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Alternative Cinema

Region 0 - NTSC

1.78:1 Original Aspect Ratio

16X9 enhanced
Average Bitrate: 5.25 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.

Aspect Ratio:
Widescreen anamorphic - 1.78:1

Edition Details:
• Audio Commentary by writer/director/editor/composer Tony Marsiglia and producer/assistant director Donna Kane
• Slideshow
• Deleted Scene (16:9; 2:26)
• Disc 2 (see below)

DVD Release Date:
Amaray

Chapters 1

Alternative Cinema's single-layer anamorphic widescreen DVD seems to suitably represent this HD production in SD. The noisy, sometimes blown-out look of the film owes as much to the rushed schedule, lighting, and stolen location shooting as it likely does some post-production color tweaks to make it look grimmer. There is no dialogue, but the Dolby Digital 2.0 stereo soundtrack is shot through with dissonant music cues and piercing screams. A single deleted scene is included, offering what at first seems to be a welcome moment of comfort amidst the feature's relentlessly downbeat tone. On the audio commentary, Marsiglia discusses the origins of the project (from working the graveyard shift as a Yellow Cab driver in Anaheim during his college years), the short shooting schedule (a Christmas 4-day weekend to take advantage of reduced rates for the Sony HD camera and meager lighting package), as well as the budget (locations were stolen whenever possible and much of the money went to the actors). A slideshow rounds out the package for disc 1 (see below for disc 2).

Alternative Cinema's 2-disc set is out of print, but unopened stock is available directly from the filmmakers via eBay.

- Eric Cotenas

Alternative Cinema

Region 0 - NTSC

1.78:1 Original Aspect Ratio

16X9 enhanced
Average Bitrate: 3.99 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.

Aspect Ratio:
Widescreen anamorphic - 1.78:1

Edition Details:
• Audio Commentary by director Tony Marsiglia
• Slideshow
• Interviews (4:3; 37:50)

DVD Release Date:
Amaray

Chapters 1

Alternative Cinema's single-layer, anamorphic, interlaced presentation of this monochrome feature is generally attractive, but aliasing is regrettably sometimes evident on fine lines. Director Marsiglia discusses the dreadful experience of realizing his first feature, originally planned as a 16mm feature - substandard blow-ups of the surviving test footage appear at the end - but eventually undertaken in 35mm. He admits to having conflicts with the cinematographer because he came from a stage background and could not always communicate his wants in "film language" (and spent a few years before mounting his next film learning the craft). He admits that he threw in as many elements as possible into his first feature thinking he's never make a film beyond this one (an impulse/mistake with which many indie filmmakers are probably familiar).

The lengthy, loosely-structured interview segment with actress Aisha Prigann (shot in Barcelona thirteen years after the production shoot) finds her reflecting on the project (which she considers a more instructive film school that the program in which she was enrolled at the time). She mentions that the film was retitled ASHES AND FLAMES - under which it was released on VHS - because Columbia Pictures was producing a film called PHOENIX at the time, but the disc presentation bears the original title. The talk is a tad repetitive, possibly because she appears to have shot it herself as informal recollections rather than a structured interview with a prompter (or at least some scripting). A slideshow is also included.

- Eric Cotenas