DVD: Hana & Alice (HVE)

Order

Hana & Alice


English DVD Title (Region 1)

Hana & Alice

Sound:

Japanese (2.0 Surround)

Subtitles:
Length:
Release:
Company
:
Discs:
Aspect Ratio:

English
135 minutes
2007
HVE
1
1.78:1 Anamorphic

Movie:

Hana & Alice

DVD

Extras

  • Menus (English)
  • Chapters (12)
  • Trailers: Hana & Alice (TV Spot)
  • Behind-the-Scenes Featurette (65 minutes)

Captures


Review

By: Anthony Romero

This DVD release of Hana & Alice by Home Vision Entertainment (HVE) is yet another solid offering from the company. While there isn't a standout feature that particularly shines, the disc performs well in all key areas, including video, audio, and supplementary content.


 Video: Star Rating


HVE has a pretty good track record for the video quality on their Japanese titles, and Hana & Alice is no exception. The video is a bit harder to critique, though, due to the source material. Shunji Iwai, who edited the movie as well as directed it, tends to love a multitude of editing techniques such as blur, color tints, and over saturation. This makes the material a bit harder to "grade" for the transfer process, but despite this one can still conclude that the release has excellent colors, with very vibrant shades when the movie permits. There is some slight noise to the video track, but nothing too bad and comes off more like natural film grain. Having not seen the movie prior, it's very possible the grain look was digitally added by the filmmakers, though. Anyway, the print used also features no scratches or other overt signs of film damage. The movie could have stood to look a little sharper, but still contains a good amount of detail.

Hana & Alice is presented in its original aspect ratio of 1.78:1, and is Anamorphic for widescreen TVs.

 

 Audio: Star Rating


The DVD has one audio track, which is the movie in two channel surround. The directionality isn't all that impressive, but then the movie isn't really the variety to utilize it that much. What can be said is that the audio track included is in perfect condition, without any snaps or crackles that one would associate with older productions, and features no notable inconsistencies.

The audio is complimented by removable English subtitles. The subtitle job is adequate, but sometimes leaves out a word or two and could have probably done with a final proof reading.

 

 Extras: Star Rating


The disc contains two extras. The first is a very short TV spot for the production, roughly 16 seconds. The second is a very lengthy and well done featurette looking at the making of the film. This covers nearly every angle of the production, doing a behind-the-scenes look at a huge number of scenes from Hana & Alice. Aspects such as ballet practice and interviews with the staff and cast are also sprinkled in, making this a very interesting supplement for fans of the film to busy themselves with.

On a tech side note, the featurette includes removable English subtitles and is presented in a 1.33:1 aspect ratio, or full screen.

 

 Overview: Star Rating


Bottom line, HVE has done a pretty stellar job with this release. It has no real weaknesses, and has a pretty strong showing across the board. It does sell for a slight premium price, but this is nothing new for Japanese cinema DVDs and the actual contents of the disc are produced with a good level of care here from the company.