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With A Friend Like Harry
Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment // R // October 23, 2001
List Price: $32.99 [Buy now and save at Amazon]
The Movie:
"With A Friend Like Harry" is an engaging French thriller with a few interesting twists and turns, good writing and well-defined characters. While I don't agree with some who called it better than Christopher Nolan's "Memento", it's certainly a mostly successful and engaging piece of work. The film starts off with Michel (Laurent Lucas) and Claire (Mathilde Seigner) taking their kids of vacation to their Summer house. Unfortunately, the kids are truly what could be considered three small volcanoes - they angrily kick the back of the seat, yell at their parents and throw tantrums. They do everything but bellow, "are we there yet?".
Michel stops off in a rest area and practically gives up, tired of dealing with tired children. It's in the restroom that he meets Harry (Sergi Lopez), who introduces himself as an old friend who Michel knew in school. Unfortunately, Michael has no recognition of the man, but does seem to sort of slightly remember the other gentleman, so he politely goes along with the situation.
The car has continued to get even hotter and the kids have continued to complain, so they invite Harry and his girlfriend along for the ride. The kids, riding in Harry's air-conditioned auto, have now turned completely quiet. Once there, Harry continues to demonstrate his knowledge of Michel's past; his friends, etc. Harry is absolutely generous and kind, but there's something just not quite right about him and maybe it's a combination of the human need for space and our way of not quite believing someone who seems to nice to be true.
Much of "Harry"'s events take place in the small Summer home where Harry has invited himself for a stay. Although things start off calmly, the undercurrent of strangeness begins to come up to the surface. While Michel and family are living in their rather run-down Summer place, Harry seems to have endless amounts of money, even buying his new friends a car with nothing asked in return.
Eventually, we find that he simply wants Michel to continue writing his novel that he'd dropped all those years ago and improve his life. Yet, what Harry does to push him back to writing becomes stranger and more psychotic all the time. Michel senses that something's wrong with the way that Harry has constructed a place for himself in his life, but he can't quite figure out the answer, nor can we figure out quite why Harry is doing what he's done. Meanwhile, Michel has started to come apart as well, as Harry's suggestions about how he should live have started to mess with his thinking. The performances, in combination with a sinister and elegant score, keep the viewer drawn in and the film manages to keep from becoming predictable.
The film won several of the French Caesar awards and was nominated for quite a few more. It also scored nominations for awards at Cannes, the British Film Awards and gained other awards notice. Although "Harry" isn't without some minor concerns - the female characters are not entirely well-realized, a few areas of slow pacing, and an ending that doesn't entirely resolve questions. Still, the performances, writing, atmosphere and tension generated are often quite good.
Would make for a fine pairing with Criterion's new edition of the French thriller "The Vanishing" or "The Talented Mr. Ripley".
The DVD
VIDEO: Miramax/Buena Vista presents "With A Friend Like Harry" in 2.35:1 anamorphic widescreen. Although it's certainly not one of the studio's best efforts, it's generally an enjoyable transfer whose flaws can often be overlooked. Sharpness and detail are usually solid, but a few scenes throughout the movie appeared slightly softer in comparison.
The few instances of softness were not as much of a concern as the occasional print flaws that appeared. While nothing major, I did notice some minor specks on the print used at times, but no marks or scratches. Edge enhancement appeared once or twice, but only in minor amounts. Pixelation or other faults were absent.
Colors appeared accurate and natural. As brighter colors occasionally have a strong role in certain scenes, they do come through more vibrantly during those moments. Black level appeared solid, while flesh tones weren't problematic.
SOUND: "With A Friend Like Harry" is presented in French Dolby Digital 5.1. What suprised me was that an English 5.1 Dubbed version is also included on this DVD release. While most seem to dislike dubbed audio for films (and rightly so, as most dubbed tracks are not particularly good - this one included), personally, I think it's one of the elements that makes the DVD format great - it has the ability to give people the option. The French 5.1 track is generally quite subdued; the film is certainly dialogue-driven, with occasional touches of score and slight ambient sounds. While the surrounds do come in for light re-inforcement of the score and some of the previously mentioned light ambient sounds, their use never goes beyond subtle. The audio at least did present fine quality, as the score sounded warm and crisp, while dialogue sounded clean.
MENUS:: Basic, non-animated menus that essentially use film-themed images and cover art.
EXTRAS: As often happens, Buena Vista/Miramax's "Sneak Peeks" feature keeps the disc from being entirely feature-free. Previews for Miramax titles: "St. Ives", "Blow Dry", "Immortality" and "B. Monkey" are included.
Final Thoughts: "With A Friend Like Harry" is an occasionally slow, but tense, unsettling and well-acted psychological thriller. Miramax/Buena Vista's DVD provides respectable audio/video quality, but nearly nothing in terms of supplements. At the high $32.95 list price, many will likely seek out a rental first.
