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Waking The Dead
List Price: Unknown [Buy now and save at Amazon]
The Movie:
After audiences were more formally introduced to actor Billy Crudup in Cameron Crowe's picture "Almost Famous", I'm sure some of that audience is wondering just what he's been in; there have certainly been many other recent performances from the actor ("Without Limits"), but there are two additional pictures this year staring the actor that were overlooked. Along with "Jesus' Son" there was "Waking The Dead", a well-acted and engaging drama that really didn't connect at the box office - it opened on March 26, 2000 and closed on April 9th of 2000, according to the Internet Movie Database. There are some off-choices in the way the film was done; the pacing is sometimes overly slow, but it's the actors who carry the viewer through the film to the final question.
Crudup plays Fielding Pierce, a young politican who is haunted by the memories of his former activist girlfriend, Sarah (Jennifer Connelly). He sees her, he practically can reach out and touch her, but doesn't quite make it. Those around him remember her, and we are given additional flashbacks and story about the love than the two shared. That romance is the central part of the story, and should have been the main focus of the piece. And yet, that's not always the case. There are side-tales and sub-stories that are occasionally followed and it takes away from the flow of the movie.
Still, it's amazing putting the pieces together from Crudup's recent history of performances; each character a different look, a different tone, a completely different twist. And being a relatively unknown performer, he can still really easily sink into the role and become that character. He does it again here, where he works very well with Jennifer Connelly, who looks as beautiful as she always has, and contributes a fine performance. The two have good chemistry together, and that's the all-important element in a film like this one where if we didn't care about these two characters, the film would definitely begin to drag.
The film revolves around the belief that true love will always live on; in another film this could really play hokey, but here, Crudup's performance really delivers the belief. "Waking The Dead" met with mixed reaction during its release, and although I can see where some audiences would not go for this film, or have their attention to the picture wander, I really found myself enjoying it, and looking beyond its problems. When you take it down to the essentials, "Waking The Dead" is a good, emotional love story. And a well-acted one, as well.
Note: In the DVD insert, there is a message from director Keith Gordon that says "There are several things on this DVD that I'm particularly happy about. One are the deleted scenes. There are over 45 minutes of them, with some amazing performances by Ed Harris, Sandra Oh and Janet McTeer(among others), all of whom got cheated in the process of cutting the film to a realistic length. The other is tomandandy's terrific score, which never got the soundtrack release it deserved due to timing and legal complications. But most of it is on this DVD, with a different complete "cue" (sometimes two) playing under each on-screen menu. Enjoy! (although it's nice that these pieces of score play on the menu, it's unfortunate that there is no isolated score).
The DVD
VIDEO: After an underwhelming presentation with director Stanley Tucci's "Joe Gould's Secret", USA Films does slightly improve here, but still comes up short in a few areas. Sharpness is generally very good, although a couple of scenes seem slightly soft. Detail is fine, although some darker scenes seem slightly murky, and lack clarity a little bit. This is unfortunate, because cinematographer Tom Richardson's work here is often beautiful. Sometimes there is very slight grain, but this seems to be intentional.
Other problems do appear. Pixelation does show up briefly in a few scenes, but this does not prove to be a major distraction. The print used is in good condition, with only a slight speckle or two.
Colors are very enjoyable; occasionally the color palette becomes more subdued, but during some scenes, colors are rich and warm, looking well-saturated and without any problems. This is often a good looking presentation, but there are the occasional scenes that slightly run into some flaws.
SOUND: The film's Dolby Digital 5.1 soundtrack is definitely a dialogue/music driven affair, with the terrific score by TomandAndy taking center stage for a great deal of the film. Surrounds come into play for the music, but not really for anything other than that. The score sounds clean, clear and warm; dialogue is clear and easily understood. This is an enjoyable soundtrack that gets the job done, but is really not showy - nor does it need to be.
MENUS:: Menus are non-animated, although, as previously mentioned, the score does play in the backgrounds of the menus.
EXTRAS::
Commentary: This is a commentary from director Keith Gordon that is very engaging and very enjoyable. The director genuinely seems to enjoy participating in audio commentaries (which is also apparent in his talk for New Line's "Mother Night"). In fact, he really does a fine job here sharing all of the important details that went into the making of "Waking the Dead". Early on, he also mentions that he hopes that his commentary won't be edited (apparently, his "Mother Night" commentary did have some edits), and generally speaks kindly of his cast and crew.
I liked the way that Gordon was able to give praise to the people he worked with, and then moved forward into really giving some solid details about the way that the production worked, such as improv that the cast did and the kind of first reactions that he recieved as he worked on editing the film early on. The director leads us through stories from the set and technical information in an organized and enjoyable fashion; it's easily one of the better commentaries that I've heard in quite a while.
Deleted Scenes: There is a whole lot: of deleted footage from the film, and director Keith Gordon provides an optional commentary to the scenes. There is almost a whole other short film's worth of scenes here, over 45 minutes worth. The director wanted to have more to work with for the story's nature, but wanted to keep the film to a reasonable length - so unfortunately, there are some good scenes here that were taken out due to varied reasons, the main one of which seems to be time. These scenes thankfully can be played one-by-one and although they are not in the same condition as the final film, they still are very watchable.
Also: A Short featurette on the making of the film, the theatrical trailer and cast/crew bios.
Final Thoughts: Strangely, as of this writing, "Waking The Dead" seems to be in short supply as far as I've seen. I think that it's a fine film though, with great performances, and the DVD is worth seeking out.
