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Features: DVD, Widescreen, Dolby Digital (5.1), English, French, Spanish, Subtitled, 2 Discs
Winner of the Grand Jury Prize at the 2003 Sundance Film Festival, Capturing The Friedmans is nothing short of the most riveting, provocative, and hotly debated films of the year. Despite their predilection for hamming it up in front of home-movie cameras, the Friedmans were a normal middle-class family living in the affluent New York suburb of Great Neck. One Thanksgiving, as the family gathers at home for a quiet holiday dinner, their front door explodes, splintered by a police battering ram. Officers rush into the house, accusing Arnold Friedman and his youngest son Jesse of hundreds of shocking crimes. The film follows their story from the public's perspective and through unique real footage of the family in crisis, shot inside the Friedman house. As the police investigate, and the community reacts, the fabric of the family begins to disintegrate, revealing provocative questions about justice, family, and-ultimately-truth. With an abundance of exclusive DVD bonus features supplied on a second disc, Capturing the Friedmans is sure to capture you and pin you to your seat.
"A Masterpiece..." David Denby, The New Yorker
"Grade A. An Extraordinary Film." Owen Gleiberman, Entertainment Weekly
"It's a modern horror story that gets you where you live." Peter Travers, Rolling Stone
"...disturbing and haunting..." Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times
Editor's Note
Watching Andrew Jarecki's riveting non-fiction drama is like watching a slow-motion replay of a multi-car pileup; you know it's headed for disaster, but there's no way you can stop watching. On the surface, the Friedmans were a typical 1980s American family. Living in Great Neck, Long Island, Arnold was a well-respected teacher, Elaine was a dedicated mother, and their children Seth, Jesse, and David were model students. But one Thanksgiving, that happy façade came to a crashing halt. After the local police discovered Arnold had engaged in the buying and selling of child pornography, they questioned several students who attended his computer classes in the Friedman basement. What they revealed would shock the community, and destroy the Friedman family forever. The subsequent investigation and trial uncovered even deeper hidden secrets at an alarming rate, creating a rift between Arnold and Elaine that would never be reconciled. Jarecki uses present day interviews with Elaine, Jesse, and David, as well as Arnold's brother Howard, to provide some sort of insight on the situation, but it backfires, for everyone has a different story to tell. And then there is actual home video footage of the family in the midst of the hurricane, which gives the film an eerie, voyeuristic charge.
| Features | Subtitles: English, French, Spanish | | Short Film About Jesse Friedman's Life Today. | | Short Film By Director Andrew Jarecki About Children's Birthday Party Clowns, Which Led To The Discovery Of David Friedman's Story, And Eventually Became Capturing The Friedmans. | | Questions, Answers And Heated Debates Captured By Filmmakers And Members Of The Friedman Family. | | On-The-Scene Footage Of The Altercation With Law Enforcement Officials At The Film's New York Premiere. More on the case, including compelling new evidence, witnesses, and uncut footage of the prosecution's star witness. | | Audio: English Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound | | Featurette : Unseen home videos of the Friedmans. | | Charlie Rose interview With The Director. |
| Technical Info
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Release Information
| | Studio: HBO |
| Release Date: 1/27/2004 |
| Running Time: 107 minutes |
| Original Release Date: 2003 | | Catalog ID: 92278 | | UPC: 00026359227820 | | Number of Discs: 2 |
Audio & Video
| | Original Language: English | | Available Audio Tracks: English | | Available Subtitles: English, French, Spanish | | Video: Color |
Aspect Ratio | | 4:3 |
| Cast & Crew | Adolfo Doring - Cinematographer | | Andrea Morricone - Musical Score | | Andrew Jarecki - Director | | Andrew Jarecki - Producer | | Richard Hankin - Editor |
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| | Professional Reviews | New York Times
"...In this somber and thoughtful documentary, Mr. Jarecki has the good grace to probe for answers while not allowing the camera to become intrusive..." 05/30/2003 p.E13Entertainment Weekly
"...CAPTURING THE FRIEDMANS is gripping, lacerating, moving, and tragic -- a work of documentary art..." 06/06/2003 p.54 Rolling Stone
"...This movie will pin you to your seat....A strikingly hard-nosed feature debut..." 06/12/2003 p.102 USA Today
"...Not since MEMENTO has a movie served up such a provocative mind-bender..." 06/13/2003 p.4E Chicago Sun-Times
"...Disturbing and haunting....The film is an instructive lesson about the elusiveness of facts, especially in a legal context..." 06/06/2003 p.26 Film Comment
"[A] tabloid spectacle with heart..." 01/01/2004 p.44 Movieline's Hollywood Life
"CAPTURING THE FRIEDMANS lingers in the mind." 02/01/2004 p.101 Sight and Sound
"[A] compelling documentary..." 04/01/2004 p.41 The New York Times 8 of 10
Capturing the Friedmans is the most compelling movie I've seen in ages and one of the most as - Frank Rich
James Berardinelli's ReelViews 8 of 10
Various articles have labeled Capturing the Friedmans as a narrative documentary, a crime inv - James Berardinelli
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