Ratcatcher

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Overview

A new addition to the coveted Criterion collection is the import Ratcatcher. The film is presented in 1.85:1 anamorphic widescreen and sports a very passable image. While there are a few imperfections to be found on this transfer -- including some grain and a small amount of edge enhancement -- overall Criterion has done a fine job of making sure the colors and black levels are all even and well saturated. The soundtrack is presented in Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo in English. Certainly this isn't the most ...
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DVD (Wide Screen / Stereo)
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More About This Product

Overview

A new addition to the coveted Criterion collection is the import Ratcatcher. The film is presented in 1.85:1 anamorphic widescreen and sports a very passable image. While there are a few imperfections to be found on this transfer -- including some grain and a small amount of edge enhancement -- overall Criterion has done a fine job of making sure the colors and black levels are all even and well saturated. The soundtrack is presented in Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo in English. Certainly this isn't the most overwhelming sound mix ever produced, though in actuality it serves the film well with crystal-clear dialogue, music, and effects. Also included on this disc are English subtitles. Fans of the film will be delighted to see a few extra features added onto this edition of Ratcatcher -- starting off this disc is a fascinating 22-minute interview with director Lynne Ramsay recounting her days as a director and how the film came into being. Fans won't want to miss Ramsay's insights into making movies and what it takes to work in the medium of celluloid. Three short films (Kill the Day, Small Deaths, and Gasman) offer a unique look into the director's past efforts and feature rough, interesting stories backed by very low budgets. Finally, there is a photo gallery and a theatrical trailer for the film.
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Special Features

New digital transfer, enhanced for 16x9 televisions and approved by Lynne Ramsay; Video interview with Lynne Ramsay; Three award-winning short films by Lynne Ramsay: Small Deaths (1995), Kill the Day (1996), Gasman (1997); Stills gallery; Original theatrical trailer; Optional English Subtitles; Optimal image quality: RSDL dual-layer edition
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Editorial Reviews

Barnes & Noble - Jeffrey Iorio
Powerful acting and a keen sense of milieu make director Lynne Ramsay’s debut feature, Ratcatcher, a rare find indeed. The search for a sliver of beauty amid the squalor of a Glasgow slum drives the plot, as 12-year old James William Eadie gingerly sidesteps a drunken father, a fierce band of local boys, and the festering canal that runs like a scar across the city. Ratcatcher begins with an fatal event -- the accidental drowning of James's friend in the canal -- and soon envelops us in a world of physical and emotional brutality. There are, however, pockets of hope. James occasionally visits a housing development to which his family dreams of moving, and the scene in which he frolics in a field behind the property showcases Ramsay’s imaginative vision. The most impressive aspect of Ratcatcher is its unflinching view of frequently troubling subjects: Sorrows often go unmourned and unresolved, and judgment is never passed. Richly textured and directed with a refreshing, minimalist sensibility, Ratcatcher is one of the finer meditations on urban decay in recent memory.
All Movie Guide - Michael Hastings
For her very first feature, director Lynne Ramsay found herself the recipient of an obscene amount of positive press from European critics, so much so that a backlash was inevitable. So it's a relief to report that despite the hype, pro and con, her grim coming-of-age tale Ratcatcher remains a singular moviegoing experience, the kind of film made by a person who composes every shot as if it were her last. Fusing a gritty, kitchen-sink realist drama -- the kind the U.K. film industry has been producing since The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner -- to a haunting, poetic visual style, Ramsay is able to create something uniquely her own. Free of the flash common to turn-of-the-millennium British directors (see Guy Ritchie), Ramsay sketches in details about her main characters in an intuitive, breathtaking manner. Though there is a semi-conventional narrative, tethered to the unreliable point-of-view of a 12-year-old boy, Ratcatcher is much more interested in memory, perception, and fantasy, and how these forces can filter and distill a very real, bleak existence. If anything, Ramsay's debut is reminiscent of Terence Davies' similarly impressionistic first film Distant Voices, Still Lives -- in her protracted use of pop songs, her painterly use of color, and her anti-nostalgic approach to the period piece in general -- but with a major difference: It's not nearly as stifling.
Time Magazine - Richard Corliss
Writer-director Ramsay neither sentimentalizes nor garishes up the lost children in this observant and poetic drama.
Variety
There’s a light touch in evidence, balancing the bleakness with odd lyrical moments and unexpected humor and tenderness that infuse the gentle drama with a bracing freshness. David Rooney

Writer-director Ramsay neither sentimentalizes nor garishes up the lost children in this observant and poetic drama.
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Product Details

  • Release Date: 9/10/2002
  • UPC: 037429171820
  • Original Release: 1998

    • Rating:

  • Source: Criterion
  • Aspect Ratio: Theatre Wide-Screen (1.85.1)
  • Presentation: Wide Screen / Stereo
  • Sound: stereo, Dolby Surround
  • Time: 1:34:00
  • Format: DVD
  • Sales rank: 37,836

Cast & Crew

Performance Credits
William Eadie James
Tommy Flanagan Da
Mandy Matthews Ma
Michelle Stewart Ellen
Lynne Ramsay Anne Marie
Lynne Ramsay Jr. Anne Marie
Leanne Mullen Margaret Anne
John Miller Kenny
Jackie Quinn Mrs. Quinn
Technical Credits
Lynne Ramsay Director, Screenwriter
Gillian Berrie Casting
Andrea Calderwood Executive Producer
Bertrand Faivre Co-producer
Richard Flynn Sound/Sound Designer
Peter Gallagher Associate Producer
Alwin Küchler Cinematographer
Nick McCarthy Asst. Director
Rachel Portman Score Composer
Sarah Radclyffe Executive Producer
Lucia Zucchetti Editor
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Scene Index

Side #1 --
1. Ryan Quinn [5:09]
2. Accident [1:44]
3. Mourning [2:48]
4. Mousetrap [2:46]
5. Grey Paint [2:16]
6. Sisters [1:39]
7. Can of Beer [3:17]
8. Glasses [3:10]
9. New Shoes [4:42]
10. Kenny [2:10]
11. Rent [1:16]
12. Boys [3:46]
13. Bus Trip [3:47]
14. Fields [4:15]
15. Pussycat [1:23]
16. Lice [2:57]
17. Snowball [6:26]
18. Bath [7:28]
19. Housing Council [3:33]
20. Hero [6:06]
21. Fight [3:11]
22. Comfort [3:53]
23. Rubbish [3:04]
24. Running Away [2:03]
25. Guilty [5:08]
26. New House [5:36]
27. Color Bars [:00]
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Menu

Side #1 --
   Play the Movie
   Chapters
   Subtitles
      On
      Off
   Lynne Ramsay Interview
      Play All
      Beginnings
      Writing Ratcatcher
      Kids
      Non-professional and Professional Actors
      Control and Spontaneity
      Sound and Music
      About Ratcatcher
   Lynne Ramsay's Short Films
      Small Deaths
      Kill the Day
      Gasman
   Stills Gallery
      James
      The Family
      World of Children
      The Canal
   Trailer
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