I don't know what your high school was like,
but at mine there were what it seems is an obliqitory group of stuck-up pretentious
prissies who it took effort to demean and belittle anyone in their sites, and were of
course the in crowd.
I'm guessing the above it true for most, which is probably why Muriel's Wedding struck
a core in many people.
Muriel Heslop (Tony Collette) is a nobody who wants to hang out with the in crowd, all of
who are now a few years out of high school but stuck in a time warp. Muriel tries to
hang out with 4 snobby bitches, lead by Tania (played to perfection by Sophie Lee),
problem is, none of the girls actually like Muriel.
When Tania's new husband Chook has an affair (Tania finds lipstick applied to something it
shouldn't), she decided to dis the honeymoon and take a holiday with her THREE friends to
Hibiscus Island, without dowdy and unemployed Muriel.
However, by sheer luck (and some stolen cash) Muriel follows the girls to the island, much
to their displeasure, and ends up meeting an old school acquaintance in Rhonda (Rachel
Griffiths). Rhonda was also picked on my the bitches of eastwick at school, and she
and Muriel form a close Bond, started of with their rendition of ABBAs Waterloo, for the
island's talent contest.
The 2 new friends decide to move to Sydney and flat together, starting a new live for
themselves (and in hope of finding some men). Muriel changes her name to
Mariel and soon finds herself a husband in South African swimmer David Van
Arkle (Daniel LaPaine), but only because David needs a "greencard" to stay in
Australia to swim at the Olympics.
With all of Muriel's dreams fulfilled, she doesn't realise the damage she has caused her
family in friends in the process.
So what's a Girls to do...overdose on ABBA of course :-)So How Does This Transfer Hold Up??
With only a Full Frame version in hand (as this is how the film was actually shot),
Roadshow took it upon themselves to create a brand new 16:9 low contrast telecine print
for the DVD release of MW.
The look of the low budget Muriel's Wedding is not in the same league as your Big
Hollywood Blockbusters, but I was quite impressed with the end result, to say the
least.
Shot in Coolangatta (standing in for Porpoise Spit), and Sydney, this film was shot entire
on location (not studio stages), so the glossy and slick look that we've become use to
over the years is not going to be found here.
Suffice to say the intentional look of MW has been very well translated to DVD. With
this being a bit of a fantasy, colour saturation is very high indeed (some instances a bit
much for my taste), with selected colours being used for different locations (the Chinese
restaurants for example have a strong presence of red). This oversaturation of these
colours really suits the film, which gives it a very unique look throughout.
Though a few scenes waned in quality a touch, the picture is generally exceptionally sharp
with a great amount of detail. So sharp in fact it was almost 3D in nature.
Several shots used a multli-imaging lens, this one designed by an Aussie, that allows for
extreme closeups AND objects in the background to ALL be in focus at once. This
lens, creates an incredible look that makes the image pop out of the screen (I'm not
kidding)
On occasion there was evidence of aliasing, but it was never a major distraction, neither
was the odd flecks that were obviously embedded in the negative after all these years.
Video Highlights
Ch 01 00:56 - 01:20 Catch the bouquet (overhead shots are very sharp)
Ch 03 08:10 - 08:15 Bill on the balcony (this is one of the shots that uses the
multi-image lens)
Ch 11 28:43 - 30:50 By the Moonlit Pool (Strong Blue)
Ch 22 68:19 - 68:22 the wedding (check ut the single shots often priest)
Ch 26 90:45 - 92:44 The backyard meeting (Bill's shirt looks incredible)
At the very last minute the original multitrack audio elements were
discovered, allowing for a new Dolby Digital 5.1 remix (MW was a very
flat stereo mix for theatres and previous video releases). While the surrounds
aren't as full of life as I would have liked, the front soundstage is excellent, with very
wide & deep imaging of ALL those ABBA classics. I did feel the bass attack was a
big overdone though. Dialogue was intelligible throughout, and for a majority of the
time very well in sync (given the nature of my sync impaired Pioneer 717). A few
instances of ADR work was evident, in several outdoor scenes, but frankly it wasn't a
problem besides, I've seen much worse.
The original 2 track mix is present on this disc, and in comparision to this great 5.1
mix, is well, bloody awful.
This is also the FIRST "Australian" authored Roadshow DVD NOT to have an MPEG
audio track (be it active or silent), as it is the first DVD to come from the second DVD
authoring house that Roadshow are using.
Audio Highlights
Ch 09 24:00 - 26:27 Waterloo
Ch 11 30:44 - 31:58 Fernando
Ch 16 45:08 - 47:57 Dancing Queen (choir Mix)
Ch 18 49:53 - 51:44 Mumma Mea
Ch 22 66:40 - 68:05 I Do
Ch 27 95:11 - 98:48 Dancing Queen
The Extras on Muriel are a bit of a letdown. The menus have the
music soundtrack over the screens, and there is a Theatrical trailer, along with the Dolby
Digital Egypt trailer. Pity
It's great to see Roadshow's commitment to DVD by starting from Scratch with Muriel's
Wedding rather than doing it on the cheap with an old transfer (like in the early days).
I hope it doesn't stop here and we see some other of the great Aussie classics
taken from new 16:9 Transfers with multichannel sound mixes like Priscilla, Shine and
Razorback :-)
| PICTURE QUALITY |
7.5/10 That'll do Mariel, That'll do |
| SOUND QUALITY |
7/10 ABBA is immortal |
| FEATURES |
2/10 nothing terribly exciting |
Review Equipment
TV: Pioneer SD-T50W1 (16:9 RPTV)
DVD: Pioneer DV717 (using RGB outputs)
Receiver: Marantz SR870 & Sony SDP-EP9ES
Speakers:-
Fronts: B&W 602
Centre: B&W CDMC-SE
Rears: Jamo Magic 14
Subby: M&K V125
- Reviewed 28th November 1999
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