7 | / 10 |
Users | 4.0 | |
Reviewer | 4.0 | |
Overall | 4.0 |
A anarchist leader (Fulvio) wishes to retire, as he is old and tired. He tries to hide himself, but his friends find him and insist he carries on helping them.
Starring: Marcello Mastroianni, Lea Massari, Mimsy Farmer, Laura Betti, Claudio CassinelliForeign | 100% |
Drama | 52% |
History | Insignificant |
Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Video resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 1.66:1
Original aspect ratio: 1.66:1
Italian: LPCM 2.0 Mono (48kHz, 24-bit)
English
Blu-ray Disc
Single disc (1 BD)
Region A, B (locked)
Movie | 4.0 | |
Video | 4.5 | |
Audio | 4.5 | |
Extras | 2.5 | |
Overall | 4.0 |
Several years ago Cohen Media Group's Cohen Film Collection imprint brought out The Taviani Brothers Collection, a "triple feature" release which offered what are arguably the two best remembered Taviani Brothers films, Padre Padrone and The Night of the Shooting Stars, with the collection's third choice, 1984's Kaos, being something of an outlier (at least in terms of international renown). Film fans in general and especially those who keep track of things like festival awards and the like will no doubt know that the "double whammy" of Padre Padrone and The Night of the Shooting Stars put the Taviani Brothers firmly on the map of A List auteurs, but rather interestingly the siblings didn't really manage to maintain that status, and a lot of their post-Shooting Stars filmography tended to be overlooked (with the possible exception of Caesar Must Die, which as of the writing of this review is available on Blu-ray only in the Brasilian edition the link points to). The overwhelming reactions to Padre Padrone and The Night of the Shooting Stars also perhaps tended to subsume the earlier work of the Taviani Brothers (i.e., films released prior to 1977's Padre Padrone), and that includes the film the brothers made "directly" (if three years) before Padre Padrone, 1974's Allonsanfān (the unusual title turns out to be the name of one of the characters in the story, but is also a kind of quasi-mondegreen skewing the opening two words of the French national anthem, i.e., "allons, enfants"). Commentator Michael Brooke mentions how when he was asked to write an article about an "unrecognized gem" for Sight and Sound, he immediately chose Allonsanfān, though Brooke is rather quick to suggest that Ennio Morricone's now legendary score for the film may be better known than the film itself.
Allonsanfān is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Radiance Films with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 1.66:1. Radiance tends not to provide a ton of technical information about its transfers, and the insert booklet offers the following brief description:
Allonsanfān was restored in 2K by Surf Film and Istituto Luce Cinecittā and supplied to Radiance Films as a high definition digital file.This is an often gorgeous looking presentation, with a nicely robust palette that supports the "color theory" Michael Brooke mentions in his commentary extremely well for the most part, even if some passing moments, like the first use of green when Fulvio gets taken by the Sublime Brothers, can almost lead to a desaturated appearance (a later use of green, when Fulvio puts a green scarf over a lamp, doesn't exhibit the same anomaly). Some of the naturally lit and ungraded outdoor material in particular resonates extremely well, and the all important red jackets the revolutionaries wear pop with considerable energy. There are some passing moments, often in but not solely relegated to opticals, where clarity and densities can falter momentarily. That last third or so of the story can often be drenched in shadows, and while there's an almost Vermeer-esque look to the visuals at times, with an emphasis on browns and golds, there can be slight deficits in fine detail. Grain resolves naturally for the most part, but can occasionally look a bit on the gritty, dirty side, especially in some of the closing battlefield scenes shot against almost white skies.
Allonsanfān features a great sounding LPCM 2.0 Mono track in the original Italian, though film fans may be less interested in any spoken language than in the "universal language" of music, in this case Ennio Morricone's score, which received "new life" when the always reliable curator Quentin Tarantino used Morricone's theme for this film as the closing music in Inglourious Basterds. This is certainly one of Morricone's most enjoyable scores, even if it may not be as widely recognized as, say, The Good, the Bad and the Ugly. Dialogue is cleanly and clearly presented throughout. Optional English subtitles are available.
In both his commentary and his original Sight & Sound article about Allonsanfān, Michael Brooke alludes to how "operatic" the story is, and that somewhat overblown character may not be everyone's cup of Verdi, Puccini, or other Italian masters, but the basic dilemma an obviously morally ambivalent Fulvio faces repeatedly in the film should strike a chord with anyone who has ever done anything for expediency's sake. Technical merits are solid and the supplements very enjoyable. Recommended.
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