Talk to Me [DVD Combo]

This is one of those important stories that need to be told. At the time of Petey Greene, racial tensions wee extremely high. The acceptance of blacks was just starting to improve when the murder of King occurred. It was a horribly sad day for our nation and Petey Greene had an important role in quelling the angry rioters. He was the voice of African Americans that asked for peace and equality at a time when they needed a voice. He spoke for everyman and he was as honest in his views and words as any man could have been. This film takes a surface look at his rise and fall, but "Talk to Me" is a fine look at a man who helped change both radio and racial relations.

Director Kasi Lemmons has spent far more time in front of the camera than behind it, but "Talk to Me" is a nice follow-up to her previous films "Eve´s Bayou" and "The Caveman´s Valentine." The Seventies was a colorful and diverse era in our nation´s history. Part of the allure of "Talk to Me" is the expert manner in which Lemmons and her team of filmmakers has captured the essence of the Seventies. The music chosen is superb. Costumes and sets should bring back fond memories to viewers who lived through the days of Petey Greene. She mixes history and entertainment very nicely and this is one of those rare biographical films that is never dull. "Talk to Me" is well acted and it is a story that is masterfully told. This is a film I highly recommend.

Video:

The VC-1 encoded 2.35:1 film "Talk to Me" looks clean on HD-DVD, but the work done by director of photography Stephane Fontaine and director Kasi Lemmons has resulted in a very soft looking film that pays homage to the films of the Seventies, but doesn´t necessarily translate to a strong looking HD-DVD release. Colors are strong and vibrant and there is a wealth of orange hues present in this film, as well as meddlesome reds. The transfer does a strong job with these bright colors and the remaining colors of the rainbow, which are all nicely saturated. Detail is adequate, but the intentional soft look of the film allows it to look only marginally better than a DVD release. Darker scenes show off good black levels, but shadow detail was slightly weak; perhaps due to the soft filtering. This was a very clean transfer that didn´t show any digital flaws or faults from the print. I was satisfied with the look of "Talk to Me," but this is an HD-DVD title that isn´t going to impress many people.

Sound:

The selectable sound options for "Talk to Me" are English Dolby TrueHD 5.1 and English Dolby Digital Plus 5.1. The only foreign language support are through French subtitles. English SDH subtitles are also provided. "Talk to Me" is a film without a lot of sound design that translates to a great surround experience. Vocals are clear and strong and you will never miss a word of Cheadle´s incredible performance. Music sounds very good and I loved hearing the various Motown tunes. The scene where James Brown performs his free concert was disappointing, as the sound was flat and not very engaging. "Talk to Me" didn´t benefit much from the TrueHD soundtrack, as the limited sound design kept most of the sound information n the front channels. The next-gen track was slightly stronger than the Dolby Digital Plus mix, but with its limited surround usage and low presence in the .1 LFE channel, this is not a very impressive sounding film.

Extras:

"Talk to Me" contains three supplements that run for roughly thirty minutes. A collection of six Deleted Scenes (8:33) are provided in a lump sum. Some of the bonus minutes are simply extended sequences, while others are minor character building moments. One particular moment where Martin Sheen´s character deals with the death of Martin Luther King, Jr. should have been left in the film as it made the scene far more meaningful. The promotional Who is Petey Greene? (10:13) spends far more time pushing the film and its story than it does looking at who the real Petey Greene was. This short vignette did touch on the real story some, but this was far more fluff than it was deep. The third and final supplement, Recreating P-Town (11:07) talks briefly about bringing the Seventies back to life with the outfits and styles of the decade. The filmmakers went to great lengths to bring back black culture from thirty years ago and this was a nice look at what was done. Sadly, a real documentary on the real Petey Greene would have been a great addition.

Closing Comments:

I absolutely loved the performance of Don Cheadle in this film. He is one of today´s finest actors and it is great to see the actor fill a role that was seemed to be meant for him. He was perfect as disc jockey Petey Greene. The rest of the cast did a fine job as well acting beside the gifted Cheadle. The story is very good and did what many biographies have failed to do; it held my interest. The film is a ten-thousand foot view of Greene´s life and doesn´t go into too many details about one particular thing, but it gives a very nice overview of the man and what he accomplished. The HD-DVD has less than impressive sound and visuals and the supplements are underwhelming. Don Cheadle and Petey Greene definitely deserved a little more than this. This is a passable release for an excellent film. Regardless, Cheadle´s performance is well worth the price of this HD-DVD.

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