Sorted (DVD)

Sorted (DVD) ... Sorted is a hallucinogenic cocktail of thriller and insider's eye view of the London club scene. Debut director Alexander Jovy has promoted raves and is a qualified lawyer, so it's unsurprising his club scenes, filmed on real nights at the Ministry of Sound and other clubs, are completely authentic. The story has young lawyer Carl, Matthew Rhys, coming from Yorkshire to investigate the death of his high-flying (in every sense) brother. Jovy portrays the gulf between Carl's world in his relationship with classy, conventional Sunny (Sienna--Take a Girl Like You--Guillory), and the hedonistic fantasyland of the club scene represented by fallen Pre-Raphaelite angel Tiffany (Fay--Eyes Wide Shut--Masterson). Straddling the two worlds is a remarkable Jason Donovan as Martin, customs officer by day, glam transvestite by night. Unfortunately atmospheric drama soon gives way to lightweight thriller conventions while Tim Curry's camp villain (surely a parody of DeNiro's Louis Cypher from Angel Heart), creates expectations of a much darker conclusion. Sorted is ultimately old-fashioned, romantic and soft-centred where it needs far more edge, but is nevertheless so luxuriantly stylish it may mark Jovy as his generation's answer to Ridley Scott. A word of warning: several scenes feature very powerful stroboscopic lighting effects. --Gary S. Dalkin On the DVD: The expansive, beautiful colour-saturated cinematography is well captured by the 2.35:1 anamorphic transfer and the Dolby Digital 5.1 sound mix is stunning. There are 10 text profiles of cast and crew, together with seven video interviews comprising over 45 minutes of footage. Also provided is a 26-page electronic press kit, the original trailer and 10 minutes of deleted scenes, with optional director's commentary. The featurette is actually a montage of behind-the-scenes shots edited to the movie's haunting love theme, while the outtakes edit assorted gaffs to the main dance anthem. The alternately informative and trivial director's commentary also features producer Mark Crowdy; together they make good company. --Gary S. Dalkin