The Love Letter was a fantastic drama, and had me
enthralled for the entire time. The film is based around the life of Helen (Kate Capshaw)
and her battle with romance and men. It seems that many men in the town of LobLolly have a
bit of a soft spot for Helen who seems to be very well kept for her age.
Helen is a little taken aback when she finds a love letter in her bookshop, which she
assumes is meant for her. After dissecting everyone she knows she finally concludes that
the letter must be from Johnny (Tom Everett Scott) a young man employed at the bookshop,
who is young enough to be her son.
Johnny and Helen embark on a passionate affair each convinced that the other wrote the
letter to them. However at the same time George is desperately trying to win Helen over.
He has pursued her for most of her life and she has never really realised how much he
loved her.
The author of the letter will surprise everyone and the person it was intended for is
even more surprising.
VIDEO
The 1.78:1 anamorphic widescreen transfer isn’t too bad but does
definitely have some problems. There is an awful lot of grain going on here, and is not
limited to any particular types of scenes. Grain is continuously noticeable throughout the
film. I would have thought that given this is a very short film and a dual layered disc
the transfer quality should be perfect.
The colour palette is well rendered but does seem to have a very slight muted feeling
to it. This is quite obvious in the indoor scenes in the film and the greyish tones taken
on by shots, which included blue sky.
There are no MPEG artefacts and only some minor dust marks and flecks on the film.
The only other complaint I have is an editing continuance problem, which reared its
head around 27.25. Where the film skips back a couple of seconds and then continues.
 ... |
AUDIO
The Dolby Digital 5.1 audio track was quite impressive however. The film
is basically dialogue driven and the language is clear and easy to understand at all
times.
The surround channels were sleeping for much of the film
and only some very minor sound effects actually reared their head. And to hear these I had
to turn off the fronts and listen hard. This is not really a bad thing, as the film
didn’t require a lot of support from the surrounds at all. Similarly the LFE bass
channel was quite for most of the film apart from a small kick in during some fireworks.
The soundtrack from Luis Bacalov was fitting of the film
and supported the onscreen action well while still keeping the audience entertained in
it’s own right.
( ED: On the Power DVD PC software and the Multizoned
Pioneer 717, there is a THIRD audio track, tagged as Portuguese Dolby 2.0 encoded, which
has rock music over the Dreamworks introduction, then is completely silent for the
remainder of the film. (we've asked what this is all about but haven't heard back yet)
... |
EXTRAS
- Theatrical Trailer
- 11 Deleted Scenes.
Overall
I had fun with this movie, even though it wasn’t a
comedy it was nice a short and kept to the track of the plot.
| PICTURE
QUALITY |
7/10 some
definite grain problems |
SOUND
- Quality
- 5.1 WOW Factor |
7/10 clear but limited to the front
4/10 was never really needed |
| EXTRAS |
3/10 not much to talk
about here |
| OVERALL |
7/10 sweet and short |
Review Equipment
TV: GE 68cm (16:9 selectable)
DVD: Pioneer 737
Receiver: Yamaha DTS RX-V595a
Speakers:-
Fronts: Wharfedale Diamond R6 (on a pair of custom made stands you'd KILL for)
Centre: Venturi
Rears: Sony bookshelf
Sub: M&K v75
- Reviewed 17th April 2001
* jpeg files for internet promotion use
only. Copyright© exists on all aspects of these files by Universal Pictures Home Video
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