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Stars:
Matthew Lillard, Michael Goorjian, Annabeth Gish, Jennifer Lien, Christopher
McDonald, Devon Sawa, Adam Pascal, Jason Siegel, and Til Schweiger
Writer:
James Meredino
Director:
James Meredino
Feature
length: 97 minutes
Extras:
Director & Cast Commentary, Original “SLC Punk” Comic Book, and
Theatrical Trailers
Languages:
English Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound and Dolby Surround Sound
Subtitles:
English Captions and Closed Captions and French and Spanish Language Subtitles
Packaging:
Amaray Keep Case
Chapter
Stops: 28
Sound:
Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound and Dolby Surround Sound
Year
of Theatrical Release: 1999/DVD Release: 2003
Theatrical
Distributor: Sony Pictures Classics
Home
Video Distributor: Columbia TriStar Home Entertainment
MPAA
Rating: R
Reviewer:
Mark A. Rivera
A
few weeks ago a studio executive asked me if I ever saw “SLC Punk” because
the film has developed a cult audience and I replied, “What’s SLC Punk?” A
few weeks later I was offered the chance to screen and review the DVD and
following providence I popped the disc into my player and watched it. “SLC
Punk” stands for “Salt Lake City Punk.” The film by Writer and Director
James Meredino was inspired by his own teenage angst reveling against his upper
middle class parents by becoming a punk in one of the most conservative cities
in America, Salt Lake City. Now the irony of course is through all of humorous
and bittersweet moments is that as much as Matthew Lillard’s character
despises the hypocrisy he sees around him and sees himself as an anarchist, the
reality he is just as much of a “poser” as those he rants about in the film.
The premise is really not that different from other films like
“Trainspotting” if you just look at the basic story paradigm, which is
something akin to the guy in the suit next to you might have been something
completely the opposite at one time. Lillard’s character has embraced the
establishment by the end of the film if nothing else as a pseudo backlash
against the very persona he took on as a teenager and young man because in the
end his loss of a close friend has caused him to realize that he’s got to eat,
pay the rent, and move on with his life. On the feature length audio commentary
that is encoded onto the DVD as an option, Director James Meredino sums it up
best when he describes a friend of his who was an “SLC Punk” when he was
younger and is now a priest. Despite all outward appearances his friend told him
he’s more hardcore now then he ever was as a punk. So while the films are
quite different, look at the last scene with Lillard in a snazzy suit smiling
somewhat nihilistically into the camera and then compare it to the closing
voiceover of Ewan McGregor’s in “Trainspotting” and you’ll see that
basically the message of the film is the same. I mean I’m not saying that
“SLC Punk” is just like “Trainspotting” or something akin to that. I am
only pointing out that from a basic story paradigm point of view, they both make
very similar if not the same comment on blending into contemporary society with
a sardonic sense of wit to it that is not really that comforting, but never the
less carries a certain ring of truth to it.
Columbia
TriStar Home Entertainment’s DVD edition of “SLC Punk” sports a slick and
sharp anamorphic (2.35:1) aspect ratio presentation. It looks so good that it is
almost hard to believe the film was produced on a budget of eight hundred
thousand dollars. There is a choice between English Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround
Sound and Dolby Surround Sound. Some of the music in the film sounds better in
Surround Sound than 5.1 because the separation makes songs like the one that
plays over the opening credits by “The Exploited” seem hollow. I also found
the 5.1 Surround Soundtrack to be somewhat lower than I am normally used to so
as a whole I actually preferred the Surround mix over the Dolby Digital 5.1
Surround mix because the Dolby Surround Soundtrack just seemed more natural to
me. English Captions and Closed Captions for the hearing impaired and French and
Spanish Language Subtitles are encoded onto the DVD as options too.
The
commentary with Matthew Lillard, Michael Goorjian, and Director James Meredino
is quite conversational in nature and somewhat screen specific. Lillard shows up
late to recording session though Goorjian and Meredino were doing pretty fine
without him. The “SLC Punk” comic book can be examined onscreen with set top
players giving the viewer the opportunity to read an entire issue with the pages
magnified enough so it is actually easy to read on any screen with the pages
divided into sections. There is no need for a DVD-ROM drive to enjoy the feature
too. There are also some liner notes within the insert inside the DVD keep case.
Trailers for “SLC Punk” (2:07) and “Go” (2:33) wrap up the extra
features included on the DVD. The menus are standard interactive still frames
that are easy to navigate.
“SLC
Punk” is available on DVD-Video now from Columbia TriStar Home Entertainment.
©
Copyright 2003 By Mark A. Rivera
All Rights Reserved.
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