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Jason Maloney reviews

Random Hearts

Distributed by

Columbia TriStar

Cat.no: CDR 28808
Cert: 15
Running time: 127 minutes
Year: 1999
Pressing: 2000
Region(s): 2, PAL
Chapters: 28 plus extras
Sound: Dolby Digital 5.0, Dolby Surround
Languages: English and German
Subtitles: English, Polish, Czech, Hungarian, Icelandic,Hindi, Hebrew, Dutch, German, Turkish, Danish, Swedish, Finnish, Greek, Norwegian and Arabic.
Widescreen: 1.85:1
16:9-Enhanced: Yes
Macrovision: Yes
Disc Format: DVD 9
Price: £19.99
Extras : Scene index, Director's Commentary, Making-Of Featurette, 3 Trailers, 3 Deleted Scenes, Animated Menus, Optional Music-Only Soundtrack.

Director:

Sydney Pollack

Cast:

Dutch Van Den Broeck: Harrison Ford

Kay Chandler: Kristin Scott-Thomas

Alcee: Charles S. Dutton

Wendy Judd: Bonnie Hunt

Detective George Beaufort: Dennis Haysbert

Carl Broman: Sydney Pollack

Truman Trainor: Richard Jenkins

Peyton Van Den Broeck: Susannah Thompson

Dick Montoya: Paul Guilfoyle

Cullen Chandler: Peter Coyote

Intelligent, complex and involving films that deal with decidedly adult emotional issues are a rare breed these days. In fact, so rare that they seem to appear only once every six months or so. Prior to Random Hearts' arrival last autumn, you have to go back to March 1999 for Message In A Bottle and to August 1998 for the one before that - The Horse Whisperer, coincidentally also a film by an actor-cum-director (Robert Redford) and featuring the ever-superb Kristin Scott-Thomas.

It's just as well, then, that all three have been of the highest quality. Sydney Pollack's latest pitches somewhere between the other two aforementioned mini-epics, a very moving and often fascinating story of survival, loss and betrayal. Police Seargant "Dutch" Van Der Broeck (Ford, in dignified-man-done-wrong mode) is a blissfully married and faithful husband to Peyton (Susannah Thompson), with only a high-profile Internal Affairs case to weigh heavy on his mind. The only real problem with his marriage is finding opportunities outisde both his and his wife's busy workload for some quality time together.

Kay Chandler (Scott-Thomas, playing an American rather than the upmarket Englishwoman abroad) is the daughter of a much-loved Senator and running for Office herself. Raising her teenage daughter and finding ways to negate the bad-mouthing and wealthy Political opponents has taken precedence over her stable, if slightly excitement-free, marriage to businessman Cullen (Peter Coyote).

Then, one morning, a passenger plane flying to Miami encounters problems and nosedives into the Ocean, killing everyone on board. It's an event that has unforseen and shocking repercussions for Van Den Broeck, Chandler and their respective spouses.

The scenario is constructed with great style and attention to detail, the seemingly mundane and unrelated incidents of two married couples embarking on another day setting up a tragedy that has an unexpected twist. It proves the catalyst for an unravelling chain of events that thrust the two protagonists head-first into a deeply demanding emotional and psychological struggle.

Random Hearts is very much a character piece, heavy on dialogue and - once the opening half-hour has set everything in motion - not especially concerned with action or a sense of urgency. For a film of this genre, however, those are positive rather than negative attributes. Ford and Scott-Thomas are at the centre of it all, sensibly given space and time to really get under the skin of their respective characters. Both have fully-fleshed out roles to work with, and neither wastes such a golden opportunity.

Though expertly constructed and executed, there are times during the second half of the film where the emphasis of the story becomes slightly muddled, the various - but probably necessary - subplots taking the attention away from the central focal point. Happily, these loose strands are eventually brought together and resolved, though not always as deftly as the main relationship between Ford and Scott-Thomas.

Based on a best-selling novel, this film tends to betray its origins at times, but there is no denying either the excellence of the performances or the classy, nuanced direction. Whether you grow to actually care about either of the main characters is open to individual taste and disposition, but one thing is for sure....you are given a chance to witness how they tick and the contrasting ways people react when thrust into a situation that challenges their belief and trust in both themselves and those around them.

Yet another very well-presented and quality package from the ever-improving Columbia Tri-Star. For a title of this genre understated romantic drama), the disc has a unusually wide range of extensive extra features.

Besides the full-length audio commentray from director Sydney Pollack, you get a behind-the-scenes documentary (an HBO first-look special, in fact) which is more insightful and useful than most. The inclusion of deleted scenes is another bonus.

If the jazzy ambience of the film's musical score is to your tastes, there is even a music-only soundtrack option located in the audio set-up menus. Really, what *more* could anyone ask of a DVD?

FILM CONTENT PICTURE QUALITY SOUND QUALITY EXTRAS
OVERALL

Review copyright © Jason Maloney, 2000.

E-mail Jason Maloney

Check out Jason's homepage: The Slipstream.

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