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(About Our Ads) DVD REVIEW FOR "BELOVED" (1998) (Oprah Winfrey, Danny Glover) (R) Length Screen Format(s) Languages Subtitles Sound Sides 155 minutes Letterbox (1.85:1) English French English Dolby Digital 5.1 1 (Dual Layer) PLOT & PARENTAL REVIEW VIDEO: (A) While the picture quality intentionally and unintentionally varies on this release, overall it looks quite impressive. The intentional variance is in the film stock/effects used by director Jonathan Demme and cinematographer Tak Fujimoto. Some scenes are purposefully grainy, washed out, or bathed in a sepia like tone for effect. The unintentional bits involve compression-related pixelation that's apparent in some scenes but not others. Unfortunately, it's most evident in those sepia-looking shots (readily visible at full speed and particularly in freeze-frame mode). Otherwise, the picture looks great, especially the outdoor, daylight scenes that show tremendous amounts of detail and simply look fabulous. The colors are deeply saturated — but not to the point of any unwanted noise — in the rich greens of the surrounding foliage as well the vibrant blue skies. AUDIO: (A+) Although one wouldn't imagine such a dramatic piece would make effective use of its soundtrack, this film does. From the haunting, near-moaning vocal work on the soundtrack to the score that occasionally pumps out the base, and from the haunted house effects to the nice outdoor sound reproduction (the sound editor must have loved insects), the disc's audio always delivers and constantly sounds great. EXTRAS: Scene selection/Jump to any scene. Theatrical trailer. Production Featurette — 3 minutes of clips and comments from the movie. COMMENTS: Although this release didn't earn the critical or audience praise everyone was sure it would receive — it was snubbed at the Oscar nominations and didn't come close to making back its production budget at the box office — this is still a worthy film that comes highly recommended. While some may complain that it's too long and tedious, this lovingly mounted adaption of Toni Morrison's Pulitzer Prize winning novel of the same name features a compelling story, superb direction, and outstanding performances. Even so, it may just elicit a great deal of seat squirming in some and great impatience in others who aren't swept up in the film's powerfully creepy, but methodically slow pace. That said, while the film obviously isn't busting at the seams with enough content to justify its length, conversely it isn't too boring, although some trimming here and there would have effectively shortened its length without sacrificing any material. Nonetheless, what makes the film work so well is that slow and seemingly meandering way in which the story unfolds. Despite an early scene showing poltergeist activity, the film doesn't really get creepy until it's been given time to fester and slowly come to a boil with ever more facts gradually coming into sight. As such, the more the story is revisited and explored in hindsight, the more powerful it becomes. Most that can be attributed to Jonathan Demme -- the film's director — and the talented quartet of performers with whom he was able to work. As such, Oprah Winfrey, Thandie Newton, Kimberly Elise, and "Lethal Weapon's" Danny Glover each deliver compelling and occasionally haunting performances and truly make the film work. While a little judicious editing clearly would have made the film easier to sit through, and could have been done without sacrificing any important scenes, mood, or overall atmosphere, the film is still amazing to behold and delivers a powerfully dramatic punch. As far as the disc's technical merits, the visual and aural elements are, for the most part, superb with only a few instances of visible pixelation marring an otherwise outstanding picture. Supplemental materials, however, could have been much better and would have greatly benefitted from running audio commentaries by Demme as well as star and producer Oprah.