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Jackpot
Columbia/Tri-Star // R // December 18, 2001
List Price: $24.98 [Buy now and save at Amazon]
The Movie:
The second review in what seems to be a day of reviewing films shot on digital video (this comes after director Jennifer Jason Leigh and Alan Cumming's "The Anniversary Party", while a review of Wayne Wang's "Center of the World" is planned), "Jackpot" is another odd feature from the Polish brothers, the duo who brought "Twin Falls Idaho" to the screen. The film stars Jon Gries as Sunny Holiday, a low-key karaoke singer who tours around with his manager Lester Irving (Garrett Morris) searching for any little scraps of fame that he can.
Meanwhile, wife Bobbi (Darryl Hannah) is rightly irritated with Sunny for essentially abandoning her with their child while he tries to build up enough of a bar following with his singing to take the next step into pop music. Watching someone who is obviously not a sympathetic character try to make himself into something that's not particularly likely is a hard sell for the audience.
"Jackpot" does have its moments, though. The planning that Lester and Sunny do before the performances feel real, as they discuss the kind of music that will best play to that audience. There's a moment where Sunny spills coffee on the rug of the woman he's just been with. He comes back from his car and tries to sell her the soap that he and Irving have been trying to sell to get a bit of extra cash on the road.
The first 45 minutes or so of "Jackpot" are slow, but somewhat engaging. There's a point where, after an hour or so, I began to desire a point, which the movie wasn't getting to. The film becomes somewhat repetitive and the pace starts to creak to a halt. Maybe this could have made a moderately enjoyable short feature, but there really didn't seem to be enough story to fill out the 100 minute running time. Characters come in and out of the semi-surreal universe that the filmmakers have created and exit just as quickly. The film desperately needs an jolt of electricity, but it never really arrives.
The film does have a few moments here and there, but they're too few and far between. I'm not sure this film would have ever really worked well; there's simply not enough to go on. A bit more energy, a bit less running time might have have helped the situation, but hopefully promising director/producers Michael and Mark Polish will hopefully write stronger and more engaging material next time out.
The DVD
VIDEO: Columbia/Tristar presents "Jackpot" in 2.35:1 anamorphic widescreen. The film has been shot with Sony HDW-F900 DV cameras, which are apparently the same ones that are being used in "Star Wars: Episode II". The picture is slightly soft in appearance, but still seems at least smooth and somewhat crisp, with respectable detail. While digital video projects like these don't have the same look of film, at least "Jackpot" looks at least fairly close.
The picture doesn't have a great deal of problems, but there are some little concerns here and there. The picture doesn't show any print flaws at all - no specks, grain, etc. What it does show, unfortunately, are a few light instances of edge enhancement. Minor pixelation was occasionally spotted, as well..
Colors didn't seem to be handled too well, either. While the daylight sequences appeared fairly well-rendered, some darker sequences presented heavy and thick colors that could appear smeared. Overall, I'm starting to see these digital video films look a bit closer to film, but they still have a little ways to go. Columbia/Tristar generally does a fine job here, but there were a few issues that caused some trouble.
SOUND: While the film's image quality left a bit to be desired in spots, "Jackpot" actually does offer a fairly decent Dolby Digital 5.1 presentation. The film's audio is mostly dialogue-driven, but does open up quite nicely for the musical sequences, with respectable musical reinforcement from the surrounds. There's also some occasional light ambience. The music sounded quite good, coming through richly and crisply, while dialogue sounded natural and clear. Not really an agressive sound presentation in any way, but more active and generally higher quality than I'd expected from the low-budget film.
MENUS:: Basic, non-animated menus that essentially use film-themed images and cover art.
EXTRAS::
Commentary: This is a commentary from co-writer/director Michael Polish and co-writer/producer Mark Polish. It's not a particularly energetic track, but I found the discussion moderately interesting, as the two chat about the film's production and several other issues, such as working on a quick schedule and low-budget as well as working with the digital video cameras.
also: Trailers for "Dogma", "Pollock", "Tao of Steve" as well as filmographies.
Final Thoughts: "Jackpot" has a decent amount of slightly surreal atmosphere and fine performances, but I lost interest halfway through when the film really started to ramble. Tristar's DVD presents the digital video picture with average audio/video quality and a handful of supplements. Those interested might want to take a try with a rental, but otherwise, "Jackpot" isn't recommended.
