He's the star of the show--but he doesn't know. Jim Carrey wowed critics and audiences alike as unwitting Truman Burbank in this marvel of a movie from director Peter Weir about a man whose life is a nonstop TV show. Truman doesn't realize that his quaint hometown is a giant studio set run by visionary creator/director/producer Christof (Ed Harris), that folks living and working there are Hollywood actors, that even his incessantly bubbly wife is a contract player. Gradually, Truman gets wise. And what he does about his discovery will have you laughing, crying and cheering like few film stories ever have.

CRITIQUE

One could say The Truman Show somewhat inspired reality TV because at the time the concept was not yet developed (or thought of) for that medium, at least not to my knowledge. The movie came out in 1998 and reality TV followed perhaps a year later with shows like Survivor and Big Brother produced in some foreign countries before they were brought to the States. But I’m here to talk about Peter Weir’s movie, so let’s get to that now.

It’s an excellent movie. The premise is great and very well realized especially because it came at a time when none of us would ever think of a show that manufactures an entire town (or in these days a house that captures every day actions of people living inside) solely for the purpose of watching one character live his life (and sell loads of merchandise through sleek product placement for profit). Even now product placement is going through the roof with some movies over doing it to the point of lunacy. The script by Andrew Niccol (who directed the wonderful Gattaca in 1997, and whose Lord of War comes out next month) features a brilliant mix of drama and emotion, comedy and surprise, and paranoia and suspense. The characters are set up perfectly such as their relationships to Truman Burbank, and then there is the fantastic dialogue for the various characters, though some of it I’m sure was improvised somewhat by Jim Carrey.

It’s hard to imagine now any other director doing this movie. Would someone else have shot it like a TV show by adding to the presentation of the movie specific camera lenses, angles and zooms? Perhaps and perhaps not, but it’s very clear that Peter Weir’s work here is simply magnificent. His last movie before Truman Show was 1993’s solid drama Fearless starring Jeff Bridges, and even though five years is quite a gap in between making movies Weir is simply at the very top of his craft especially as Truman Show contains so many awesome visual sequences, great acting from everyone involved, realistic dramatic moments between Truman and his best friend Marlon (Noah Emmerich, Frequency) and several other great scenes including my two favorites where Truman begins to suspect something while on his way to work at town square and when Truman goes on a free-spirited, soul searching ride in his car that takes him across a long bridge, through a blazing fireball on the street, and to the site of a nuclear power plant.

Weir’s vision coupled with marvelous cinematography, significant production design, and terrific visual effects additions to enhance certain images and scenes makes The Truman Show a fantastic movie to watch. Also worth mentioning is the beautiful and very moody music that adds so much to the movie. Burkhard Dallwitz composed some original score for the movie, but the majority of the soundtrack features excellent music by Philip Glass (two notable examples are “Anthem” originally composed for the movie Powaqqatsi and “Opening” from Mishima: A Life in Four Chapters) and several classical tunes by the likes of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and Frédéric Chopin. Music is always an important element in movies, and these music selections are perfect!

Moreover, the editing is interesting as the first 50 minutes focus on Truman and his world, and in the second half of the movie we are introduced to creator Christof (Ed Harris in a fantastic performance) and his world. The movie moves at a great pace with a running time of nearly 100 minutes. Also, the scenes showing a select group of Truman’s audience (two valets, a bar full of people, a man in his bathtub, etc.) work well in conjunction with the scenes they are intercut with.

Of course, The Truman Show also relies very heavily on acting and every cast member delivers the goods. Truman is Jim Carrey’s first dramatic role and he’s quite amazing, handling the material so very well. The supporting performances are solid like stone; Laura Linney (You Can Count on Me) is perfect as the lovable yet creepy Meryl Burbank, Emmerich is truly believable playing Truman’s best friend, and Natascha McElhone (Solaris) exudes just the right amount of mystery and beauty her character requires (no wonder Truman falls in love with her).

THE VIDEO

Paramount presents The Truman Show in 1.85:1 anamorphic widescreen. This is a great transfer with beautiful colors, near excellent print quality, and crisp images. Optional subtitles include English, Spanish and French.

THE AUDIO

Paramount presents The Truman Show in English Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround. Dialogue is clear and easy to understand as the front speakers deliver nosie free audio. The rear speakers are active from time to time and when they are the sound effects and great music come across very well making for a nice (if somewhat limited) surround sound experience. A French Dolby 2.0 dub track is also available.

THE EXTRAS

How’s It Going To End? Part 1 (18:22) and How’s It Going To End? Part 2 (23:23) are presented in anamorphic widescreen and subtitled in English, Spanish and French (it’s nice to see Paramount continuing to subtitle their featurettes). Part 1 discusses how the movie started as a project and script, then moves on to casting the principal actors and talking about the characters, and lastly focusing on director Peter Weir. Part 2 looks at the movie in production on location (finding a real town by the sea in Florida), discusses the unique cinematography and the irony of the script and reality TV, getting Ed Harris just days before filming his character’s scenes, and a few other things. Interviewed for this documentary are Peter Weir, one of the producers, actors Laura Linney, Noah Emmerich and Ed Harris, and production designer Dennis Gassner. Unfortunately, but not unsurprising, Jim Carrey appears in an older interview recorded during the movie’s press junket back in ’98.

Faux Finishing (13:16) investigates the bigger and some subtle visual effects shots in the movie, including the creation of the big dome sequence, the addition a few stories to the buildings in downtown Seaside, touching up the horizon in wide shots of the town, and creating various other effects to give the movie the look of a TV show.

Deleted Scenes (13:08) offers 4 scenes that are interesting to watch. The first scene shows a compilation of scenes involving product placement, the second scene shows an extended “Truman is suspicious” sequence (good stuff), the third features a “future cast meeting” with the principal actors (Meryl, Marlon, and Peter Krause’s character), and the fourth scene shows more where Truman has gone missing. All four scenes are presented in a peculiar anamorphic letterboxed fullscreen (meaning viewers with widescreen TVs will not have to adjust their screen, yet the video is not truly anamorphic).

You also get 2 TV spots, the teaser trailer, the theatrical trailer, and previews for Airplane, Tommy Boy, the John Wayne Collection, and Mac Gyver Season 1.

FINAL THOUGHTS

The Truman Show is a fantastic movie and one of my favorites from the past ten years, and the new DVD presentation makes this a highly recommended disc. Those who own the previous disc absolutely have to upgrade. The extras are nice to watch (the documentary is good but could’ve also been better), though I really would’ve loved a commentary. I know Weir doesn’t do them, but Andrew Niccol and Noah Emmerich (and one of the producers) would’ve made interesting commentators.

In case I don’t see you, good afternoon, good evening, and goodnight.