Rating summary

Movie		5.0
Video		4.0
Audio		3.5
Extras		2.0
Overall		4.0

Calendar Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Dr. Svet Atanasov October 30, 2013

Winner of the Special Jury Prize at the Taormina International Film Festival, Atom Egoyan's "Calendar" (1993) arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of British distributors Artificial Eye. The supplemental features on the disc include two short films directed by the Canadian filmmaker: "Howard in Particular" (1979) and "Peep Show" (1981). In English, without optional English SDH subtitles for the main feature. Region-B "locked".

"Leave your camera and come with us..."

Director Atom Egoyan is a Canadian photographer who travels to Armenia to photograph some of the country's most significant churches for a calendar. He is accompanied by his beautiful wife (Egoyan's real-life wife Arsinee Khanjian, Irma Vep, Adoration), who is fluent in Armenian, and a local tour guide (Ashot Adamian), who isn't fluent in English.

A year after the trip, the photographer begins remembering the sites he visited. Now he is alone and lonely. A series of flashbacks gradually reveal how the trip started and why his wife is no longer with him. In the first flashbacks, the exchanges between the photographer and his wife are very simple, addressing the history of the churches and the people who built them. Later on, however, their exchanges become very personal.

Between viewing footage from the trip and thinking about it, the photographer frequently meets beautiful young women in his small but stylish apartment. Like his ex-wife, they all speak foreign languages. But they don't excite him. He does his best to be polite, but each date ends with a phone call in which the photographer's guest confesses to someone on the other end of the line how she cannot wait to leave. The photographer does not know exactly what is said, but he feels their disappointment.

Meanwhile, the photographer's ex-wife frequently calls from Armenia but he never picks up. He listens to her messages and then remembers their final moments together.

Inspired by Sergei Parajanov's classic The Color of Pomegranates, Calendar is undoubtedly Egoyan's most personal film. It is also one of the Canadian director's most through-provoking films.

The key theme in the film is a familiar one - communication. As it is the case with Next of Kin, Family Viewing, Exotica, and The Sweet Hereafter, in Calendar Egoyan reconstructs a case in which poor communication has irreversibly altered someone's life. What is different about Calendar is the fact that the main protagonist is actually a man very much like him, someone with Armenian roots who feels like a foreigner in a place where he should feel at home.

The film is brilliantly structured and executed. One part of it focuses on that never-ending identity struggle one faces while reexamining his roots. First-generation immigrants are painfully familiar with it. A large portion of the film also takes a closer look at the nature of identity. Indeed, there is a very good reason why all of the women the photographer meets have different ethnic backgrounds - they all see something unique in him that makes him 'foreign'; but he can also easily recognize the (cliched) qualities that also make them look 'foreign'.

While observing the photographer, his dates and his ex-wife the audience is also invited to join the identity game. The different languages that are spoken, the different confessions and the manner in which they are delivered, and especially the raw video footage Egoyan uses to chronicle the final moments of the photographer's collapsed marriage make Calendar quite a fascinating test in which the truth is constantly redefined and expanded. Marvelous film.

Calendar Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Presented in an aspect ratio of 1.37:1, encoded with MPEG-4 AVC and granted a 1080p transfer, Atom Egoyan's Calendar arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of British distributors Artificial Eye.

The release uses a new high-definition transfer that offers substantial improvements in every single area we typically address in our reviews. The close-ups of the beautiful women the photographer meets at his home boast very good depth. Despite the fact that the camera frequently moves, clarity is also good. The outdoor footage from Armenia is vibrant and clean. (On the R1 DVD release there is plenty of noise and flecks). Contrast fluctuates, but this is due to the manner in which natural light is captured. Color reproduction is very good. The yellows, greens, blues, browns, and blacks look healthy and natural. The film also contains some raw video footage. Understandably, clarity, contrast, and definition in it fluctuate. (See screencaptures #10 and 12). There are no traces of problematic degraining corrections. Sharpening adjustments also have not been performed. Predictably, the film has a very pleasing and very convincing organic look. Lastly, there are a few minor flecks, but there are absolutely no damage marks, cuts, stains, warps, or splices. Image stability is also very good. All in all, this is yet another competent presentation of an Egoyan film from the folks at Artificial Eye. (Note: This is a Region-B "locked" Blu-ray release. Therefore, you must have a native Region-B or Region-Free PS3 or SA in order to access its content).

Calendar Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

There is only one standard audio track on this Blu-ray release: English Dolby Digital 2.0. Please note that there are very small portions of the film where foreign languages are spoken that are not subtitled. This is how the film is meant to be experienced. For the record, Artificial Eye have not provided optional English SDH subtitles for the main feature.

Some traditional Armenian music is heard during select sequences, but the music does not have a prominent role in the film. Additionally, despite the fact that release comes only with a lossy track, depth and clarity are indeed very good. The dialog is consistently crisp, clean, stable, and exceptionally easy to follow. For the record, there is absolutely no background hiss, audio dropouts, or distortions to report in this review.

Calendar Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Howard in Particular - Atom Egoyan directed this short film about an old man attending his retirement party in 1979. The film has a lovely jazz (piano) score. B&W. In English, not subtitled. (13 min).

• Peep Show - Atom Egoyan directed this rather perplexing short film about a man visiting a photo booth in 1981. Color. In English, not subtitled. (8 min).

Calendar Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

I cannot recommend Atom Egoyan's Calendar highly enough. It is brilliantly structured and executed, absolutely marvelous film. Kudos to Artificial Eye for bringing the Canadian director's early films to Blu-ray. As far as I am concerned, they are some of this year's most exciting releases. If you can play Region-B discs, I urge you to consider adding Calendar to your collections as soon as possible. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.