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Laurel Canyon
Stars:
Frances McDormand, Kate Beckinsale, Christian Bale, Natascha Mcelhone,
Alessandro Nivola, Louis Knox Barlow, Russell Pollard, Imaad Wasif, Mickey
Petralla, and Melissa De Sousa
Writer:
Lisa Cholodenko
Director:
Lisa Cholodenko
Feature
length: 103 minutes
Extras:
Director’s Commentary, Featurette, Filmographies, TV Spots, and Trailers
Languages:
English Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound
Subtitles:
English Closed Captions and French Language Subtitles
Packaging:
Amaray Keep Case
Chapter
Stops: 28
Sound:
Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound
Year
of Theatrical Release: 2002/DVD Release: 2003
Theatrical
Distributor: Sony Pictures Classics
Home
Video Distributor: Columbia TriStar Home Entertainment
MPAA
Rating: R
Reviewer:
Mark A. Rivera
“Laurel
Canyon” is a borderline art house drama about a young couple (Christian Bale
and Kate Beckinsale) who move west to the boyfriend’s bohemian record
producer’s mother’s home in California where he has a job as a psychiatrist
waiting for him and where his girlfriend intends on completing her dissertation.
However the mother (Frances McDormand) is still in residence along with the band
whose lead singer (Alessandro Nivola) is dating her mother and soon begins to
seduce his girlfriend. At the hospital a relationship that could turn into
romance develops between the first year psychiatrist and a brilliant colleague (Natascha
Mcelhone). Soon the couple is confronted by their own inhibitions that could
ultimately destroy their relationship.
Since
“Laurel Canyon” received a lot of official selections from various acclaimed
film festivals globally, I had high expectation, but I did not see anything
particularly remarkable about the film that I have never seen before in other
dramas of this type. The performances are good and the screen direction is
fluid, but by the end of the feature I did not feel I gained anything from
watching it. I felt like it was a movie that everyone turns to each other and
says “Oh, Laurel Canyon. That was a deep film” while to themselves they
whisper “Well it wasn’t that great, but it’s Laurel Canyon and everyone
says it’s good so I don’t want to appear less cultured, so it must be
good…”
Well
the film is fine. There is nothing wrong with it aside for a complete lack of
screen chemistry between Francis McDormand and Kate Beckinsale, who share two
kissing scenes in the film that look like both are about to run and gargle with
mouthwash as soon as the Director calls “Cut!” There’s just not much to it
in my opinion and maybe that’s why it got respectable official selections at
various film festivals, but no awards for this film from them.
Columbia
TriStar Home Entertainment presents “Laurel Canyon” in an anamorphic
widescreen (1.85:1) aspect ratio with a bright clear picture quality that shows
no signs of any imperfections whatsoever. The English Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround
Soundtrack is well mixed and discrete. English Closed Captions for the hearing
impaired and French Language Subtitles are encoded onto the dual layered DVD as
options. Writer and Director Lisa Cholodenko delivers a feature length audio
commentary that is screen specific and discusses her own personal motivations
for writing the screenplay and the inspirations, which carries over to a
videotaped interview with her in a featurette (21:31), but as informative as it
might be, I found both to be dry and dull.
Select
Writer and Director and Cast filmographies are included along with two 32-second
TV spots and the theatrical trailer (2:07). Additional trailers for “All The
Real Girls” (2:04), “Talk To Her” (1:33) and “Love Liza” (2:04) wrap
up the extra features included on this DVD.
The
interactive menus feature animated transitions and are easy to navigate.
“Laurel Canyon” will debut on DVD on Tuesday July 15, 2003 from Columbia
TriStar Home Entertainment and I recommend it as a rental first.
©
Copyright 2003 By Mark A. Rivera
All Rights Reserved.
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Laurel Canyon