theWitcher

While this movie isn't as devastating as some of Atom Egoyan's other movies, Felicia's Journey is a fascinating picture and a hell of a lot more interesting than, say, two-thirds of the movies available on DVD.

Bob Hoskins is unusually excellent as a catering manager named Hilditch with some serious issues. His mom was a well-known TV chef, reminiscent of Julia Child; we only see her in flashback sequences and videotapes of old TV programs that Hilditch watches as his prepares his meals at home. Arsinee Khanjian, who appears in (almost?) all of Egoyan's movies plays Hilditch's mum. Elaine Cassidy -- who resembles a nicer version of Parker Posey -- plays Felicia, a young Irish girl who has ventured into England to find her lover; he has told her he left Ireland to find work at a lawn mower factory, but that is the extent of her knowledge of his whereabouts. After a few unsuccessful attempts at locating her man, Felicia meets up with Hilditch, and then sparks really fly!

Artisan's DVD presentation of Felicia's Journey contains plentiful supplemental material to enhance what many people thought was one of Egoyan's lesser efforts:

• I haven't yet listened to Egoyan's audio commentary, but based on his excellent The Sweet Hereafter comments, I'm hoping it will be candid and inciteful.
  
• Like New Line's earlier Sweet Herefter DVD, Felicia's Journey contains an isolated track with Mychael Danna's score.
  
• Egoyan's movies often dwell on how technology has impacted how we catalog our memories, particulary through videotape. Therefore, a couple of presentations from Hilditch's Video Collection should prove fascinating to Egoyan fans.
  
• I wish there was more "untreated" footage of Hilditch's mum's cooking show, but that's OK because we also get a couple of Recipes.
  
• Other stuff on this excellent disk includes a featurette, trailers and TV spots, and cast and crew interviews similar to those featured on The Sweet Hereafter.
  

The only real drawback I found on this DVD is that there are no subtitles. Since I'm something of a hillbilly, I found myself having trouble with Hoskin's accent occasionally and would have liked to have verified what he was saying. You can also say the same thing about Artisan's excellent The Limey DVD and some of Terence Stamp's dialogue.

You can still pre-order this titles before it's 5/16 street date at many e-tailers. It's an excellent picture to order on Mother's Day, BTW.

Gamblor187

I just rented this movie. (I had to settle for VHS. Blockbuster didn't have it on DVD.) The only problem I have with this film is that it forces me to (once again) revise my list of the best films of 1999. I would definitely not consider this one of Egoyan's lesser efforts.

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Hanzou

Haven't checked out the DVD yet, but as for the film ... Egoyan can do better.

Worth the watch, but I was disappointed..

The "God's paradise" people were pretty funny though..

-Hanzou