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Iris
Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment // R // August 20, 2002
List Price: $29.99 [Buy now and save at Amazon]
The Movie:
I was quite surprised when I spotted the running time of "Iris" - a mere 90 minutes. Being a biopic, I wondered how the movie could convey a life in that short a time span. Watching the film, I soon found out how: quickly. I don't mean to make "Iris" sound like a bad film, because it certainly isn't. However, it's a film that did present some concerns and left me somewhat unsatisfied, because I would have liked to have known quite a bit more than the film offered me.
The film focuses on the life of writer Iris Murdoch (played in the younger version by Kate Winslet, while Judi Dench takes over for the later version), a celebrated writer who, despite having romances with many men (and some women), eventually settled down with fellow writer John (Hugh Bonneville early, Jim Broadbent later).
The film is an attempt to merge love story with an illness (in this case, Alzheimer's) drama. It's not an entirely ambitious offering, given the fact that it really doesn't tell the viewer much about her literary success, only her marriage and her illness. Given the film's 90 minute running time, I wouldn't have minded an additional thirty minutes to allow the film to cover more about her writing.
That said, the film's structure does need work. The film's first half awkwardly jumps back-and-forth between the early days of the couple and the two years later, as John must cope with watching the love of his life fade away. There are several instances where the film flashes back-and-forth between similar events that occured between the younger versions and the older versions. While this connects on an emotional level, I didn't feel it accomplished more than that. Occasionally, this sort of rhythm became somewhat repetitive, as well.
Thanks to the performances, "Iris" proves to be a moving and emotional love story. While the Winslet/Bonneville scenes aren't defined enough to clearly present what brought the two very different people together, the Broadbent/Dench scenes are an example of superior acting. Broadbent does a remarkable job portraying the frustration and sadness at watching Iris growing more ill. Dench, as expected, does a marvelous job portraying a woman in love with words who finds her ability to use them slipping away. Bonneville's character is a stammering fellow, but he gives the character an intelligence and likability. Winslet continues to grow as an actress, offering remarkable performances at a terribly young age. "Iris" doesn't give her a chance to develop the character, but her performance is vibrant and intelligent enough to make Iris's decent into illness even more saddening.
As I said before, this is certainly not a bad film. The performances are often brilliant, but I can't seem to understand why the filmmakers would stop at a 90 minute drama when they could have explored more of what made her a success. As is, I certainly enjoyed the movie, but I walk away from it not knowing much more about its subject than when I put the film on.
The DVD
VIDEO: "Iris" is presented in 1.85:1 anamorphic widescreen by Miramax. The film's presentation here is decidedly mediocre; while it may present the film as it was intended to appear, the transfer occasionally seemed to be tripped up by a few noticable faults. Sharpness and detail are all-over-the-place, as while the entire film does look soft, the film can vary from approaching a crisp appearance to almost looking hazy.
While the softness occasionally became bothersome, that intentional choice wasn't as much of an irritation as some of the other faults shown here. For a new movie, I was surprised at the amount of print flaws. While there was certainly no major wear, I noticed several instances of specks and marks. Mild film grain is also present in several scenes, but I suppose this also falls under intentional choices with the photography. Unfortunately, it doesn't end there: some noticable instances of pixelation appeared, as did a moment or two of shimmer and edge enhancement.
Colors didn't look that terrific, either. While the film's somewhat subdued color palette was usually fairly crisply rendered, there were times when it could appear muddy and slightly smeared. Flesh tones were similarly inconsistent and looked unnatural in a few of the darker scenes. This transfer achieves some decent loking scenes, but I was not pleased with it overall.
SOUND: The film is presented in Dolby Digital 5.1. The film is a dialogue-driven piece, with the front speakers doing nearly all the work. Aside from a few light hints of ambience or the score, the surrounds remain silent. Audio quality is fine, as dialogue and score remained crisp and clear.
MENUS: Slightly animated main menu.
EXTRAS: Two featurettes, "A Look at Iris" and "The Alzheimer's Association Honors 'Iris' and Jim Broadbent"), as well as trailers for "Shipping News", "Amelie", "Iris" soundtrack", "Gangs of New York", "In The Bedroom" and "Pinero". A special message from actor David Hyde Pierce, whose grandfather suffered from Alzheimer's, can also be found in the main menu. The actor's short discussion of the disease should definitely be viewed.
Final Thoughts: "Iris" does boast 4 award-worthy performances and they do make the film worth seeing as a rental. Miramax's DVD is a disapointment, as given the fact that it got the amount of awards notice it did, I'd have expected more than the supplements included. The presentation is also merely okay, with fine audio and merely average video quality.
