For movie junkies, Oscar season is both the best and worst of times. As the hype surrounding the year’s most outstanding achievements in film reaches a fever pitch, it is nearly impossible, logistically and financially, to satisfy the craving to see all of the nominated pictures. At $11.00+ a pop, the movie fan must sometimes take it to the street. In this case, that street is Queens Boulevard in Elmhurst, where $5.00 will get you a taste of the most-nominated film of the year: Bill Condon’s Dreamgirls.
Cinematography: B
Either the cinematographer is an extremely disciplined yoga student or a conspicuous tripod was utilized in the making of this film. Aside from a man with a very large baseball hat obscuring the screen at the 39-minute mark, the camera work is steady throughout. Eddie Murphy’s pomp and Beyonce’s rump both translate with vivid clarity.
Audio: C-
Had this been a neo-realist art house exercise, “scratched Motown 45 played on a toy mono phonograph” would have been an interesting aesthetic choice. The dialogue is virtually inaudible, but, what the hell, it’s a musical. Background noise is limited to a few surges in applause (Jennifer Hudson’s showpiece “And I Am Telling You I Am Not Going” and Eddie Murphy’s “I Want You Baby” both drew heavy audience response), the occasional “Amen!” and some popcorn bag ambiance. Just like being in the theatre with a malfunctioning hearing aid.
Performances: B+
Based on the singing, dancing, and this reviewer’s interpretation of facial tics, eye acting, and voice volume shifts, Eddie Murphy and Jennifer Hudson’s Oscar noms are well deserved. Oscar voters sadly overlooked Danny Glover’s stylized delivery of garbled dialogue.
Story: C
If one reads the synopsis on the back of DVD container and views the trailer on YouTube, the plot will mostly make sense. The use of montage and musical numbers advance the plot rapidly, making this an ideal film to enjoy in pirated form. The disc ends mercifully at the two-hour mark, presumably before the end of the theatrical version.
Music: B-
One guesses that in the multiplex or on CD, the music would probably be a bit too slick to capture the energy of 1960’s and 70’s R&B. However, poorly recorded and burned to a cheap DVD, the soundtrack reclaims the gritty quality of the time period represented.
Packaging: B
The color printing on the DVD case is top-notch (no dot matrix job here!). One complaint: the credits printed on the back of the box are actually for V for Vendetta.
Overall: B-
Are there better quality bootlegs of Dreamgirls out there? Probably. But this particular print is a tangible proof that—from Jennifer Hudson’s improbable rise to fame to a Korean junk vendor’s perseverance in the face of copyright law—the American dream is still attainable.
-- Brett Essler
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