7 | / 10 |
Users | 0.0 | |
Reviewer | 3.0 | |
Overall | 3.0 |
While scouting out apartments in London for her Venetian boyfriend, Carla rents an apartment that overlooks the Thames. There she meet the lesbian real estate agent Moira and Moira's ex-husband Marion.
Starring: Yuliya Mayarchuk, Jarno Berardi, Francesca Nunzi, Max Parodi, Mauro LorenzErotic | 100% |
Foreign | 87% |
Comedy | Insignificant |
Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Video resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 1.78:1
Original aspect ratio: 1.85:1
Italian: Dolby Digital 2.0
English: Dolby Digital 2.0
Both 256 kbps
English
25GB Blu-ray Disc
Single disc (1 BD)
Region free
Movie | 3.5 | |
Video | 3.0 | |
Audio | 3.5 | |
Extras | 2.0 | |
Overall | 3.0 |
Tinto Brass' "Cheeky!" (2000) arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Cult Epics. The supplemental features on the disc include an original trailer for the film, behind-the-scenes featurette, and a collection of stills from the film. In Italian or English, with optional English subtitles for the main features. Region-Free.
In the mood
Presented in an aspect ratio of 1.85:1, encoded with MPEG-4 AVC and granted a 1080p transfer, Tinto Brass' Cheeky! arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Cult Epics.
The presentation is average at best, which is exactly what I expected it to be. The overwhelming majority of Tinto Brass' films that appeared on DVD -- from I Am What I Am and The Howl to Miranda, The Key and Paprika -- had various issues, and it seems like distributors in Europe and North America are still using the old masters that are in circulation. The lone exception is Salon Kitty, which uses a high-definition transfer struck from a newer master.
Generally speaking, excluding most of the close-ups where light is in abundance, the film looks quite soft. Clearly, there is moderate filtering applied from start to finish. I should mention, however, that it was more than likely applied when the master for this release was created some years ago, before the DVD release of the film appeared on the market. Color reproduction is also quite weak, but not overly distracting. On the positive side, there are no traces of severe sharpening corrections. Also, there are no large cuts, damage marks, or scratches to report in this review. Now, while this Blu-ray release may seem rather disappointing, it actually offers some pretty obvious improvements over the old R1 DVD release of the film, also courtesy of Cult Epic. The improved compression, in particular, eliminates the macroblocking patterns during the darker scenes (the party sequence), and colors are also far more stable. Detail is also clearly improved, though, again, these improvements are easy to see because the transfer the DVD release uses is very poor, not because the high-definition transfer excels convincingly in the key areas we typically address in these reviews. (Note: This is a Region-Free Blu-ray disc. Therefore, you will be able to play it on your player regardless of your geographical location).
There are two standard audio tracks on this Blu-ray disc: English Dolby Digital 2.0 and Italian Dolby Digital 2.0. For the record, Cult Epics have provided optional English subtitles for the main feature.
The fact that the release does not come with lossless tracks is rather disappointing, but once again not surprising. More than likely Cult Epics simply did not have the proper files to offer anything better.
The Italian track has a limited dynamic amplitude, but it is well balanced and free of serious background noise and hiss. The dialog (which features some dubbing) is clean, stable, and easy to follow. There are no pops, cracks, or sudden audio dropouts to report in this review. The English translation is very good.
I like Tinto Brass' films a lot. I think that he is the last Italian director whose films still have some of the humor and style that made the Italian sexy comedies so popular in Europe during the '70s and '80s, as well as bits of those subversive elements classic Italian exploitation films had before the genre self-destroyed itself. It is true that since 2000 Brass' films have not been as exciting, but they are still perfect to see very late at night. Cheeky! is one such film. There is nothing groundbreaking in it, but there is plenty of charm -- and, of course, beautiful women. If you are a fan of Brass' work, you should consider picking up this Blu-ray release. It offers some upgrades in visual quality over the old R1 DVD release, but not because it uses a new high-definition transfer, rather because the DVD release is quite poor. If you are not a fan of Brass' work, you probably want to experiment with a different and better looking genre film, such as Radley Metzger's The Image.
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