Search - Agnes Browne on DVD

MPAA Rating: R Content Advisory: Adult Situations, Adult Language Movie Release: 1999 DVD Release: 08/22/2000 Format: DVD - Enhanced Wide Screen Letterbox for 16x9 TV,Pan and Scan - Closed Captioned Audio Tracks: English Subtitles: French, Spanish SwapaDVD Credits: 1 Number of Discs: 1 Run Time: 1 hrs 32 mins Studio: Polygram USA Video Members Wishing: 8 Genres: Comedy Drama, Period Film, Family Drama, Domestic Comedy

Actress Anjelica Huston directed and stars in this drama based on Brendan O'Carroll's novel -The Mammy. Set in Dublin in 1967, Agnes Browne (Anjelica Huston) is the mother of seven children, barely making ends meet when her husband dies, leaving her to figure out not only how to support the family, but also how to pay for a funeral. To cover the burial expenses, Agnes resorts to borrowing money from a loan shark (Ray Winstone) who isn't interested in special deals for widows or orphans. Agnes learns to scrape up a living selling fruit and vegetables, and makes sure her children get the best education possible, but self-sacrificing Agnes would like one small luxury for herself: Tom Jones will be playing a concert in town soon, and she'd like nothing more than to hear the man sing "It's Not Unusual" live and in person. A French baker with eyes for Agnes (Arno Chevrier) joins forces with her children to see that she gets her wish. Agnes Browne boasts an accurate portrayal of Ireland in the late 1960s, thanks in part to the fact that Huston spent a great deal of time there as a child; the film was shown as part of the Directors Fortnight series at the 1999 Cannes Film Festival. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

Anjelica Huston - Agnes Browne
Marion O'Dwyer - Marion Monks
Niall O'Shea - Mark Browne
Ciaran Owens - Frankie Browne
Roxanna Williams - Cathy Browne

Though USA Entertainment has released some good DVDs in the past few years, they rarely have gone out of their way. Agnes Browne is no exception. On the plus side, the image on this disc is better than average. Everything from flesh tones, to contrast, to the nice use of color comes across very well. The disc is dual-layered with both a full-frame version and the theatrical aspect ratio of 1.78:1, which does use an anamorphic transfer. The sound on the other hand, is nothing to get excited about. It's fine as it is, but the two-channel surround (which equates to a four-channel track) lacks imagination. The film is dialogue-driven, and certainly doesn't have anything that would remotely exploit the surround speakers. The only soundtrack here is in English, but there are subtitles in English, Spanish, and French. Though USA Entertainment has utilized commentaries on a couple of discs, they have never been known to be feature-intensive. Other than a trailer, this one does have some biographies and filmographies for the main actors -- a nice plus, but really nothing spectacular. ~ Trent Fordham, All Movie Guide