Reviewer's Rating 4 out of 5 Ìý User Rating 3 out of 5
In America DVD (2003)

Johnny (Paddy Considine) moves to New York with his wife Sarah (Samantha Morton) and daughters Christy and Ariel to start a new life and get over the death of their youngest son. "Flawed but still wonderful" was our opinion of it and director Jim Sheridan's film is an emotional and personal endeavour, part-based on events in his own family's history and including the casting of his daughters as the couple's children.

A Family Affair

In America DVD screengrab

The 'making of' featurette offers an insight into the dynamics of the Sheridan family and how Jim's daughters view him as a director and as a father. All contributed individual memories to create the script, which makes for an unusually honest discussion of artistic intentions. It is debatable whether the finished movie doesn't sometimes stray into emotional blackmail but the thoughts behind it are personal to the Sheridan family and they're happy to share them with us.

Humour And Pain

Sheridan's daughters, Sarah and Emma Bolger, bring some light relief and enthusiasm when they describe how they acted their scenes. Jim Sheridan also contributes some levity in his otherwise carefully thought-out commentary, which details just how much of the film is based upon real events. Along with some interesting deleted scenes, this is not your typical drama DVD.

EXTRA FEATURES

  • Audio commentary with director Jim Sheridan
  • A Personal Journey: The Making Of In America featurette
  • Nine deleted scenes
  • Preview trailers
  • This DVD was reviewed on a JVC XV-N5 DVD player.

    Technical Information

    REGION SOUND MENUS RATIO
    2 Dolby Digital 5.1 Animated, with music 1.85:1 (anamorphic)
    CHAPTERS SUBTITLES AUDIO TRACKS
    28 English English
    CAPTIONS EXTRAS SUBTITLES CERTIFICATE
    English All of the special features come with subtitles apart from the preview trailers 15

    End Credits

    Director: Jim Sheridan

    Writer: Jim Sheridan, Naomi Sheridan, Kirsten Sheridan

    Stars: Paddy Considine, Samantha Morton, Sarah Bolger, Emma Bolger, Djimon Hounsou, Randall Carlton

    Genre: Drama

    Length: 105 minutes

    Cinema: 31 October 2003

    DVD: 15 March 2004

    Country: USA