The Interpreter

A polished, respectable thriller that has the distinction of being the first Hollywood production to be given access to filming on-site at the United Nations, The Interpreter's digital incarnation is equally worthy of some attention. Though leading lady Nicole Kidman is on hand for a bunch of snippets, it is director Sydney Pollack who takes the lead on the DVD with his director's commentary and contributions to a quartet of featurettes produced by New Wave Entertainment. (Co-star Sean Penn is virtually nowhere to be seen on the disc.) As usual, veteran Pollack offers earnest, insightful views on the production of the film and is often quite candid about the difficulties that even a veteran such as himself can run into when setting out to create a substantially budgeted, large-scale piece of adult entertainment. The flip-side, of course, as he reveals in the "From Concept to Cutting Room Floor" featurette, is that as the executive producer and director, his word is law when it comes to putting his ideas on screen. "I know the truth—I want something better," he says at one point. It's also fascinating to see a Hollywood veteran, who has given us such modern classics as Tootsie, The Way We Were and Out of Africa, reveal some cracks in his armor. "It's hard to make a film that's releasable, that's not embarrassing," Pollack concedes.