Then She Found Me (Blu-ray)

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Though Bernice is an offbeat character, Hunt gets the normally ebullient Midler to tone it down a bit, which gives us the best of both worlds: the quirkiness AND the real-feeling character. And while it's not a director's decision, but rather a personal one, it's admirable to see a naturally aging Hunt rather than a collagen-injected movie star, which also goes a long way toward making us believe this is all so real. Top-notch performances and an intelligent, quirky script that colors outside the lines makes "Then She Found Me" a delight to watch.

Video:
For an indie film, "Then She Found Me" looks pretty good in 1080p widescreen (1.78:1 aspect ratio), filling out the entire 16x9 monitor. It's a soft picture, though, which certainly fits the tone of the movie, with colors looking natural and not too bright and detail evident in close-ups, especially. There's a slight graininess, but it adds texture to the film rather than detracting from it.

Audio:
The featured soundtrack is a surprising DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1, that pops with clarity and rich tones, with rear speakers delivering enough sound to reinforce the ambience of scenes, especially outdoor shots. There's also a Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround option, with subtitles in English SDH and Spanish.

Extras:
There's not much in the way of extras, but what's here is superb. Hunt begins her full-length commentary by saying she's directing it at first-time filmmakers and admits that she listened commentaries of her favorite films and learned a lot. She's still so new to the process that Hunt shares what she learned from her reading, from her observations of other films, and from conversations with other directors like James Brooks-especially Brooks' dictum that you have to have a "movie" under the movie, an underlying driving thesis-of-sorts that can be summarized in a single sentence. In this case, Hunt said, it's "You can't really love until you come to terms with betrayal." From scene to scene and sequence to sequence Hunt methodically shares all that she's learned, pointing out when and why she chose to do such things as long takes or when she uses long shots, or when and why she uses dissolves instead of hard cuts. And so would-be filmmakers really have a wonderful resource here. Casual viewers will also learn a lot on this enjoyable commentary track. It's one of the best I've heard.

The only other bonus features, aside from the theatrical trailer, are behind-the-scenes footage and cast interviews with Hunt (the longest at just under 10 minutes), Midler ("I wanted to give her what she wanted . . . it was her baby"), Broderick and Firth. Hunt's and Midler's interviews (with questions asked by an unidentified woman off-camera) are the best, but everyone is candid and has at least a few substantial things to say.

Bottom Line:
I've heard some critics call this a "chick flick." Well, it might seem so to people whose idea of entertainment is a steady diet of action films and beer commercials. But for serious movie-lovers, "Then She Found Me" is a rewarding experience. It's a small film, but one which feels so authentic that you can't help but appreciate the slice-of-life approach. And the laughs feel like an act of grace.

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