Search - Gray's Anatomy on DVD

MPAA Rating: NR Content Advisory: Questionable for Children, Adult Humor, Profanity Movie Release: 1996 DVD Release: 06/29/1999 Format: DVD Audio Tracks: English SwapaDVD Credits: 1 Number of Discs: 1 Run Time: 1 hrs 20 mins Studio: Fox Lorber Members Wishing: 5 Genres: Comedy, Biography, Illnesses & Disabilities, Performance Art, Standup Comedy

Writer/actor Spalding Gray is best known for his lengthy and insightful and sharply humorous onstage monologues, two of which, Swimming to Cambodia and Monster in a Box, have been filmed and released theatrically. Gray's Anatomy is also a filmed performance of a monologue he performed in 1993. Whereas the other two films had a focus on satire and humor, this one is a little more serious. Unlike the other two movies, it is less stagey and contains some interesting visuals and even a couple of interviews. The subject is Gray's bout with an eye ailment that caused him to go upon a world-wide journey in order to find a treatment alternative to the surgery he so feared and objected to on religious grounds. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

Spalding Gray

Famed storyteller Spalding Gray's witty, shocking tale of alternative medicine and eye ailments is more of a treat than one might expect on DVD. For one thing, it packs a visceral visual punch. Director Steven Soderbergh, Gray, co-writer Renee Shafransky, and cinematographer Elliot Davis have crafted truly exquisite set pieces as visual imagery for Gray's wild journey, and the DVD serves them up marvelously. Colors are bold and rich, while the black-and-white segments are interesting and stark; strobe lights, smoke effects, and photographed backdrops, all part of the artsy cinematic collage, amaze and delight, despite the conversion to a pan-and-scan presentation. The stereo sound is more than adequate in allowing Gray's flights of fancy to take off. The DVD does lose some ground in the supplement department. Where background on Gray's condition or at least an update would be most welcome, one gets only second-rate production credits (a one-page list of primary cast and crew) and a bland filmography/awards section for Gray and Soderbergh. The two-and-one-half-minute trailer gives away too many of the movie's punch lines, so it's to be avoided until after one has viewed the movie. Scene access gives instant access to the DVD's six chapters via still frames and chapter titles. ~ Tim DiGravina, All Movie Guide