7.9 | / 10 |
Users | 0.0 | |
Reviewer | 3.5 | |
Overall | 3.5 |
Tomek, a young post office worker, is obsessed with Magda, the promiscuous woman who lives in the tower block opposite. He spies on her through a telescope and finally declares his love. She initiates him into the basic fact of life - there is no love, only sex. Tomek, shattered, tries to commit suicide but doesn't succeed. When he returns from hospital, it is Magda who becomes obsessed with him...
Starring: Grazyna Szapolowska, Olaf Lubaszenko, Stefania Iwinska, Piotr Machalica, Artur BarcisForeign | 100% |
Drama | 33% |
Romance | Insignificant |
Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Video resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 1.78:1
Original aspect ratio: 1.66:1
Polish: LPCM 2.0
English
Blu-ray Disc
Single disc (1 BD)
Region B (locked)
Movie | 5.0 | |
Video | 4.0 | |
Audio | 5.0 | |
Extras | 2.5 | |
Overall | 3.5 |
Krzysztof Kieslowski's "A Short Film About Love" (1988) arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Curson/Artificial Eye. The supplemental features on the disc include an original trailer for the film; archival interviews with actress Grazyna Szapolowska and assistant sirector Emmanual Finkel; the short film "Tramway"; and more. In Polish, with optional English subtitles for the main feature. Region-B "locked".
The voyeur
Presented in an aspect ratio of 1.78:1, encoded with MPEG-4 AVC and granted a 1080p transfer, Krzysztof Kieslowski's A Short Film About Love arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Curzon/Artificial Eye.
I am a little less enthusiastic about the technical presentation of A Short Film About Love than I was about A Short Film About Killing. Just to be clear, the Blu-ray release still offers a a very solid upgrade in quality over the old R2 DVD release, but some of the darker areas feel slightly less detailed than I wanted them to be. I think that some encoding optimizations could have been made to ensure better results, but I am also going to speculate that the master could have been finalized even more carefully. There are some traces of light surface corrections that affect shadow definition, plus depth isn't as convincing as it should be (you can see examples in screencaptures #10 and 12). The color grading is good, but the effects of the corrections that I mentioned above have an impact on some darker nuances. Image stability is excellent. My score is 3.75/5.00. (Note: This is a Region-B "locked" Blu-ray release. Therefore, you must have a native Region-B or Region-Free player in order to access its content).
There is only one standard audio track on this Blu-ray release: Polish LPCM 2.0. Optional English subtitles are provided for the main feature.
The audio has been remastered and I think that the basic qualities of the lossless track are very solid. Clarity, depth, and overall balances are outstanding. The soundtrack does not have a great dynamic amplitude, but the music sounds wonderful throughout the film.
This particular story, a shorter version of which appears in Dekalog, is probably my favorite. Here Krzysztof Kieslowski does alter a few crucial details that produce a different finale, but I think that it is just as brilliant. Many years ago, I saw A Short Film About Love in the theater and then I had to wait a long time before I was finally able to purchase Dekalog on VHS. I have this ancient DVD release in my library and the Blu-ray most definitely offers a good upgrade in quality, but I think that the remaster could have been even more convincing. (If you decide to order a copy for your collection, keep in mind that A Short Film About Killing is also out on Blu-ray via Curzon/Artificial Eye). RECOMMENDED.
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