Anita And Me DVD Review

The image framed at 1.85:1 and anamorphic, looks very good indeed. Set in the 1970's the use of strong yellows and oranges could have caused some real problems, but thankfully that is not the case. The colour palette is strong and vibrant with no signs of bleed. The image is also crisp and sharp with plenty of detail in the blacks, only occasionally suffering from encoding problems, and artefacts. Flesh tones are also realistic and natural looking, and the transfer is of a very high quality for such a small budget production.

The soundtrack is just as impressive as the transfer. Not that we get much in the way of explosions and huge score, it just isn't that type of movie. More impressive is the natural, enveloping surround mix. It just brings everything to life, and you forget that you are surrounded by speakers; instead you are captivated by the performances on screen and are taken along for the ride. Dialogue on the whole is excellent, but that midlands accent will have you struggling to understand at times (unless you are from the midlands of course). This is an intelligent sound mix and assists the movie without getting in the way.

And this disc just keeps giving us more! The extras do not look like much on paper, but the substance of what is provided is excellent. A feature length commentary track with Meera Syal and Metin Huseyin is provided to talk us through the action on screen, and we soon learn just how auto biographical the story is on Meera's behalf. Meera Syal also provides a documentary on the film, which runs at an impressive 20 minutes. Deleted scenes are next, and while the picture and sound suffers, there are some really funny moments in there to enjoy. Rounding the package off is a trailer and Radio/TV spots.
British comedy cinema is back on track. I highly recommend you at least rent this disc when it is released, very funny, very moving.