It’s remarkable that Director Ben Lewin could create the world of The Sessions via an essay the film’s protagonist wrote. That’s exactly what Lewin did, however, and his vision won the Audience Award at the 2011 Sundance Film Festival before being picked up by Fox Searchlight and distributed. If you happened to miss the movie in theaters, you’ll get the chance to catch it when The Sessions comes to Blu-ray and DVD on February 12, 2013.
There was a lot of buzz surrounding the flick before its initial theatrical release, and while The Sessions doesn’t always flow as well as I would have liked, it does feature some great performances, including John Hawkes playing the paralyzed journalist Mark O’Brien, and subtler performances from William H. Macy and Helen Hunt. The movie seems to have been pretty inspiring for the cast and crew involved, at least if the bonus features are any indication.
There are a few bonus features with DVD copies and several more that will come with Blu-ray copies, but since some of the extras are character specific, I’m guessing they may be short. Still, fans will get to take a look at both Hunt and Hawkes’ characters, and Blu-ray buyers will get a sneak peak into Lewin’s process when picking out and creating the project that eventually became The Sessions. As usual, Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment will be pushing Ultraviolet with the Blu-ray release, but DVD purchasers will, thankfully or unthankfully, avoid that. You can check out the full list of extras, below.
The Sessions DVD Extras
- “John Hawkes becomes Mark O’ Brien”
- “Helen Hunt as the Sex Surrogate”
- “The Women Who Loved Mark O’ Brien”
The Sessions Blu-ray Extras
- All the DVD Extras
- Deleted Scenes
- “Writer/Director Ben Lewin Finds Inspiration”
- “A Session with the Cast”
- Ultraviolet
