Carla's Song Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		3.0
Video		3.5
Audio		3.5
Extras		1.5
Overall		3.0

Carla's Song Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman August 7, 2015

The roiling sociopolitical climate of various South / Central 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).

The star-crossed love affair between George and Carla seems almost sociopathic at the beginning, with George verging close to obsession at times. Carlyle’s innately sweet demeanor helps to offset this initial apprehension, and the film ultimately settles into a rather interesting character piece once the two end up in Nicaragua, ostensibly for Carla to solve some family mysteries, but positing both of them into a riot torn environment that neither is sufficiently prepared to cope with. As with many Loach films, character is paramount, much more so than plot mechanics, and Carla’s Song offers a patchwork quilt of ideas and tones that may not blend together perfectly, but which create an odd, dissonant ethnic music that’s quite distinctive if taken on its own peculiar merits.

Carla's Song Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

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 Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

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.

Carla's Song Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Original Theatrical Trailer (480p; 2:02)


• Deleted Scenes (480p; 11:41)


• Audio Commentary with Director Ken Loach and Screenwriter Paul Laverty


• Isolated Score Track is presented in DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0.

Carla's Song Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

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.