Search - Ponette on DVD

Ponette

01/01/2001

(3 out of 5 stars)

"Amazon asks us to rate the DVD, not the film, so here is my assessment. Anyone who is a fan of French film should stop buying DVDs produced by Fox Lorber. "Ponette" is produced by Fox Lorber, and once again the company has demonstrated it knows nothing about cinema as an art form and cares little about exploiting the inherent advantages of the DVD medium.Originally shot in widescreen format, Fox Lorber has given us "Ponette" in reduced form (1.33 to 1). While many of the film's shots are close-ups, the reduced aspect ratio severely hampers the contrasting visual effect of the wide panoramic shots of the splendid lyonnais countryside.In addition, Fox Lorber shortchanges foreign-film aficionados and language teachers by allowing no user control of the film's subtitles. Finally, this DVD lacks a chronometer (time remaining, time elapsed) for easy scene/shot retrieval. The "extras" Fox Lorber gives users are not worth mentioning, and were not worth the very tiny effort Fox Lorber made to include them.In short, "Ponette" is a wonderful film that is definitely worth seeing (try renting it through Facets if your local video store doesn't carry it), but this Fox Lorber-produced DVD is definitely NOT worth spending your money on.When Fox Lorber decides to start devoting care, effort, and money into its DVDs, then people should reward this through their purchases. Until then, as long as Fox Lorber gives us second-rate products, we should refuse to give them our money."

Excellent, Outstanding, Beautiful

J. C. Vera | Miami, Fl United States | 12/12/1999

(5 out of 5 stars)

"It's hard to find the words to express how this film made me feel (surprisingly I found myself crying just 4 minutes into the movie); but I must declare that it has certainly moved me deeply. I have seen few movies where the performances are as believable as this one. The storyline is simple yet beautiful. The cinematography is perfectly carried out from light tones into the colours of fall/winter. And the ending (while not "loved" by all viewers) is moving and brings a lot of hope to anyone who has ever experience a heartache (or life for that matter). I happened to see "Ponette" at a time when I nearly lost my mom to an illness and it made me realise the importance of keeping the faith and maintaining my heart open . This film has quickly made it into my list of top flicks. I recommend it to all people, even if you are not into "sad" films (I for one was not before this one), You are gonna love the movie and you'll ADORE little Victorie Thivisol. Thank You Amy for recommending me this film."

Simply the best film about children ever made.

Joanna Daneman | 09/03/1999

(5 out of 5 stars)

"There are some great films about kids--Kolya, My Life As A Dog, The Grand Highway, Forbidden Games--and even some of the Disney films aren't bad, such as the remake of Parent Trap. Not to mention the Our Gang series and the Shirley Temple films, many of which hold up remarkably well. But Ponette stands by itself, as you can probably tell from the other reviews here. One film buff told me it's the first movie she's ever seen that made her cry. Now by "cry" I don't mean you'll be dabbing at your eyes with a Kleenex or two. You're going to need the whole box. Seeing it with a friend? Get a second box. It doesn't even need the element of surprise. I've only seen it once, two years ago, in a theatre. You know how at the end of a film everyone gets up, yakking about where to go for a bite to eat and whatnot? At the end of Ponette all you could hear was sniffling. Unique in my theatre-going experience. Even now I can't talk about it without tearing up. But please don't avoid it because you're afraid it will make you too sad. Ponette may break your heart but you'll be a better person for it, and you'll thank Doillon and Thivisol and the rest of the cast and crew and distributors for it. It's the kind of film that inspires kindness, not moroseness. Ever after, when you feel the urge to do something mean-spirited, you'll see Ponette's face and that may well change your mind. If this sounds a over the top you just haven't seen this film. The original purpose of art was to inspire people to live up to their society's ideals, and do it in an entertaining, compelling way. This does that in spades. I've read some reviews that called it slow moving, pointless etc. I feel sorry for those reviewers. You will too.I'm also writing Fox/Lorber to beg them to reissue this on DVD in letterbox. I can't believe they'd think the kind of people who'd buy a DVD of Ponette are the sort of yahoos who'd want a third of the image cut away. --Lee Thé"

Movie is great, but yet another poor DVD.

srgranger | California United States | 12/18/1999

(2 out of 5 stars)

"I'll skip the movie itself review. You can easily tell that it's a great movie by all the other reviews. What I'll focus on is the DVD itself. One point for it is that it has a menu. It goes down hill there as the DVD only has Stereo sound. This might be due to the original's lack of budget but I began to wonder when I see this classic movie is only pan and scan. Fox/Lorber has seen fit to put hard subtitles whether or not we can understand French. This is a DVD which could have been a lot better. It's a shame that we get such great movies done in substandard DVDs. Bowfinger is going to be 16:9, Widescreen, and Pan&Scan; plus DTS sound & lots of extras. Couldn't Fox/Lorber have done this movie with at least a widescreen version and removeable subtitles? Look at A Better Tomorrow to see how good a foriegn film can be put onto a DVD. It's really a shame to have the shoddy DVD for such a fine movie. And it could have been so much more."