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Dom Robinson reviews
Paramount
- Cert:
- Cat.no: PHE 8001
- Running time: 99 minutes
- Year: 1998
- Pressing: 2000
- Region(s): 2, PAL
- Chapters: 24 plus extras
- Sound: Dolby Digital 5.1
- Languages: 5 languages available
- Subtitles: 9 languages available
- Widescreen: 1.85:1
- 16:9-Enhanced: Yes
- Macrovision: Yes
- Disc Format: DVD 9
- Price: £19.99
- Extras : Scene index, Theatrical Trailer, Teaser trailer
Director:
- Peter Weir
(The Cars That Ate Paris, Dead Poets Society, Fearless, Gallipoli, Green Card, The Mosquito Coast, Picnic at Hanging Rock, The Truman Show, Witness, The Year of Living Dangerously)
Producers:
- Scott Rudin, Andrew Niccol, Edward S. Feldman and Adam Schroeder
Screenplay:
- Andrew Niccol
Music:
- Burkhard Dallwitz
Cast:
- Truman Burbank: Jim Carrey (Ace Ventura 1 and 2, Batman Forever, The Cable Guy, The Dead Pool, Dumb And Dumber, Earth Girls Are Easy, Liar Liar, The Mask, Peggy Sue Got Married, Pink Cadillac, The Truman Show, TV: In Living Colour)
Christof: Ed Harris (Absolute Power, The Abyss, Apollo 13, Borderline, Eye for an Eye, The Firm, Glengarry Glen Ross, Jacknife, Just Cause, Milk Money, Needful Things, Nixon, Paris Trout, Places in the Heart, The Right Stuff,The Rock, State of Grace, Stepmom, The Truman Show)
Meryl: Laura Linney (Absolute Power, Congo, Primal Fear, The Truman Show, TV: Tales of the City)
Marlon: Noah Emmerich (Beautiful Girls, The Truman Show)
Lauren Garland: Natascha McElhone (Mrs Dalloway, Surviving Picasso, The Truman Show, What Rats Won’t Do)
The Truman Show,in similar fashion to EDtv, takes the simple premise of filming a manas he goes about his daily life and making it entertainment for the masses.However, whereas Matthew McConaughey’s character willingly signed up for it,insurance salesman/adjuster Truman Burbank (Jim Carrey, in a superbperformance that makes you wonder why they passed him up for an Oscar nomination)has been filmed for every single momentof his life in a unique town named Seahaven – unique because it’s not a townat all, it’s a film set with five thousand cameras and a host of actors posingas the townsfolk. The most bizarre thing? Truman hasn’t got a clue that allthat surrounds him is fake.
Before I saw it, I thought the film would take a long time to get into theswing of things, but all the preamble is taken care of in the trailers andpre-release advertising. No sooner have the opening “credits” (you’ll see why)ended than Truman’s world begins to become unhinged: a camera falls fromthe “sky”, his life becomes one whole product-placement commercial and hethinks he saw his father, who died lost at sea when Truman was just a youngboy…
The principal members of the cast, besides an excellent turn from Carrey,are Laura Linney as his nurse “wife” Meryl, Noah Emmerich ashis “best friend” Marlon andRonin‘sNatascha McElhone as Lauren, the woman who might just be able tohelp him out of this once he begins to twig what’s going on. Finally,Ed Harris plays Christof, the creator and director of The Truman Show,to whom the credit of its worldwide success should go.
The picture is presented in an anamorphic 1.85:1 ratio with no artifactsnoticeable but there are a few drop-outs in the print and the picturejumps slightly a couple of times.
The Region 1 discs wasn’t anamorphic though and was presented in a less-wide1.66:1 ratio. I presume that was the intended ratio and that both the UKRegion 2 DVD and the theatrical ratio will have lost a small amount of pictureinformation at the top and/or bottom, but it’s been cropped sensibly and Imuch prefer this small adjustment if it means the difference between seeing ananamorphic or a non-anamorphic picture. After all, I’d only have zoomed it into fill my widescreen TV, thus losing resolution had that happened.The average bitrate is a high 7.92Mb/s, often hovering just under 9Mb/s.
The sound is very good too and presented in Dolby Digital 5.1 or Dolby Surrounddepending on the language of choice, but the sound is used more for cleveraural and visual moments rather than blasting you out of your seat.
Extras : Chapters and Trailers :24 chapters for the near 100-minute running time which is enough plusa teaser trailer and longer theatrical trailer. Usually, many trailers givetoo much away from a film but it’s worth watching these two as they givethe necessary background info to Truman’s life. Languages/Subtitles :Dolby Digital 5.1 in English, German and Czech, whilst those of Hungarianand Polish origin only get a surround option. Subtitles are available inEnglish (and hard of hearing), German, Swedish, Danish, Norwegian, Finnish,Dutch, Bulgarian and Icelandic. Menu :A basic static and silent menu with a shot of the front cover and the usualoptions. Apparently the Region 1 disc contained one with animation and soundso it’s a shame we don’t have it here.
Overall, watching this film makes you think a lot about what’s going on aroundyou. If life’s meant to be a great big challenge with one task to completeafter another then what’s it all for if we’ll just end up like dust withina hundred years? In contrast, are all those moments in life that seem way tooconvenient just a coincidence or is there a real hand at work amongst it all?
The Truman Show is one of those rare films which makes you feel likeyou’re really enjoying it while you watch and can’t wait to see more of it.Sadly, there’ not much in the way of extras. On the plus side, our discis anamorphic and the Region 1 DVD isn’t.
PICTURE QUALITY
SOUND QUALITY
EXTRAS
OVERALL
Reviewer of movies, videogames and music since 1994. Aortic valve operation survivor from the same year. Running DVDfever.co.uk since 2000. Nobel Peace Prize winner 2021.