"With A Friend Like Harry" is an engaging French thriller with a few interesting twists and turns, good writing and well-defined characters. While I don't agree with some who called it better than Christopher Nolan's "Memento", it's certainly a mostly successful and engaging piece of work. The film starts off with Michel (Laurent Lucas) and Claire (Mathilde Seigner) taking their kids of vacation to their Summer house. Unfortunately, the kids are truly what could be considered three small volcanoes - they angrily kick the back of the seat, yell at their parents and throw tantrums. They do everything but bellow, "are we there yet?".
Michel stops off in a rest area and practically gives up, tired of dealing with tired children. It's in the restroom that he meets Harry (Sergi Lopez), who introduces himself as an old friend who Michel knew in school. Unfortunately, Michael has no recognition of the man, but does seem to sort of slightly remember the other gentleman, so he politely goes along with the situation.
The car has continued to get even hotter and the kids have continued to complain, so they invite Harry and his girlfriend along for the ride. The kids, riding in Harry's air-conditioned auto, have now turned completely quiet. Once there, Harry continues to demonstrate his knowledge of Michel's past; his friends, etc. Harry is absolutely generous and kind, but there's something just not quite right about him and maybe it's a combination of the human need for space and our way of not quite believing someone who seems to nice to be true.
Much of "Harry"'s events take place in the small Summer home where Harry has invited himself for a stay. Although things start off calmly, the undercurrent of strangeness begins to come up to the surface. While Michel and family are living in their rather run-down Summer place, Harry seems to have endless amounts of money, even buying his new friends a car with nothing asked in return.
Eventually, we find that he simply wants Michel to continue writing his novel that he'd dropped all those years ago and improve his life. Yet, what Harry does to push him back to writing becomes stranger and more psychotic all the time. Michel senses that something's wrong with the way that Harry has constructed a place for himself in his life, but he can't quite figure out the answer, nor can we figure out quite why Harry is doing what he's done. Meanwhile, Michel has started to come apart as well, as Harry's suggestions about how he should live have started to mess with his thinking. The performances, in combination with a sinister and elegant score, keep the viewer drawn in and the film manages to keep from becoming predictable.
The film won several of the French Caesar awards and was nominated for quite a few more. It also scored nominations for awards at Cannes, the British Film Awards and gained other awards notice. Although "Harry" isn't without some minor concerns - the female characters are not entirely well-realized, a few areas of slow pacing, and an ending that doesn't entirely resolve questions. Still, the performances, writing, atmosphere and tension generated are often quite good.
Would make for a fine pairing with Criterion's new edition of the French thriller "The Vanishing" or "The Talented Mr. Ripley".
The DVD
VIDEO: Miramax/Buena Vista presents "With A Friend Like Harry" in 2.35:1 anamorphic widescreen. Although it's certainly not one of the studio's best efforts, it's generally an enjoyable transfer whose flaws can often be overlooked. Sharpness and detail are usually solid, but a few scenes throughout the movie appeared slightly softer in comparison.
The few instances of softness were not as much of a concern as the occasional print flaws that appeared. While nothing major, I did notice some minor specks on the print used at times, but no marks or scratches. Edge enhancement appeared once or twice, but only in minor amounts. Pixelation or other faults were absent.
Colors appeared accurate and natural. As brighter colors occasionally have a strong role in certain scenes, they do come through more vibrantly during those moments. Black level appeared solid, while flesh tones weren't problematic.
SOUND: "With A Friend Like Harry" is presented in French Dolby Digital 5.1. What suprised me was that an English 5.1 Dubbed version is also included on this DVD release. While most seem to dislike dubbed audio for films (and rightly so, as most dubbed tracks are not particularly good - this one included), personally, I think it's one of the elements that makes the DVD format great - it has the ability to give people the option. The French 5.1 track is generally quite subdued; the film is certainly dialogue-driven, with occasional touches of score and slight ambient sounds. While the surrounds do come in for light re-inforcement of the score and some of the previously mentioned light ambient sounds, their use never goes beyond subtle. The audio at least did present fine quality, as the score sounded warm and crisp, while dialogue sounded clean.
MENUS:: Basic, non-animated menus that essentially use film-themed images and cover art.
EXTRAS: As often happens, Buena Vista/Miramax's "Sneak Peeks" feature keeps the disc from being entirely feature-free. Previews for Miramax titles: "St. Ives", "Blow Dry", "Immortality" and "B. Monkey" are included.
Final Thoughts: "With A Friend Like Harry" is an occasionally slow, but tense, unsettling and well-acted psychological thriller. Miramax/Buena Vista's DVD provides respectable audio/video quality, but nearly nothing in terms of supplements. At the high $32.95 list price, many will likely seek out a rental first.
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