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Atom Films: The Road To The Awards
Other // Unrated
List Price: $19.99 [Buy now and save at Atomfilms]
Atom Films has put together a collection of seven Academy Award nominated shorts, both live action and animated, including the Academy Award winning "My Mother Dreams The Satan's Disciples Of New York". Although different audiences won't enjoy all of these short films, with seven shorts, there ought to be more than enough for anyone to enjoy. The shorts included are:
Audio/Video: The quality varies from short to short, but it would seem that Atom has done the best job possible with the source material. The live-action shorts are more inconsistent in terms of video quality, looking older and more battered than they ought to for such recent works (the exception being the black-and-white "Killing Joe", which is flawless), but the three animated shorts are very colorful and quite sharp. Similarly, the audio varies greatly as well. I was never particularly impressed by the sound of any of the shorts, but again, most of these films are driven by dialogue rather than action, so it's difficult to be disappointed.
Supplements: All of the shorts include short bios on the filmmakers and a bit of background on the films, but a number of them also include interviews with the directors (some audio-only, some with accompanying video). Also included is a video by A Newfound Glory, music from bands on the radiotakeover roster, and some DVD-ROM games.
Conclusion: Atom Films has done an incredible job with this disc. The quality is absolutely top-notch, the menus are some of the best I've seen, and the material included is wonderful. Atom has a series of similar discs available exclusively through their site -- www.atomfilms.com -- and if the rest of their offerings even come close to "The Road To The Awards", film fans have a lot to look forward to from this company. It should come as no surprise that a collection of Academy Award nominated shorts is very much worth seeing, so the very affordably priced "The Road To The Awards" ($19.99 through atomfilms.com) is highly recommended.
- Killing Joe -- Joe Fergal Kennedy, a daydreaming thirteen year old living in London, is fascinated by the new American president, JFK. Through a series of events culminating in the President's assassination, Joe learns his first lessons in love and life.
- Major And Minor Miracles -- Tore Tranaker is a man of the cloth trying to keep the faith, both for himself and for his small town congregation. One day, a messenger from the Vatican arrives, assigned to investigate a miracle in the bucolic community. And with his arrival, the minister and his parish are irrevocably changed.
- Kleingeld -- Every day on the way from the parking lot to his office, a Berlin businessman meets a homeless man begging for coins. Day after day, the businessman gives the vagrant spare change. One day, the homeless man starts to wash the businessman's car. And that's where this tragicomic story, about the longing for human warmth, really begins...
- My Mother Dreams The Satan's Disciples Of New York -- In this mother/daughter/biker comedy, a Midwestern housewife travels to Manhattan for the first time and begins to spin a fantasy about the seemingly malevolent motorcycle club housed across the street from her daughter's East Village apartment.
- My Grandmother Ironed The King's Shirt -- A film about about an ordinary woman with an extraordinary instinct. With sharp humor it explores storytelling, myth-making and the important contributions that are possible through the most humble means.
- 3 Misses -- High up in his top-floor apartment, a tenant sees a woman falling off the roof of the opposite building. Far away on the prairie, a cowboy hears cries for help from a woman tied down to the railroad track, a train fast approaching. And deep in their cave, seven dwarves learn that Snow White is about to be poisoned by a witch. They all run to the rescue. Unfortunately, they are not very good at it.
- When The Day Breaks -- The charming, bittersweet story of Ruby the pig whose life takes an unexpected turn after she witnesses the accidental death of a stranger. With deft humour and finely rendered detail, the film illuminates the links which connect our urban lives, while evoking the promise and fragility of a new day.
Audio/Video: The quality varies from short to short, but it would seem that Atom has done the best job possible with the source material. The live-action shorts are more inconsistent in terms of video quality, looking older and more battered than they ought to for such recent works (the exception being the black-and-white "Killing Joe", which is flawless), but the three animated shorts are very colorful and quite sharp. Similarly, the audio varies greatly as well. I was never particularly impressed by the sound of any of the shorts, but again, most of these films are driven by dialogue rather than action, so it's difficult to be disappointed.
Supplements: All of the shorts include short bios on the filmmakers and a bit of background on the films, but a number of them also include interviews with the directors (some audio-only, some with accompanying video). Also included is a video by A Newfound Glory, music from bands on the radiotakeover roster, and some DVD-ROM games.
Conclusion: Atom Films has done an incredible job with this disc. The quality is absolutely top-notch, the menus are some of the best I've seen, and the material included is wonderful. Atom has a series of similar discs available exclusively through their site -- www.atomfilms.com -- and if the rest of their offerings even come close to "The Road To The Awards", film fans have a lot to look forward to from this company. It should come as no surprise that a collection of Academy Award nominated shorts is very much worth seeing, so the very affordably priced "The Road To The Awards" ($19.99 through atomfilms.com) is highly recommended.
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