The second review in what seems to be a day of reviewing films shot on digital video (this comes after director Jennifer Jason Leigh and Alan Cumming's "The Anniversary Party", while a review of Wayne Wang's "Center of the World" is planned), "Jackpot" is another odd feature from the Polish brothers, the duo who brought "Twin Falls Idaho" to the screen. The film stars Jon Gries as Sunny Holiday, a low-key karaoke singer who tours around with his manager Lester Irving (Garrett Morris) searching for any little scraps of fame that he can.
Meanwhile, wife Bobbi (Darryl Hannah) is rightly irritated with Sunny for essentially abandoning her with their child while he tries to build up enough of a bar following with his singing to take the next step into pop music. Watching someone who is obviously not a sympathetic character try to make himself into something that's not particularly likely is a hard sell for the audience.
"Jackpot" does have its moments, though. The planning that Lester and Sunny do before the performances feel real, as they discuss the kind of music that will best play to that audience. There's a moment where Sunny spills coffee on the rug of the woman he's just been with. He comes back from his car and tries to sell her the soap that he and Irving have been trying to sell to get a bit of extra cash on the road.
The first 45 minutes or so of "Jackpot" are slow, but somewhat engaging. There's a point where, after an hour or so, I began to desire a point, which the movie wasn't getting to. The film becomes somewhat repetitive and the pace starts to creak to a halt. Maybe this could have made a moderately enjoyable short feature, but there really didn't seem to be enough story to fill out the 100 minute running time. Characters come in and out of the semi-surreal universe that the filmmakers have created and exit just as quickly. The film desperately needs an jolt of electricity, but it never really arrives.
The film does have a few moments here and there, but they're too few and far between. I'm not sure this film would have ever really worked well; there's simply not enough to go on. A bit more energy, a bit less running time might have have helped the situation, but hopefully promising director/producers Michael and Mark Polish will hopefully write stronger and more engaging material next time out.
The DVD
VIDEO: Columbia/Tristar presents "Jackpot" in 2.35:1 anamorphic widescreen. The film has been shot with Sony HDW-F900 DV cameras, which are apparently the same ones that are being used in "Star Wars: Episode II". The picture is slightly soft in appearance, but still seems at least smooth and somewhat crisp, with respectable detail. While digital video projects like these don't have the same look of film, at least "Jackpot" looks at least fairly close.
The picture doesn't have a great deal of problems, but there are some little concerns here and there. The picture doesn't show any print flaws at all - no specks, grain, etc. What it does show, unfortunately, are a few light instances of edge enhancement. Minor pixelation was occasionally spotted, as well..
Colors didn't seem to be handled too well, either. While the daylight sequences appeared fairly well-rendered, some darker sequences presented heavy and thick colors that could appear smeared. Overall, I'm starting to see these digital video films look a bit closer to film, but they still have a little ways to go. Columbia/Tristar generally does a fine job here, but there were a few issues that caused some trouble.
SOUND: While the film's image quality left a bit to be desired in spots, "Jackpot" actually does offer a fairly decent Dolby Digital 5.1 presentation. The film's audio is mostly dialogue-driven, but does open up quite nicely for the musical sequences, with respectable musical reinforcement from the surrounds. There's also some occasional light ambience. The music sounded quite good, coming through richly and crisply, while dialogue sounded natural and clear. Not really an agressive sound presentation in any way, but more active and generally higher quality than I'd expected from the low-budget film.
MENUS:: Basic, non-animated menus that essentially use film-themed images and cover art.
EXTRAS::
Commentary: This is a commentary from co-writer/director Michael Polish and co-writer/producer Mark Polish. It's not a particularly energetic track, but I found the discussion moderately interesting, as the two chat about the film's production and several other issues, such as working on a quick schedule and low-budget as well as working with the digital video cameras.
also: Trailers for "Dogma", "Pollock", "Tao of Steve" as well as filmographies.
Final Thoughts: "Jackpot" has a decent amount of slightly surreal atmosphere and fine performances, but I lost interest halfway through when the film really started to ramble. Tristar's DVD presents the digital video picture with average audio/video quality and a handful of supplements. Those interested might want to take a try with a rental, but otherwise, "Jackpot" isn't recommended.
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