Be With Me: Technical Notes

Technical Notes Technical Notes:
Be With Me
All Content Used With Permission.


ABOUT THE BONUS SHORT FILM, "TWO CARS, ONE NIGHT":
2005, New Zealand, Directed by Taika Waititi
Three children, in two cars, wait for their parents one night outside a rural pub. A little love story, "Two Cars, One Night" was nominated for Best Live Action Short Film, 2005 Academy Awards. It was an official selection at the Sundance Film Festival and won the award for Best Short Film at the Berlin, Aspen and AFI Los Angeles Film Festivals.

-Film Movement



Background: Film Movement is a company that offers movies by subscription, one a month, from all over the world. The tone of the releases varies from month to month but almost all of them are highly regarded and either darlings on the independent movie circuit (especially film festivals) or in line to be so favored thanks in large part to the qualities they possess. This doesn't mean they are all arty farty flicks that few of you would enjoy; just the opposite, most seem to hit home with a disturbing regularity as they address universal themes that many will enjoy. The latest one coming my way was the Year 4, Volume 9 release of Be With Me by director Eric Khoo in Singapore. It's a movie that uses three smaller stories to tell a singular story of love, hope, and the modern age trappings we all find ourselves in, providing some insights worth looking into.

Picture: Be With Me was presented in the same 1.78:1 anamorphic widescreen color it was shot in by director Eric Khoo. Most of the time, the segments were devoid of bright colors, looking harsh as a result but this was a cinematic device more than anything else as the shots of Singapore's concrete jungle were telling part of the story as much as the dialogue did. The visuals added something to the show that vocals couldn't, proving that even a low budget movie can use all the elements at hand to get the message across on multiple levels.

Sound: The audio was presented in a minimalist 2.0 Dolby Digital offering with a smattering of Cantonese, Mandarin, Hokkien, and substantial amounts of English with optional English subtitles. Even without the subtitles, I could follow what was going on thanks in large part to the English on the main track but also due to the fact that a lot of the movie's story was told via the visual elements. The background noises seemed appropriate for big city life, the vocals were clear, and the minimal music helped set the tone of the show better than a little bit.

Extras: As always, the best extra on a Film Movement release was the short film. In this case, the 11 minute short was Two Cars, One Night as directed by Taika Waititi of New Zealand. The short is about two young children who find friendship outside of a pub at night while their parents are getting a few drinks, leading to the hope that they will meet again. It fit in well with the themes of the main feature and was a story very tightly told, drawing from personal experiences of the director. There were some short biographies of the feature's cast and crew, trailers, and a double sided DVD cover as well.

-DVDTalk (see my profile)
http://www.dvdtalk.com



CLOSE THIS WINDOW

This window is a "pop-up" from Be With Me at HKFlix.com.
If you've arrived here from somewhere else,
please CLICK HERE for our home page!