Rating summary

Movie		4.0
Video		5.0
Audio		4.5
Extras		0.5
Overall		4.0

20,000 Days on Earth Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman July 1, 2022

Nick Cave's name may frankly not be well known enough generally on this side of the pond for some to even know who(m) he is, or what exactly he's done to have this Arty (with a capital A) documentary about him released not once, but twice, on Blu-ray. 20,000 Days on Earth actually received a Blu-ray release from its parent studio Drafthouse Films way back in 2014, and Michael Reuben reviewed it then (see below, as I'll be referring repeatedly to Michael's original review). MVD Visual has now evidently picked up licensing rights, and the release is back, albeit shorn of what look like some really interesting supplements that graced that original Blu-ray release from Drafthouse Films. However, that release is now going for some pretty hefty sums of money, so at least for those whose main interest lies in the actual documentary, this new release will probably be of interest since it pretty much duplicates the excellent technical merits Michael outlined in his original review.

I highly recommend anyone interested in Nick Cave in general or 20,000 Days on Earth in particular to head over to the 20,000 Days on Earth Blu-ray review by Michael Reuben. Michael provides a lot of salient information about Cave and the film, as well as detailing the supplements on that release that haven't made it over to this one. As always, it may be helpful for some considering purchasing this release to be able to compare screenshots between the two.

20,000 Days on Earth Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

20,000 Days on Earth is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of MVD Visual with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 2.40:1. MVD has placed this on a BD-25, which may be of concern to some, since the original Drafthouse Films release got a BD-50, but as mentioned above, this disc has none of the supplements included on that original release (other than a short trailer), and I frankly didn't see any compression anomalies of any kind. As Michael notes in his original review, this is sharp as a tack digital capture (aside from some archival elements), and it offers a really robust palette combined with typically excellent detail levels. Even given some of the "Arty" (again, with a capital A) stylistic flourishes employed, it's actually kind of remarkable how consistently high fine detail levels are throughout the presentation.

20,000 Days on Earth Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

As with the visual element of 20,000 Days on Earth, there's a certain psychedelic feel to this disc's DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 track, with some significant but still subtle layering of effects, score and dialogue that is quite striking. I am in fact granting this a just slightly higher score than Michael gave, in just the latest edition of my long running blog "different reviewers means different opinions" (and, yes, that's a joke). All of the spoken material is generally delivered cleanly and clearly, though it seems evident that the sound design intentionally offers ebbs and flows of clarity. Optional English subtitles are available.

20,000 Days on Earth Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Trailer (HD; 2:14)

20,000 Days on Earth Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

I frankly didn't know all that much about Nick Cave before coming to 20,000 Days on Earth, but that may in fact have been a good thing. This is such a bracing, provocative piece of filmmaking that it's perhaps preferable to jump in without a whale of a lot of foreknowledge, kind of like those "ice bath swimmers" who plummet into near freezing waters rather than just dipping a toe in first to acclimatize themselves. Cave is a fascinating "multi-hyphenate", as the trade papers like to describe such titanically gifted individuals, and the kind of amazing thing is he managed to find two equally creative filmmakers in the form(s) of Iain Forsyth and Jane Pollard, who invest this piece with a really distinctive style and format. Technical merits are first rate, and while this release doesn't have the same supplemental material that the original Drafthouse Films release does, it also is not going to cost you an arm and a leg. Recommended.