Little Women (Blu-ray) review

[David Vaughn]

Studio: Sony Pictures
Release Date: April 7, 2020
Rating: PG
Film: 4.75/5

Plot
Writer-director Greta Gerwig (Lady Bird) has crafted a Little Women that draws on both the classic novel and the writings of Louisa May Alcott, and unfolds as the author’s alter ego, Jo March, reflects back and forth on her fictional life. Gerwig’s take on the beloved story of the March sisters—four young women each determined to live life on their own terms—is both timeless and timely. Portraying Jo, Meg, Amy and Beth March, the film stars Saoirse Ronan, Emma Watson, Florence Pugh and Eliza Scanlen, with Timothée Chalamet as their neighbor Laurie, Laura Dern as Marmee and Meryl Streep as Aunt March.
 
My Thoughts
My wife and daughter went to see this film in theaters without me because frankly, I doubt I would have enjoyed it and I didn’t want to waste the two hours of my life and the $11.75 ticket. I said if they liked it, we could eventually watch it at home when it hit Blu-ray. Well, the day finally arrived when the disc showed up from Sony, so of course, I was committed to watch it.

My daughter, who works in movie PR, was very upset that Great Gerwig didn’t receive a Best Director nomination for the film, although it did garner a nomination for Best Picture. After watching this fabulous film, I have to completely agree with her. It takes a classic story and weaves a tale that blends two time periods together relatively seamlessly. My only knock is the same actresses play the “kid” versions of themselves and unless you pay particular attention to the photography and haircuts, you can get confused pretty easily when jumping between the two. Here’s a hint, if the photography is cool and somewhat bluish, it’s “today,” but if its amber and “warm,” then it happened a few years in the past (the time period between the two events is never really explained).

Regardless, it’s an emotional ride with relatable characters—even for a man. I went in thinking it had “chick flick” written all over it and I have to admit, it took me about 20 minutes to warm up to it, but once I got involved with the story, it had me hook, line, and sinker. The performances are fabulous, especially from Saoirse Rona, who has two Oscar nominations under her belt and she’s only 26 years old (her first came at the age of 13 for Atonement and her second in Lady Bird). She will break through one of these days, that’s for sure.

The presentation was somewhat disappointing. I found the presentation to be a tad too dark and flat, which made me think I needed to break out my calibration gear, but I had watched another movie earlier in the day that looked perfectly fine, so it wasn’t my gear that was the issue. As mentioned before, the color timing changes depending on what period you’re in, but the sets and costumes transport you to the Civil War era instantly. The audio track is about what you’d expect from a dialog driven drama—everything is up front, and the dialog is always intelligible. The surround speakers only come into play with the occasional score bleed, which is welcomed since the score is fabulous as well.

Video 4/5

Audio 4/5 (DTS HD-MA 5.1)

Special Features:

• A New Generation of Little Women: The superb cast recreated the beloved world of the March family with realism, humor and vulnerability
• Making a Modern Classic: The film combines its modern elements—kinetic camerawork and overlapping dialogue—with the historically authentic bespoke costumes, sets and locations
• Greta Gerwig: Women Making Art: Go behind the camera with Writer/Director Greta Gerwig, discover her process and how she applied her own style to the story
• Hair & Make-Up Test Sequence: A lovely showcase featuring the outstanding costumes, hair and make-up crafted for the film
• Little Women Behind the Scenes: Take a quick look behind the scenes on the set of LITTLE WOMEN
• Orchard House, Home of Louisa May Alcott: Find out more about Louisa May Alcott and visit the real-life Orchard House in Concord, MA
• Blu-ray + DVD + Digital Code

Conclusion
I went into this film fully expecting to take a two-hour nap as my wife and daughter cried their eyes out as their emotional strings were pulled. Little did I know that I would be sucked in with the two of them and experience one of the best films from 2019. Sadly, the presentation wasn’t quite as good as it could have been, but it wasn’t horrible by any stretch. The screenplay is fantastic, and I agree with my daughter that Gerwig was screwed out of a deserving Oscar nomination. Definitely check this one out. Highly recommended. 

Reference Review System:
 
 Reference Review System:
 JVC DLA-RS2000 4K Ultra High Definition Front Projector
 (Calibrated with Portrait Displays CalMAN color calibration software & C6-HDR Meter from Portrait Displays)
 Stewart Filmscreen - Firehawk 110” 2.35:1 Fixed Screen
 Anthem AVM60 Audio/Video Processor
 ATI AT527NC Powering Bed Channels
ATI AT524NC Powering Atmos Speakers
 Panasonic DP-UB820 Ultra HD Blu-ray Player
 System Controller: URC MX-980
M&K S-150 THX Ultra (R-C-L Speakers)
M&K SS-150 x4 (Surround Speakers)
 Atlantic Technology IC6-OBA x 4 Overhead Speakers
 SVS PC-Ultra Cylinder Subwoofer
 HSU VTF-15H MK2 Subwoofer
 JL Audio Fathom F110 Subwoofers x 2 (stacked)
JL Audio Dominion D110 Subwoofer x 2 (stacked)
Mini DSP HD controlling all subwoofers
 Audioquest and Monoprice - Audio/Video/Speaker Cabling
 PureAV PF60 Power Conditioner

[claw]

Since there is no 4K UHD disc version, I decided to purchase the streaming version from Vudu for $10.  But watched it on my ATV4K Apple TV+ App which had it in 4K Dolby Vision and Atmos.

I am one of the JVC 4K-eShift projector owners that are using an HDfury device to get DV players to send the LLDV variant of Dolby Vision to our projectors.

