6.7 | / 10 |
Users | 0.0 | |
Reviewer | 3.0 | |
Overall | 3.0 |
A politically inclined romance about a Glaswegian bus driver who meets and falls in love with a Nicaraguan refugee. Moved by her plight, he travels with her to a conflict-torn Nicaragua, searching for her former lover, who has disappeared in the chaos of that country’s savage civil war.
Starring: Robert Carlyle, Oyanka Cabezas, Scott Glenn, Salvador Espinoza, Louise GoodallDrama | 100% |
Romance | 14% |
War | 14% |
Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Video resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 1.67:1
Original aspect ratio: 1.66:1
English: DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 (48kHz, 24-bit)
Music: DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 (48kHz, 24-bit)
None
50GB Blu-ray Disc
Single disc (1 BD)
Region free
Movie | 3.0 | |
Video | 3.5 | |
Audio | 3.5 | |
Extras | 1.5 | |
Overall | 3.0 |
The roiling sociopolitical climate of various South American revolutions has provided grist for the cinematic mill in such acclaimed offerings as Under Fire and Salvador, and now Twilight Time, the label responsible for those two releases, pulls off something of a hat trick by offering the probably less well remembered Carla’s Song, a typically odd and intimate film from the always interesting Ken Loach (a director Twilight Time previously featured with their 2 by Ken Loach: Riff-Raff / Raining Stones, and a director whose work is also available from Cohen’s release of Black Jack). If both Under Fire and Salvador took journalistic routes to get to the heart of the story, it’s “heart” of a very different sort that informs the often quite touching Carla’s Song, a film which details the rather unlikely pairing of a Scottish bus driver named George Lennox (Robert Carlyle) and a Nicaraguan woman named Carla (Oyanka Cabezas).
Carla's Song is presented on Blu-ray with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 1.67:1. Loach lovers will know pretty much what to expect with the visual side of things here, with a lo-fi but still extremely expressive use of locations and an uncomplicated, quasi-verité approach to a lot of the framings. The palette looks good, with very little in the way of aging or fading, though the film never really "pops" in a traditional way, exploiting instead everything from the mist strewn hills of Scotland to the dusty enclaves of Nicaragua. Close-ups offer reasonable fine detail, and contrast and black levels are both consistent.
Carla's Song features a serviceable DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 track which supports the film's dialogue (though subtitles might have helped decipher some of the thicker accents in evidence). There's not anything overly aggressive in the mix, despite the subtext of the Nicaraguan violence, and George Fenton's enjoyable score provides some of the audio interest which might be otherwise lacking. Very good fidelity offers lifelike renderings of some of the ambient environmental effects, and though there are occasional slight prioritization problems, the track has no overt damage of any kind.
Ken Loach's films can be an acquired taste, and if you've in fact acquired that taste, chances are you'll find quite a bit to enjoy in Carla's Song low key demeanor. Carlyle and Cabezas both deliver winning performances, and if the film is a bit loosey-goosey (as many of Loach's outings tend to be), there is still a rather interesting approach to examining a war torn province, one which sets Carla's Song apart from other films exploring political unrest in South American locales. Technical merits are generally strong, and for Loach aficionados if for no one else, Carla's Song comes Recommended.
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