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Business of Strangers (2001)
Alliance // R // June 18, 2002
List Price: $19.99 [Buy now and save at Dvdempire]
The Movie:
"The Business of Strangers" is an interesting character study that occasionally turns far darker at times. It stars Stockard Channing, who takes on this role as if she's lived the character's life, as Julie Styron, a travelling sales rep for a software company. She's dismissive, short-tempered and mean-spirited. Yet, she isn't a screamer - if you screw up, you're simply fired - she rolls down her window and drives off. Paula (Julia Stiles) finds this out early in the picture, as she ends up late to Julie's meeting, where she was supposed to work the A/V.
The two women meet once again at the hotel bar while they both wait for their flights to whereever. Julie drops her usual wall and reveals - without speaking - that the front may be something she feels necessary to keep her place in the company. She apologizes to Paula over drinks, to which Paula accepts, but states that it really doesn't matter anyway: it's just a "money job" to her. What she'd really rather do is write. "I like the sloppiness of real life," she says casually.
The two eventually get a hotel room and start bonding, if one starts sensing that there's underlying thoughts going on on the part of the older and younger women. Stiles plays this wonderfully, really subtly attempting to try and manipulate control from the older woman. She's far more ambitious and far more intelligent than she seems at first glance. Eventually, Nick Harris (Frederick Weller), a headhunter, enters the picture. Julie first called on him when she feared her job was on the line early in the picture, but now that she's found that she's actually getting a promotion, she doesn't need him anymore. Midway through, the two find that he's still stuck in the hotel waiting for a flight out. When Paula meets him, she's horrified - she reveals to Julie that Nick is the man who raped her best friend in college years ago. When Nick knocks on the door of their room, the two women decide to get revenge.
I liked a lot of things about "Business of Strangers". The obviously low budget actually works in the film's favor, adding a considerably more realistic and convincing feel to the proceedings. Director Patrick Stettner also has a good eye for composition, nicely staying back in several scenes to capture the body language that might be saying what the dialogue isn't. There's also some additional interesting visuals throughout, even under the credits. As previously mentioned, I really liked the performances from Channing and Stiles, both of whom inhabit their complex characters superbly and also nicely play the tension and competition underneath their newfound friendship.
Many have compared this film with Neil Labute's "In The Company Of Men", but it lacks the rawness and impact that that picture had. Still, it's a very strong debut from director Stettner - while it does start to fall apart in the last third or so (and although the ending is predictable, the film remains involving), the overall impression is good and the two lead characters are very well-written.
The DVD
Note:: This is a review of the Alliance Atlantis edition of "Business of Strangers", which was released on June 18, 2002. This is a Canadian-only release, but one that is still region 1. US viewers can import this edition from Canadian retailers such as videoflicks.com or wait for the American release, which will be done by MGM and released in August.
VIDEO: Alliance presents "Business of Strangers" in 1.85:1 anamorphic widescreen. The picture has a low-budget appearance, but the image quality appears fairly strong for most of the film. Sharpness is generally good, although the picture has a slightly soft appearance with slightly above-average detail.
Flaws really aren't present until later in the movie. For the first half, the picture appears clean and clear and problems such as edge enhancement seemed absent. As the film went on, however, a few more print flaws (a couple of marks, a handful of specks) appeared and edge enhancement showed up slightly in a couple of sequences. No pixelation or other faults were spotted, though. The film's subdued color palette also appeared accurately rendered, with no smearing. A decent transfer.
SOUND: "Business of Strangers" is presented in Dolby 2.0 by Alliance. Although I guessed that the film was originally only in 2.0, given its small budget, that apparently isn't true. Both the Internet Movie Database and the listings for the upcoming MGM DVD release state that the film was originally presented in Dolby Digital 5.1. It's rather dissapointing that the 5.1 presentation wasn't included here, as the 2.0 soundtrack isn't great - dialogue seemed rather low in the mix, requiring the volume to be brought up to unusually high levels to be able to hear each and every line clearly.
MENUS: Basic, static main and sub-menus.
EXTRAS: Trailers for "Down to You", "State and Main" and "Hamlet", all Stiles films.
Final Thoughts: Although it started to fall apart somewhat in the last bit, I still thought "Business of Strangers" was a well-written, strongly acted piece that had great characters and some superb dialogue. Alliance's DVD is nothing special, offering little in the way of supplements, solid picture quality, but not the original 5.1 soundtrack. Although fans who can't wait to see the film might want to import the Alliance release, those who haven't seen it should wait until MGM's edition arrives early in August. Note: that edition will be reviewed near the 8/6 release date.
