least attractive. Beauty may be subjective but in film-land if you want someone to represent beauty then it might be best to actually write the character in way that can best be described as being 'generally attractive'. It's understood that it's what she represents and not how she acts that attracts Maurice, but I still find myself needing another reason why Maurice would pursue her, other than the fact he'd pursue just about any girl that would give him the time of day (considering his age). "Venus" is slow in parts and if you're not into it you will likely fall asleep. But if you're able to make it past the 30-minute mark you'll realize that it's a non-complicated approach at telling a story about the age gap and dirty old men, with something to occasionally laugh at plus it has some fine performances.
Video
Presented in a widescreen ratio of 1.78:1 this anamorphic transfer is about as average as they come, nothing entirely special but far from being terrible. The image is grainy and at times a bit dark. Soft is generally the best way to describe it, this grainy transfer can be attributed to the format is was shot in, 16mm which was blown up to 35mm for theatrical exhibition. Colors are on the drab side but I think this was a aesthetic decision rather than the quality of the print, skin tones are natural and blacks are deep despite some very minor noise (very minor) and hold up well, shadow detail is consistent and I found no compression related problems. Overall it's an ok transfer that won't turn heads but certainly won't disappoint.
Audio
A single English Dolby Digital 5.1 surround track is included, as you can probably tell from the review of the film itself this isn't the type of film that will have an aggressive or dynamic sound mix. The main emphasis is on dialogue and music and these are both rendered well throughout the sound space, albeit mainly isolated to the front speakers with very little activity in the surround channels. Some ambient noise is included to add depth but overall it's a fairly straight-forward track that suits the film quite well. Optional subtitles are also included in English for the hearing impaired.
Extras
First up is a feature-length screen-specific audio commentary by the film's director Roger Michell and producer Kevin Loader. The pair talk about the difficulty in finding finance for this film, especially considering its subject matter as well as shooting for a small budget and finding locations around London that haven't been shot before. They provide some insight into the story and development process as well as the themes and characters. Interestingly they comment on the placement of scenes, some scenes where not edited as written and in fact have been moved to other parts of the film for effect. The occasional gap here and there makes for a drawn out and occasionally tiring track even though they do provide some worthwhile information, plus commenting on their favorite scenes or performances makes it a little boring at times. Next up is "Venus: A Real Work of Art", a featurette that runs for 13 minutes 46 seconds. This is a behind-the-scene making of clip that features the filmmakers and key cast talking about what the film is about and their characters and so on. It covers the basics such as how the idea for the film came up, developing the story, cast and shooting the film. It's an EPK clip but it's not as blatant as most EPK's that I have seen, there is little by way of back patting and we actually get a general idea of how the film was made, although brief. A series of 4 deleted scenes follows, these can be viewed individually or with a 'play all' function, the scenes include: - "Hospital" which runs for 44 seconds, Maurice gets out of bed while in hospital. - "Reading Lines" runs for 41 seconds, Jessie helps Maurice with his lines while in the trailer. - "Family Problems" runs for 1 minute 49 seconds, Maurice explains that there are members of family that are vultures. - "Victoria Station" runs for 50 seconds, Jessie and Maurice at the station waiting for the train that takes them to the beach at the end of the film. Rounding out the extras are a collection of bonus trailers for: - "The Lookout" which runs for 2 minutes 29 seconds. - "Renaissance" which runs for 1 minute 12 seconds. - "The Queen" which runs for 2 minutes 20 seconds. - "Ratatouille" which runs for 1 minute 49 seconds.
Overall
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