After audiences were more formally introduced to actor Billy Crudup in Cameron Crowe's picture "Almost Famous", I'm sure some of that audience is wondering just what he's been in; there have certainly been many other recent performances from the actor ("Without Limits"), but there are two additional pictures this year staring the actor that were overlooked. Along with "Jesus' Son" there was "Waking The Dead", a well-acted and engaging drama that really didn't connect at the box office - it opened on March 26, 2000 and closed on April 9th of 2000, according to the Internet Movie Database. There are some off-choices in the way the film was done; the pacing is sometimes overly slow, but it's the actors who carry the viewer through the film to the final question.
Crudup plays Fielding Pierce, a young politican who is haunted by the memories of his former activist girlfriend, Sarah (Jennifer Connelly). He sees her, he practically can reach out and touch her, but doesn't quite make it. Those around him remember her, and we are given additional flashbacks and story about the love than the two shared. That romance is the central part of the story, and should have been the main focus of the piece. And yet, that's not always the case. There are side-tales and sub-stories that are occasionally followed and it takes away from the flow of the movie.
Still, it's amazing putting the pieces together from Crudup's recent history of performances; each character a different look, a different tone, a completely different twist. And being a relatively unknown performer, he can still really easily sink into the role and become that character. He does it again here, where he works very well with Jennifer Connelly, who looks as beautiful as she always has, and contributes a fine performance. The two have good chemistry together, and that's the all-important element in a film like this one where if we didn't care about these two characters, the film would definitely begin to drag.
The film revolves around the belief that true love will always live on; in another film this could really play hokey, but here, Crudup's performance really delivers the belief. "Waking The Dead" met with mixed reaction during its release, and although I can see where some audiences would not go for this film, or have their attention to the picture wander, I really found myself enjoying it, and looking beyond its problems. When you take it down to the essentials, "Waking The Dead" is a good, emotional love story. And a well-acted one, as well.
Note: In the DVD insert, there is a message from director Keith Gordon that says "There are several things on this DVD that I'm particularly happy about. One are the deleted scenes. There are over 45 minutes of them, with some amazing performances by Ed Harris, Sandra Oh and Janet McTeer(among others), all of whom got cheated in the process of cutting the film to a realistic length. The other is tomandandy's terrific score, which never got the soundtrack release it deserved due to timing and legal complications. But most of it is on this DVD, with a different complete "cue" (sometimes two) playing under each on-screen menu. Enjoy! (although it's nice that these pieces of score play on the menu, it's unfortunate that there is no isolated score).
The DVD
VIDEO: After an underwhelming presentation with director Stanley Tucci's "Joe Gould's Secret", USA Films does slightly improve here, but still comes up short in a few areas. Sharpness is generally very good, although a couple of scenes seem slightly soft. Detail is fine, although some darker scenes seem slightly murky, and lack clarity a little bit. This is unfortunate, because cinematographer Tom Richardson's work here is often beautiful. Sometimes there is very slight grain, but this seems to be intentional.
Other problems do appear. Pixelation does show up briefly in a few scenes, but this does not prove to be a major distraction. The print used is in good condition, with only a slight speckle or two.
Colors are very enjoyable; occasionally the color palette becomes more subdued, but during some scenes, colors are rich and warm, looking well-saturated and without any problems. This is often a good looking presentation, but there are the occasional scenes that slightly run into some flaws.
SOUND: The film's Dolby Digital 5.1 soundtrack is definitely a dialogue/music driven affair, with the terrific score by TomandAndy taking center stage for a great deal of the film. Surrounds come into play for the music, but not really for anything other than that. The score sounds clean, clear and warm; dialogue is clear and easily understood. This is an enjoyable soundtrack that gets the job done, but is really not showy - nor does it need to be.
MENUS:: Menus are non-animated, although, as previously mentioned, the score does play in the backgrounds of the menus.
EXTRAS::
Commentary: This is a commentary from director Keith Gordon that is very engaging and very enjoyable. The director genuinely seems to enjoy participating in audio commentaries (which is also apparent in his talk for New Line's "Mother Night"). In fact, he really does a fine job here sharing all of the important details that went into the making of "Waking the Dead". Early on, he also mentions that he hopes that his commentary won't be edited (apparently, his "Mother Night" commentary did have some edits), and generally speaks kindly of his cast and crew.
I liked the way that Gordon was able to give praise to the people he worked with, and then moved forward into really giving some solid details about the way that the production worked, such as improv that the cast did and the kind of first reactions that he recieved as he worked on editing the film early on. The director leads us through stories from the set and technical information in an organized and enjoyable fashion; it's easily one of the better commentaries that I've heard in quite a while.
Deleted Scenes: There is a whole lot: of deleted footage from the film, and director Keith Gordon provides an optional commentary to the scenes. There is almost a whole other short film's worth of scenes here, over 45 minutes worth. The director wanted to have more to work with for the story's nature, but wanted to keep the film to a reasonable length - so unfortunately, there are some good scenes here that were taken out due to varied reasons, the main one of which seems to be time. These scenes thankfully can be played one-by-one and although they are not in the same condition as the final film, they still are very watchable.
Also: A Short featurette on the making of the film, the theatrical trailer and cast/crew bios.
Final Thoughts: Strangely, as of this writing, "Waking The Dead" seems to be in short supply as far as I've seen. I think that it's a fine film though, with great performances, and the DVD is worth seeking out.
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