听 John Singleton moved from examining the American ghetto to deconstructing a typical US college campus with the slightly muddled, but powerful "Higher Learning".
Fans of the film can learn plenty about Singleton's inspiration for the movie from his commentary on the DVD. This is a good disc, although it lacks the sound mix it so richly deserves.
TECHNICAL FEATURES
Picture No complaints here for this fresh, sharp transfer.
Sound A funky music score propels the music along, but there's little bass support for it in an otherwise lively 2.0 surround mix. Bizarrely the film is available in a far more satisfying 5.1 French mix.
SPECIAL FEATURES
Audio Commentary Director John Singleton is a quietly spoken man on his commentary tracks. But he explores in detail a film he's clearly proud of.
The idea for the movie came from his days as a student at USC. He often underlines scenes by confirming that such incidents really do happen across campuses in America. Everything in the movie is apparently inspired by real life as Singleton sees it.
With the success of "Boyz N the Hood", Columbia were keen for Singleton to come up with another hit. But as John reveals, he had to fight them hard to retain elements of the film.
He argues that he wanted to touch upon themes that other filmmakers are too scared to touch. But he also felt that the studio's tinkering would jeopardise the commercial success of the film. He won the fight and the movie grossed over $20m in its opening weekend in the dead of January.
Additional Extra Features Also on the disc are cast and crew filmographies, and a trailer gallery.
TECHNICAL INFORMATION
Region: 2
Chapters: 28
Ratio: 1.85:1 (anamorphic)
Sound: Dolby Digital 2.0
Audio Tracks: Multiple languages
Subtitles: Multiple languages
Captions: None (English subtitles available)
Menus: Static
Special Features Subtitles: None of the special features come with English subtitles. Other language subtitles are available.
This DVD was reviewed on a JVC XV-S57 DVD player.
