- Aspect Ratio: 2.35:1
- Video Codec: AVC/MPEG-4
- Resolution: 1080p/24 (23.976Hz)
- Audio Codec: English DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1
- Subtitles: English SDH, Spanish
- Region: A (Region-Locked)
- Rating: R
- Discs: 1 (1 x Blu-ray)
- Studio: 20th Century Fox
- Blu-ray Release Date: September 13, 2011
- List Price: $29.99
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Purchase Brand New Day on Blu-ray at CD Universe
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Overall
[Rating:3.5/5]
The Film
[Rating:3/5]
Video Quality
[Rating:4.5/5]
Audio Quality
[Rating:4.5/5]
Supplemental Materials
[Rating:0/5]
Click thumbnails for high-resolution 1920X1080p screen captures
(Screen captures are lightly compressed with lossy JPEG thus are meant as a general representation of the content and do not fully reveal the capabilities of the Blu-ray format)
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The Film
[Rating:3/5]
This Australian musical comedy is based on a stage musical from the early 90s by Jimmy Chi. Set in the early 1960, it follows the 16-year-old Aborigine Willie (Rocky McKenzie) who is growing up in the small Western Australia, Aboriginal town of Broome. The naïve Willie wants nothing more than to hang out with his friends and to get a date with the pretty girl of his dreams Rosie (Jessica Mauboy). But Willie’s mom has other plans for him. A strict disciplinarian and avid churchgoer, she is convinced that Willie should grow up to be a priest and send him away to a boarding school in Perth. Once there, however, Willie is quickly at odds with the school’s stern headmaster, Father Benedictus (Geoffrey Rush; The King’s Speech), and he runs away, coming across an old street-wise hobo, Uncle Tadpole (Ernie Dingo) who also grew up in Broome. Agreeing to help Willie get back to Broome, the two set off on an adventure that finds them coming across a host of colorful characters, including the two oddball hippies that will ultimately be their ride back to Broome – the anxious foreigner looking for his father, Slippery (Tom Budge) and flighty flower child Annie (Missy Higgins). Meanwhile, Father Benedictus is in hot pursuit of Willie on this journey that will both an eyeopener to the youngster and one that helps him come of age.
Personally, I’ve never had the opportunity to see this stage musical, but I get the sense that Brand New Day (Bran Nue Dae) worked much better on the stage. On the screen, it seems rather forced and ham-handed. There is no doubt that some of the musical productions are rather memorable, mixing soul, country, and even a bit of reggae together for an optimistic story of young love and learning to love oneself, but it never rises to its potential.
Video Quality
[Rating:4.5/5]
Brand New Day as a film is a bright, highly colorful film with lots of primaries and heavily saturated. This transfer from Fox looks brilliant in that respect with its candy colored palette. It also shows a strong amount of detail and texture with extended background imagery. The shadow detail is nicely nuanced as well.
Audio Quality
[Rating:4.5/5]
This disc sounds great; the DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 mix is spacious and dynamic with airy high frequencies, deep, yet tight and musical lows and clean dialogue with vocals that are well balanced during the musical performances.
Supplemental Materials
[Rating:0/5]
Unfortunately, Brand New Day shows up on Blu-ray without a single extra, not even a bonus musical performance, and certainly no digital copy.
The Definitive Word
Overall:
[Rating:3.5/5]
A great idea with dazzling visuals falls far short of expectations in Brand New Day. Perhaps they should have left this one on the stage or found someone more capable of bringing it to the screen. Even so, it looks and sounds wonderful on Blu-ray, so perhaps a rental would be in order for this one.
Additional Screen Captures
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[amazon-product align=”right”]B005EVJCKO[/amazon-product]
Purchase Brand New Day on Blu-ray at CD Universe
Shop for more Blu-ray titles at Amazon.com
Overall
[Rating:3.5/5]
The Film
[Rating:3/5]
Video Quality
[Rating:4.5/5]
Audio Quality
[Rating:4.5/5]
Supplemental Materials
[Rating:0/5]
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