Small Time Obsession

• Cert:
• Cat.no: GFL 3110
• Running time: 104 minutes
• Year: 2000
• Pressing: 2001
• Region(s): 2, PAL
• Chapters: 23 plus extras
• Sound: Dolby Digital 2.0 (Dolby Surround)
• Languages: English
• Subtitles: None
• Widescreen: 1.85:1
• 16:9-Enhanced: Yes
• Macrovision: No
• Price: £15.99
• Extras: Trailer, Behind the Obsession, Cast and Crew Biographies,Production Notes, Locations, The Polish Community, Reviews
  

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  Director:

  Piotr Szkopiak

Producer:

Screenplay:

Music:

Cast:

Michael: Alex King
Chris: Jason Merrells
Ali: Juliette Caton
Steve: Oliver Young
John: Richard Banks
Jackie: Kirsten Parker
Geordie: Geoff Lawson
Mr Page: Andrew Tiernan

Everyone has an obsessionand with over 500 DVD reviews online at the time of writing it’s not hardto work out what mine is.

Lifelong friends Chris (Casualty‘s Jason Merrells) andMichael (Alex King) have theirs as well. For Chris it’s stealing andthe use of violence in order to get what he wants by whatever means necessary.For Michael it’s greyhound racing, although as time goes by it’s slowlychanging over to Chris’ girlfriend Ali (Juliette Caton), thus puttingJackie’s (Kirsten Parker) nose out of joint as she harbours a desirefor him. As the trouble escalates, it’s not only Chris that Michael’sbeginning to piss off but also the local “Mr Big”, Mr Page (Andrew Tiernan).

The plot of rivalry between friends is a well-worn one and there are manypredictable moments, the only point of difference here seems to be that it’sset amongst London’s Polish community, something which was much-highlightedin the film’s promotion, but it’s a little lost on me because I cannot identifywith it. However, the cast on show, in particular the two male leads, make thisa fairly entertaining watch and it’s certainly worth a rental to try beforeyou buy.

The film is presented in a 1.85:1 anamorphic widescreen ratio which lookssuperb almost all of the time, with only the occasional artifacts noticeablein some scenes. The average bitrate is middle-of-the-road 4.81Mb/s, brieflypeaking over 8Mb/s.

The sound is in Dolby Digital 2.0 (Dolby Surround) and there’s nothing inparticular on the soundtrack that’ll give your speakers a major workout,but Martin Bell‘s memorable score is subtly worked into the atmospherecreated within the film and it’s certainly a far cry from his work withThe Wonderstuff.

The ‘moving’ extras are a 2-minute Trailer in anamorphic widescreenand a fullscreen 14-minute look behind the scenes, Behind the Obsession withcast and crew interviews – mainly from director Piotr Szkopiak,executive producer David Nicholas Wilkinson and actor Alex King– and concentrating on how the film came to be made.

This is followed with pages of text of Cast and Crew Biographies,Production Notes, a list of the Locations in the film for those whowant to go sight-seeing, a study of The Polish Community and how it’simportant to the film, plus a selection of Reviews from various tradepublications around the time of the film’s London cinema release in June 2000.

There are 23 chapters to spread the film out, which is fine, but no Englishsubtitles to accompany the English dialogue, just English translations whenPolish is spoken. The main menu features a shot of the front cover with musicfrom the wonderful score playing in the background.

FILM CONTENT
PICTURE QUALITY
SOUND QUALITY
EXTRAS


OVERALL