Review of Message From Holly, A

Introduction

Lindsay Wagner, a darling of the TV movie, plays Holly who`s a free spirited artist and single mother living in the country with her daughter Jenny. She learns however that she only has a few months left to live and decides to ask her best friend, Kate (Shelley Long) to take care of Jenny as if she were her own daughter. Kate is a single highflying businesswoman from the city who`s life revolves around work and doesn`t seem to have time for a relationship of her own. Holly knows that Kate has one quality she can offer Jenny however: unconditional love.

This film revolves around the best friends coping with Holly`s illness and Jenny`s reluctance to let her go. The contrast between the two friends gives the story quite a few of its moments, as does Holly`s family who want to take care of the daughter themselves.

Video

The film is presented with a fullframe transfer, and while this is acceptable, there are some really nice outdoor locations and it would have been nicer to have a wider frame as sometimes it can look a little claustrophobic. The picture quality is very good, colours are clean and vibrant and the detail is very high. There is a fraction of dirt but overall I`m quite impressed with the transfer and I`d never have thought it was made some ten years ago. There was only one scene where the film jumped slightly a few times, but this didn`t really bother me.

Audio

Plain old DD2.0 is all that`s here. This is a character driven story so there`s nothing demanding in the audio stakes. What`s here works well with clear audio and well balanced sound. Music is well suited and doesn`t intrude.

Features

Static menus with some very average stills don`t do this film any favours. There are trailers for this and three others in the Odyssey range, Film Background, biographies covering three of the leading cast and cast credits. The Film Background should be checked since there`s a duplicated opening sentence and this makes it look like very cheap.

For those who might need subtitles, this disc doesn`t have any. This seems to be a feature omitted on three Odyssey discs I`ve looked at so far.

Conclusion

The story has a slow and graceful pace and this gives us time to see the characters develop. While we can predict what`s likely to happen, it`s still a nice story to watch unfold. As the characters become closer they become more resentfull and guilty. Holly (Lindsay Wagner) resents her condition and affects those closest to her while Kate (Shelley Long) gets to grips with having to care about her best friends` daughter.

This is one of the better Odyssey Video DVDs I`ve watched recently and this was a pleasant surprise, though the front cover could be improved. At the time of writing A Message From Holly could be bought quite cheaper than its £9.99 price tag (I saw one site at £6.49 inc p&p!), so if you`re a sucker for gentle heart warming stories with the pace of a snail, you could do worse than check this out.