A couple of days ago a DVD appeared in my mailbox. It was a copy of the Dollar Baby I Know What You Need by Shawn Lealos. When I opened it I was happy to see that it was one of those Dollar Babies that’s been packed properly. With that I mean that it’s in a DVD box with a decent cover, that it has menus, bonus material and so on. It’s so much nicer then the once that is just a file that you have to watch on your computer.

Both the way the film is presented and the script shows that Shawn really loves to make movies. It’s also very clear after listening to the commentary tracks to the film that he worked very hard to make this Dollar Baby. And the script seams promising but unfortunately the acting isn’t that very good. You can tell fairly easy that all the actors are amateurs as well as you can tell that I Know What You Need is a low budget movie, especially if you look at the interior. I guessed (and also got it confirmed in the commentary tracks) that it’s shot in a private home and not a studio.

Low budget is somewhat the thing with these Dollar Babies though so I won’t be too hard on Shawn about that but most of the actors and actresses are really bad. I’m sorry to say that but no matter how much I want to say they are believable in their roles I can’t. I know from listening to the commentary tracks that Shawn is happy with them but I’m sorry…they aren’t doing their job.

As mentioned earlier the DVD has a rather interesting commentary track. The only thing I don’t like with it is that Shawn had a cold when he recorded it and from time to time you can hear that all to well…

Besides having a commentary track the DVD also have deleted scenes (with commentaries) and an introduction to the movie that probably was done for one of the Dollar Baby festivals.

Take the chance to see I Know What You Need if you get it. Even though it’s not the best Dollar Baby I have seen it’s done with love and you can tell that a lot of work has gone into making it.