Review of Six Degrees of Separation

Introduction

Featuring (a rather young looking) Will Smith`s debut movie performance and backed up by impressive performances by Donald Sutherland and Stockard Channing. Originally starting life as a play, Six Degrees of Separation is a satire about the New York upper class and the different lives the "haves" and the "have-nots" lead and what happens when a deft conman played by Will Smith infiltrates the world of a pair of art dealers.

Video

The overall quality of the film is quite good though because of its age there is slight visual deterioration and very slight evidence of grain but nothing particularly of note though. The presentation style of the film harks back to its play roots, lots of tight enclosed sets etc, very highly decorated throughout giving the film a kind of claustrophobic feel.

Audio

Sound again is good but nothing that stands out. It`s mostly dialogue with music sparsely used now and then. Mind you when I say "mostly dialogue", there is in fact a lot of dialogue. Being based on a play it`s the dialogue that defines the film, unfortunately they don`t half go on a bit. After a while you tend to switch off as it can be a little bit too much all at once and what should be the highlight of the film ultimately tends to detract from it.

Features

The only extra included on the disc is the original theatrical trailer.

Conclusion

The film is one of those rated as cult classics, unfortunately as with most of them it`s hard to see why other than the subject matter. The conflict of the social classes makes for a good film unfortunately due to the rambling nature of the script the film is stopped in its own tracks from being a great film. Strong acting by Will Smith and the rest of the cast carry the film along with the interesting subject matter and story but the lack of extras on the disc and overly dialogue laden script mean it`s a "should buy" instead of "must buy".