Directed by Anthony Minghella
UK / USA
2006

 

  Anthony Minghella gets to the relationship heart of darkness in “Breaking and Entering,” his ode to the evils of attraction and the vulnerability of desire. Sharply observed human interaction is found in every corner, along with performances to back up all this heartache. The ending blows, but there’s so much to feast on prior to it that a little rough patch doesn’t hurt the film’s stride in the least.


Stymied in a thorny relationship with his long-term girlfriend, Liv (Robin Wright-Penn), and fathering an autistic daughter, Will (Jude Law) unearths a temporary reprieve from his domestic troubles when the architecture firm he co-owns is broken into by a teen criminal (Ravi Gavron). When Will discovers the boy’s identity, he decides not to call the police, but to draw in the culprit by befriending his Bosnian mother, Amira (Juliette Binoche). What begins as cunning revenge soon blossoms into a love affair: Will presenting his aching, lonely heart to Amira, and Amira using this heated moment of infidelity to protect her son.

Writer/director Anthony Minghella treasures his actors. His previous film was the exquisite epic “Cold Mountain,” and even in the face of a hefty budget, faraway locations, and a sweeping storyline, Minghella made time for those outstanding moments of communication between the actors and their pure expression of the soul.

Excerpt from ECritic.com located HERE

Posters

Theatrical Release: September 13th, 2006 - Toronto Film Festival

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DVD Review: Weinstein Company - Region 1 - NTSC

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Distribution Weinstein Company - Region 1 - NTSC
Runtime 1:58:36 
Video 2.35:1 Aspect Ratio
Average Bitrate: 6.33 mb/s
NTSC 720x480 29.97 f/s

NOTE: The Vertical axis represents the bits transferred per second. The Horizontal is the time in minutes.

Bitrate:

Audio English (Dolby Digital 5.1), DUB: French (Dolby Digital 5.1)
Subtitles English, Spanish, None
Features

Release Information:
Studio: Weinstein Company

Aspect Ratio:
Original Aspect Ratio 2.35:1

Edition Details:

• Commentary by director/writer Anthony Minghella
• Featurette: Lie. Cheat. Steal. Love. The Making of Breaking and Entering (12:50)
• 6 Deleted Scenes with optional Minghella commentary
• Theatrical trailer

DVD Release Date: May 8th, 2007

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Chapters: 16

 

 

Comments:

Minghella is a master film constructionist and this is another of his fascinating, intelligent and complex stories woven together with foreshadowing dialogue and strong performances. A very entertaining and emotionally probing film though a notch below some of his previous work.

Beautiful anamorphic and progressive transfer in the impressive 2.35 scope ratio with a very strong film-like appearance. The image quality is exceptionally sharp supported by pristine contrast and muted colors. There are no flaws whatsoever in this dual-layered DVD's appearance. It would seem to be close to HD quality in my opinion (reference the screen captures below). There is a largely untested 5.1 track (and similar French DUB) with optional English (CC) or Spanish subtitles.

There are some good supplements starting with an evenly paced commentary by director/writer Minghella. He has a gentle voice that expands on many details of the film that only someone in his position of creation could relate - including alternative directions in which the story never evolved. He praises many of the performances and remarks at his own good fortune being able to work with such a competent cast. I found it well-worth listening to and it improved my appreciation of both the man and his film. There is a 12 minute featurette entitled Lie. Cheat. Steal. Love. The Making of Breaking and Entering. It gives a nice overview in lieu of Minghella's more articulating commentary. There are also 6 deleted scenes (about 8 minutes worth) with optional Minghella commentary - they are mostly part of the discussion of alternate directions and inclusions of the storyline - perhaps a bit of overkill for the complex plot. Overall this is a superb DVD - fabulous transfer of an emotionally rewarding film chock-full of relevant extras. I recommend this DVD as it has excellent value in my opinion.  

Gary W. Tooze

 

 



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DVD Box Cover

   

CLICK to order from:

Distribution Weinstein Company - Region 1 - NTSC




 

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