The outdoor scenes were plenty bright but the interior shots sometimes seemed dingy.  The early scene with the close up of Amy in the carriage wearing a blue coat with a white fur collar was jaw-dropping 4K goodness.  It made the indoor scenes that much more disappointing. I think it may have been a directorial decision to emphasize the March family's modest home.

I loved Saoirse Rona's performance in this film.  Also Florence Pugh as Amy who I had never seen act until this film, or heard that raspy voice of hers.

There may be a European UHD disc release that I might import.

[AVSCraig]

Since there is no 4K UHD disc version, I decided to purchase the streaming version from Vudu for $10.  But watched it on my ATV4K Apple TV+ App which had it in 4K Dolby Vision and Atmos.

I am one of the JVC 4K-eShift projector owners that are using an HDfury device to get DV players to send the LLDV variant of Dolby Vision to our projectors.

The outdoor scenes were plenty bright but the interior shots sometimes seemed dingy.  The early scene with the close up of Amy in the carriage wearing a blue coat with a white fur collar was jaw-dropping 4K goodness.  It made the indoor scenes that much more disappointing. I think it may have been a directorial decision to emphasize the March family's modest home.

I loved Saoirse Rona's performance in this film.  Also Florence Pugh as Amy who I had never seen act until this film, or heard that raspy voice of hers.

There may be a European UHD disc release that I might import.

She's great in Midsommar ! 

[David Vaughn]

Since there is no 4K UHD disc version, I decided to purchase the streaming version from Vudu for $10.  But watched it on my ATV4K Apple TV+ App which had it in 4K Dolby Vision and Atmos.

I am one of the JVC 4K-eShift projector owners that are using an HDfury device to get DV players to send the LLDV variant of Dolby Vision to our projectors.

The outdoor scenes were plenty bright but the interior shots sometimes seemed dingy.  The early scene with the close up of Amy in the carriage wearing a blue coat with a white fur collar was jaw-dropping 4K goodness.  It made the indoor scenes that much more disappointing. I think it may have been a directorial decision to emphasize the March family's modest home.

I loved Saoirse Rona's performance in this film.  Also Florence Pugh as Amy who I had never seen act until this film, or heard that raspy voice of hers.

There may be a European UHD disc release that I might import.

Claw,

Does the Dolby Vision trick work with a Panasonic UHD Player? If so, do you have a link to directions on how to set it up? Also, what about a Roku Ultra?

[claw]

Claw,

Does the Dolby Vision trick work with a Panasonic UHD Player? If so, do you have a link to directions on how to set it up? Also, what about a Roku Ultra?

The Roku players do not support Dolby Vision at all, so not possible with them.

The Panasonic player will output LLDV for Dolby Vision discs.    Enable Dolby Vision in the set up menu, and configure an HDfury device to an EDID that will report LLDV support to the UB820.

We have a dedicated thread on the other forum.

https://www.avsforum.com/forum/465-high-dynamic-range-hdr-wide-color-gamut-wcg/3097934-dolby-vision-including-hdr10-conversion-w-dtm-projectors.html

The Dolby Vision data block portion of the EDID has been cracked so that we can set our own color primaries coordinates and display nit values that the player will use when tone mapping full Dolby Vision to LLDV.

So we can configure a custom EDID with either BT2020 or DCI-P3 primaries, and then use a BT2020 or DCI-P3 color profile in display, along with an HDR10 gamma curve.  Some are even configuring the values from their display calibration into the EDID.

I summarized the work that others have done into EDID/Color profile combinations with download links for those users that don't want to or can't create their own EDID or color profile.

https://www.avsforum.com/forum/465-high-dynamic-range-hdr-wide-color-gamut-wcg/3097934-dolby-vision-including-hdr10-conversion-w-dtm-projectors-40.html#post59382698


Because we can also have the HDfury include HDR10 metadata with the LLDV output signal, it would be interesting to see what an RS2000 in Frame Adapt mode would do with an LLDV input signal.

[David Vaughn]

The Roku players do not support Dolby Vision at all, so not possible with them.

The Panasonic player will output LLDV for Dolby Vision discs.    Enable Dolby Vision in the set up menu, and configure an HDfury device to an EDID that will report LLDV support to the UB820.

We have a dedicated thread on the other forum.

https://www.avsforum.com/forum/465-high-dynamic-range-hdr-wide-color-gamut-wcg/3097934-dolby-vision-including-hdr10-conversion-w-dtm-projectors.html

The Dolby Vision data block portion of the EDID has been cracked so that we can set our own color primaries coordinates and display nit values that the player will use when tone mapping full Dolby Vision to LLDV.

So we can configure a custom EDID with either BT2020 or DCI-P3 primaries, and then use a BT2020 or DCI-P3 color profile in display, along with an HDR10 gamma curve.  Some are even configuring the values from their display calibration into the EDID.

I summarized the work that others have done into EDID/Color profile combinations with download links for those users that don't want to or can't create their own EDID or color profile.

https://www.avsforum.com/forum/465-high-dynamic-range-hdr-wide-color-gamut-wcg/3097934-dolby-vision-including-hdr10-conversion-w-dtm-projectors-40.html#post59382698


Because we can also have the HDfury include HDR10 metadata with the LLDV output signal, it would be interesting to see what an RS2000 in Frame Adapt mode would do with an LLDV input signal.

This is outstanding. I'll give it a shot when I get some spare time. Thanks for sharing!

[claw]

This is outstanding. I'll give it a shot when I get some spare time. Thanks for sharing!

I use my ATV4K almost exclusively with LLDV output since so much of the content there is Dolby Vision.    For discs I use MadVR.