6.6 | / 10 |
Users | 4.0 | |
Reviewer | 4.0 | |
Overall | 4.0 |
After skirting the horrors of a mysterious war being waged in the countryside, beautiful young Lily takes refuge in a remote farmhouse, where she becomes embroiled in the surreal domestic life of an extremely unconventional family.
Starring: Cathryn Harrison, Therese Giehse, Alexandra Stewart, Joe DallesandroDrama | 100% |
Surreal | 22% |
Imaginary | 7% |
Mystery | 4% |
Fantasy | Insignificant |
Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Video resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 1.62:1
Original aspect ratio: 1.66:1
English: LPCM Mono
French: Dolby Digital Mono
English, English SDH
50GB Blu-ray Disc
Single disc (1 BD)
Region A (locked)
Movie | 4.0 | |
Video | 4.0 | |
Audio | 4.5 | |
Extras | 2.5 | |
Overall | 4.0 |
Winner of Cesar Awards for Best Cinematography and Best Sound, Louis Malle's "Black Moon" (1975) arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Criterion. The supplemental features on the disc include the film's original French theatrical trailer; short excerpt from the French television program Pour le cinema; and stills gallery. In English, with optional English SDH subtitles for the main feature. Region-A "locked".
Cathryn Harrison as Lily
Presented in an aspect ratio of 1.62:1, encoded with MPEG-4 AVC and granted a 1080p transfer, Louis Malle's Black Moon arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Criterion.
The following text appears inside the booklet provided with this Blu-ray disc:
"This new high-definition digital transfer was created on a Spirit Datacine from the original 35mm camera negative. Thousands of instances of dirt, debris, scratches, splices, warps, jitter, and flicker were manually removed using MTI's DRS system and Pixel Farm's PFClean system, while Digital Vision's DVNR system was used for small dirt, grain, and noise reduction.
Telecine supervisor: Richard Deusy/Scanlab, Paris.
Blu-ray mastering: Radius60, Los Angeles.
Detail is very good, particularly during close-ups. Contrast levels are also consistent. I did not see any serious issues with the color reproduction either, though I don't have a source to compare (I feel that some of the greens are slightly boosted during the second half of the film but looking fine during the first half). Traces of mild sharpening are occasionally visible (see screencapture #13) but do not affect the integrity of the presentation. Elsewhere, light electronic noise also has a tendency to creep in (see screencapture #15). In motion, however, these minor issues are next to impossible to spot. In fact, with the various improvements in terms of detail and contrast stabilization, Black Moon actually very strong when projected on a large screen. Finally, there are no large damage marks or traces of heavy erosion plaguing the high-definition transfer - Criterion have carefully removed various scratches, flecks, and debris. (Note: This is a Region-A "locked" Blu-ray disc. Therefore, you must have a native Region-A or Region-Free PS3 or SA in order to access its content).
There are two audio tracks on this Blu-ray disc: English LPCM 1.0 and French Dolby Digital 1.0. For the record, Criterion have provided optional English SDH subtitles for the main feature.
Th following text appears inside the booklet provided with this Blu-ray disc:
"The monaural soundtrack was remastered at 24-bit from the 35mm sound negative. Clicks, thumps, hiss, and hum were manually removed using Pro Tools HD. Crackle was attenuated using AudioCube's integrated workstation.
Black Moon is primarily a dialog-free feature (there is a limited amount of basic dialog and some unique sounds). Naturally, the sound enhancements we typically observe with strong loseless audio tracks are extremely limited. Still, I cannot imagine that there are any major compromises in terms of quality that could be attributed strictly to the English LPCM 1.0 track - all limitations appear to be inherited.
Louis Malle's Black Moon is a truly bizarre but beautiful film, definitely a product of its time. As it is the case with Bernardo Bertolucci's Partner and Dusan Makavejev's Sweet Movie it is best if one does not overanalyzie it too much, as the film is clearly meant to be experienced, not understood. Incredibly difficult to see in the past, Black Moon is now available on Blu-ray via the Criterion Collection. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.
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