The Myth Of Fingerprints

The Myth Of Fingerprints (1997)
Sony Pictures Home Entertainment
Cast: Roy Scheider, Julianne Moore, Noah Wyle
Extras: Commentary Track, Trailers, Talent Files
Rating:

’The Myth Of Fingerprints’ is a family drama with big emotions. Carefully written and directed by Bart Freundlich, the movie encapsulates everything you can image in an empathetic modern family story. It has romantic moments, deeply emotional and is also larded with bitter sweet humor.

Presented in its original 1.85:1 widescreen aspect ratio, Columbia TriStar Home Video has prepared a great looking anamorphic transfer for the film. Clean throughout, grain is only visible in a handful of scenes in this highly detailed transfer. Although the color balance appears quite natural I noticed a slight over-saturation in the red tones, which may have been done purposely to create a warmer looking image, especially in the cozy indoor environments. The transfer is free of any compression artifacts or chroma noise, making this a great looking movie.

The disc contains a Dolby Surround mix in English that is also very clean and free of noise. The frequency response is very natural, creating an ambiance for the movie that is always appropriate and warm. No sibilance or harshness is evident in the track and the frequency response is generally wide. The track makes efficient use of the surrounds while maintaining a well-balanced mix that ensures that dialogues are always audible and understandable.
A commentary track by director Bart Freundlich and the movie’s cinematographer Stephen Kamierski is also part of the release. They discuss many aspects of the production and offer some nice production insight in the movie. Many shots are dissected and explained how they came about.

’The Myth Of Fingerprints’ is a film that builds slowly and captivates viewers with its magical atmosphere. Taking time to establish characters and setting them up, the film then slowly but steadily begins to unfold and the entire lifelines of the family, their loves and relationships are explored. This film is nothing if you want to see a powered up movie, but for something a little more thoughtful and deep, ’The Myth Of Fingerprints’ makes for some great movie entertainment.