I was quite surprised when I spotted the running time of "Iris" - a mere 90 minutes. Being a biopic, I wondered how the movie could convey a life in that short a time span. Watching the film, I soon found out how: quickly. I don't mean to make "Iris" sound like a bad film, because it certainly isn't. However, it's a film that did present some concerns and left me somewhat unsatisfied, because I would have liked to have known quite a bit more than the film offered me.
The film focuses on the life of writer Iris Murdoch (played in the younger version by Kate Winslet, while Judi Dench takes over for the later version), a celebrated writer who, despite having romances with many men (and some women), eventually settled down with fellow writer John (Hugh Bonneville early, Jim Broadbent later).
The film is an attempt to merge love story with an illness (in this case, Alzheimer's) drama. It's not an entirely ambitious offering, given the fact that it really doesn't tell the viewer much about her literary success, only her marriage and her illness. Given the film's 90 minute running time, I wouldn't have minded an additional thirty minutes to allow the film to cover more about her writing.
That said, the film's structure does need work. The film's first half awkwardly jumps back-and-forth between the early days of the couple and the two years later, as John must cope with watching the love of his life fade away. There are several instances where the film flashes back-and-forth between similar events that occured between the younger versions and the older versions. While this connects on an emotional level, I didn't feel it accomplished more than that. Occasionally, this sort of rhythm became somewhat repetitive, as well.
Thanks to the performances, "Iris" proves to be a moving and emotional love story. While the Winslet/Bonneville scenes aren't defined enough to clearly present what brought the two very different people together, the Broadbent/Dench scenes are an example of superior acting. Broadbent does a remarkable job portraying the frustration and sadness at watching Iris growing more ill. Dench, as expected, does a marvelous job portraying a woman in love with words who finds her ability to use them slipping away. Bonneville's character is a stammering fellow, but he gives the character an intelligence and likability. Winslet continues to grow as an actress, offering remarkable performances at a terribly young age. "Iris" doesn't give her a chance to develop the character, but her performance is vibrant and intelligent enough to make Iris's decent into illness even more saddening.
As I said before, this is certainly not a bad film. The performances are often brilliant, but I can't seem to understand why the filmmakers would stop at a 90 minute drama when they could have explored more of what made her a success. As is, I certainly enjoyed the movie, but I walk away from it not knowing much more about its subject than when I put the film on.
The DVD
VIDEO: "Iris" is presented in 1.85:1 anamorphic widescreen by Miramax. The film's presentation here is decidedly mediocre; while it may present the film as it was intended to appear, the transfer occasionally seemed to be tripped up by a few noticable faults. Sharpness and detail are all-over-the-place, as while the entire film does look soft, the film can vary from approaching a crisp appearance to almost looking hazy.
While the softness occasionally became bothersome, that intentional choice wasn't as much of an irritation as some of the other faults shown here. For a new movie, I was surprised at the amount of print flaws. While there was certainly no major wear, I noticed several instances of specks and marks. Mild film grain is also present in several scenes, but I suppose this also falls under intentional choices with the photography. Unfortunately, it doesn't end there: some noticable instances of pixelation appeared, as did a moment or two of shimmer and edge enhancement.
Colors didn't look that terrific, either. While the film's somewhat subdued color palette was usually fairly crisply rendered, there were times when it could appear muddy and slightly smeared. Flesh tones were similarly inconsistent and looked unnatural in a few of the darker scenes. This transfer achieves some decent loking scenes, but I was not pleased with it overall.
SOUND: The film is presented in Dolby Digital 5.1. The film is a dialogue-driven piece, with the front speakers doing nearly all the work. Aside from a few light hints of ambience or the score, the surrounds remain silent. Audio quality is fine, as dialogue and score remained crisp and clear.
MENUS: Slightly animated main menu.
EXTRAS: Two featurettes, "A Look at Iris" and "The Alzheimer's Association Honors 'Iris' and Jim Broadbent"), as well as trailers for "Shipping News", "Amelie", "Iris" soundtrack", "Gangs of New York", "In The Bedroom" and "Pinero". A special message from actor David Hyde Pierce, whose grandfather suffered from Alzheimer's, can also be found in the main menu. The actor's short discussion of the disease should definitely be viewed.
Final Thoughts: "Iris" does boast 4 award-worthy performances and they do make the film worth seeing as a rental. Miramax's DVD is a disapointment, as given the fact that it got the amount of awards notice it did, I'd have expected more than the supplements included. The presentation is also merely okay, with fine audio and merely average video quality.
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