"The Business of Strangers" is an interesting character study that occasionally turns far darker at times. It stars Stockard Channing, who takes on this role as if she's lived the character's life, as Julie Styron, a travelling sales rep for a software company. She's dismissive, short-tempered and mean-spirited. Yet, she isn't a screamer - if you screw up, you're simply fired - she rolls down her window and drives off. Paula (Julia Stiles) finds this out early in the picture, as she ends up late to Julie's meeting, where she was supposed to work the A/V.
The two women meet once again at the hotel bar while they both wait for their flights to whereever. Julie drops her usual wall and reveals - without speaking - that the front may be something she feels necessary to keep her place in the company. She apologizes to Paula over drinks, to which Paula accepts, but states that it really doesn't matter anyway: it's just a "money job" to her. What she'd really rather do is write. "I like the sloppiness of real life," she says casually.
The two eventually get a hotel room and start bonding, if one starts sensing that there's underlying thoughts going on on the part of the older and younger women. Stiles plays this wonderfully, really subtly attempting to try and manipulate control from the older woman. She's far more ambitious and far more intelligent than she seems at first glance. Eventually, Nick Harris (Frederick Weller), a headhunter, enters the picture. Julie first called on him when she feared her job was on the line early in the picture, but now that she's found that she's actually getting a promotion, she doesn't need him anymore. Midway through, the two find that he's still stuck in the hotel waiting for a flight out. When Paula meets him, she's horrified - she reveals to Julie that Nick is the man who raped her best friend in college years ago. When Nick knocks on the door of their room, the two women decide to get revenge.
I liked a lot of things about "Business of Strangers". The obviously low budget actually works in the film's favor, adding a considerably more realistic and convincing feel to the proceedings. Director Patrick Stettner also has a good eye for composition, nicely staying back in several scenes to capture the body language that might be saying what the dialogue isn't. There's also some additional interesting visuals throughout, even under the credits. As previously mentioned, I really liked the performances from Channing and Stiles, both of whom inhabit their complex characters superbly and also nicely play the tension and competition underneath their newfound friendship.
Many have compared this film with Neil Labute's "In The Company Of Men", but it lacks the rawness and impact that that picture had. Still, it's a very strong debut from director Stettner - while it does start to fall apart in the last third or so (and although the ending is predictable, the film remains involving), the overall impression is good and the two lead characters are very well-written.
The DVD
Note:: This is a review of the Alliance Atlantis edition of "Business of Strangers", which was released on June 18, 2002. This is a Canadian-only release, but one that is still region 1. US viewers can import this edition from Canadian retailers such as videoflicks.com or wait for the American release, which will be done by MGM and released in August.
VIDEO: Alliance presents "Business of Strangers" in 1.85:1 anamorphic widescreen. The picture has a low-budget appearance, but the image quality appears fairly strong for most of the film. Sharpness is generally good, although the picture has a slightly soft appearance with slightly above-average detail.
Flaws really aren't present until later in the movie. For the first half, the picture appears clean and clear and problems such as edge enhancement seemed absent. As the film went on, however, a few more print flaws (a couple of marks, a handful of specks) appeared and edge enhancement showed up slightly in a couple of sequences. No pixelation or other faults were spotted, though. The film's subdued color palette also appeared accurately rendered, with no smearing. A decent transfer.
SOUND: "Business of Strangers" is presented in Dolby 2.0 by Alliance. Although I guessed that the film was originally only in 2.0, given its small budget, that apparently isn't true. Both the Internet Movie Database and the listings for the upcoming MGM DVD release state that the film was originally presented in Dolby Digital 5.1. It's rather dissapointing that the 5.1 presentation wasn't included here, as the 2.0 soundtrack isn't great - dialogue seemed rather low in the mix, requiring the volume to be brought up to unusually high levels to be able to hear each and every line clearly.
MENUS: Basic, static main and sub-menus.
EXTRAS: Trailers for "Down to You", "State and Main" and "Hamlet", all Stiles films.
Final Thoughts: Although it started to fall apart somewhat in the last bit, I still thought "Business of Strangers" was a well-written, strongly acted piece that had great characters and some superb dialogue. Alliance's DVD is nothing special, offering little in the way of supplements, solid picture quality, but not the original 5.1 soundtrack. Although fans who can't wait to see the film might want to import the Alliance release, those who haven't seen it should wait until MGM's edition arrives early in August. Note: that edition will be reviewed near the 8/6 release date.
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