Perth - Djinn

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S E A R C H D V D B e a v e r

directed by Djinn
Singapore 2004

The beaches of the Australian city of Perth is the dream retirement destination of 51 year old Singaporean cab driver Harry Lee (Lim Kay Tong, BROKEDOWN PALACE) who was laid off six months before from his job as a security guard and is finding himself coming up short with retirement funds (his ex-wife also took off with a chunk of his money). With his relationship with his own son Darius (Kevin Murphy, AVATAR) virtually non-existent, Harry's only friend is fellow cab driver Selvam (A. Panneeirchelvam). Harry's former supervisor Angry Boy Lee (Sunny Pang, THE MAID) gets Harry and Selvam jobs driving up-market hookers to their clients at night. Harry falls for hooker Mai (Ivy Cheng) and wants to save her from her lifestyle. Since the plot sounds vaguely like TAXI DRIVER (and the publicity materials proclaim it Singapore's answer to the Scorsese film; which is not one of American films banned in Singapore), things take a violent and bloody turn...

Eric Cotenas

Theatrical Release: 18 August 2005 (Singapore)

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DVD Review: Tartan Video (Tartan Asia Extreme) - Region 1 - NTSC

Big thanks to Eric Cotenas for the Review!

DVD Box Cover		CLICK to order from:
Distribution	Tartan Video Region 1 - NTSC
Runtime	1:47:04
Video	1.80:1 Original Aspect Ratio 16X9 enhanced Average Bitrate: 6.42 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/Mandarin/Vietnamese/Hokkien/Malay DTS 5.1, Dolby Digital 5.1, and Dolby Digital 2.0 stereo
Subtitles	English, Spanish, none
Features	Release Information: Studio: Tartan Video Aspect Ratio: Widescreen anamorphic - 1.80:1 Edition Details: • Audio Commentary by writer/director Djinn and producer • Audio Commentary by star Lim Kay Tong • Deleted Scenes with commentary by star Lim Kay Tong (4:3; 5:47) • Set Design featurette (4:3; 11:16) • Theatrical Trailer (4:3; 1:35) • Trailers for LADY VENGEANCE, OLDBOY, ONE TAKE ONLY, SYMPATHY FOR MR. VENGEANCE, and SPIDER FOREST DVD Release Date: 16 January 2007 Amaray Chapters 16

Comments

Tartan's OOP DVD is non-anamorphic widescreen and interlaced (the lack of 16:9 enhancement is regrettable but Tartan's other Singapore title THE MAID was a 4:3 widescreen master stretched to 16:9 so it is just as well that they left this one alone). The interlaced image is a little soft but the film also is deliberately gritty (having been shot in Super 16 and blown up). The film is mostly in English with optional English or Spanish subtitles for some intermittent dialogue in Mandarin, Vietnamese, Hokkien, and Malay (the DTS, Dolby 5.1 and the 2.0 downmix are all fine).

The largely technical director commentary by Djinn is introduced by the producer and was recorded by the director himself in Los Angeles (inside a cupboard for sound quality). Star Lim Kay Tong provides an amiable second commentary track that is both analytical and anecdotal. Tong also provides optional commentary on a handful of deleted scenes. A set design featurette and theatrical trailer round out the film's extras and trailers for some of Tartan's other Asian titles round out the entire package.

- Eric Cotenas

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