Review of Real Job, A

Introduction

The advent of DVD has given us the chance to see a few movies that would never have seen the light of day let alone your local multiplex. Great movies that should not be missed but never make it to the cinema don`t come along every day but when they do you must shout about them. Donnie Darko was one such movie last year and A Real Job is another.

With an excellent script that conveys great emotion and gives a fabulous insight into the full realm of our characters and their lives. Some of you may have read the synopsis above and are thinking, like I did, Clerks rip-off. Let me tell you now Clerks this ain`t. It bares no resemblance in style or execution with the early Kevin Smith cult flick, and in now way tries to emulate it. A real job stands on its own as a joyful piece of comedy-romance-real-life.

With a movie shot on a budget of $10,000 alot has to give surely? Short answer is no! The acting in most parts is great, only the odd one or two incidental characters jarr slightly with over-hammy stylings.

Video

presented in widescreen but not anamorphicaly enhanced for 16x9 TVs, the picture goes from good to borderline poor. Shot digitally, the film suffers from extreme grain in darkly lit scenes and on DVD grain equals plenty of macro blocking. On a whole the colours are muted and dark blacks fail to give any real sense of depth as the never reach the solids they should. You also get alot of haloing on bright whites. But hey something had to give for $10k!

Audio

Muted picture and now muted sound! A rather disappointing surround mix with clear dialogue marred by low effects levels and gimmicky sound effects. The score and musical numbers have been recorded at very low level and fail to add that effective emotional punch that bigger production pull of all too well.

Features

A casual bunch of movie makers getting drunk while doing an audio commentary is the best of the bunch. They wax lyrical about the budget and give us insight into some of their budget conscious cheats and tips.

You also get a well edited trailer for the movie.

Conclusion

An amazing achievement considering its budget limitations. The poor editing and ghastly sound are knocked for a loop by the clever, witty and romantic script that isn`t Clerks but gives it a run for their money in the indie film stakes.