6.9 | / 10 |
Users | 0.0 | |
Reviewer | 3.5 | |
Overall | 3.5 |
A 40-year-old father of two, still finds life very complicated. When the mother of his children moves to New York, he can't bear them growing up far away from him and so he decides to move there as well.
Starring: Romain Duris, Audrey Tautou, Cécile De France, Kelly Reilly, Sandrine HoltDrama | Insignificant |
Comedy | Insignificant |
Romance | Insignificant |
Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Video resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 1.85:1
Original aspect ratio: 1.85:1
French: DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1
French: Dolby Digital 5.1
English
50GB Blu-ray Disc
Single disc (1 BD)
Region A, B (C untested)
Movie | 3.5 | |
Video | 4.5 | |
Audio | 4.0 | |
Extras | 2.5 | |
Overall | 3.5 |
Richard Linklater is being touted as having the inside track for next year’s Academy Award for Best Director due to his breathtaking, almost audacious, generation spanning work to create Boyhood. Shot over the course of twelve years, Boyhood documents significant changes in a cast of characters portrayed by a coterie of actors who, not to put too fine a point on it, age in front of the camera. While the transition from childhood to adolescence to young adulthood gives Boyhood a fascinatingly visceral visual impact, much the same span of time—a dozen years more or less—is covered in a trilogy of films by French director Cédric Klapisch, all of which feature (aging) characters played by the same actors. 2002’s L’Auberge Espagnole introduced audiences to graduate student Xavier (Romain Duris) whose chance to study abroad in Barcelona means having to leave his girlfriend Martine (Audrey Tatou) behind. A revolving door of relationships unfolds in the film, including some involving one of Xavier’s roommates, a pretty Englishwoman named Wendy (Kelly Reilly). The film ends in a bit of romantic disarray, but with Xavier deciding to jettison his (economics) studies to pursue a career as a writer (evidently regular paychecks are not an issue for him). Three years after L’Auberge Espagnole came along, Klapisch reunited several of the characters again for 2005’s Les Poupées russes (Russian Dolls). Against considerable odds, Xavier is earning a regular paycheck with his writing, while Martine has moved on to have a child and pursue her career. Once again romantic entanglements take up the bulk of the film, with the squabbling family dynamics of Wendy’s brood providing much of the drama (and occasional humor). Russian Dolls ends with the hint that perhaps Xavier and Wendy are moving toward becoming a couple.
Chinese Puzzle is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Cohen Media Group with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 2.35:1. This appears to be sourced identically to the French Blu-ray reviewed by my colleague Dr. Svet Atanasov. Rather than echo Svet's comments, other than to reiterate how warm and inviting the color space is here, I refer you that review for his assessment. I'd also point out that Klapisch (as is his wont) exploits a number of cinematic bells and whistles, including split screen and graphics, as well as a number of whimsical elements like the "paper cut out" sequence detailing Xavier's history with Isabelle (see screenshots 3 and 10), or the amusing moment when two pictures in one of the girlie magazines Xavier is using to make his "deposit" burst into life (see screenshot 5). There are a couple of very niggling contrast issues, notably in the dark scenes of Xavier in his New York hovel, but they're largely inconsequential given the overall excellence of this transfer.
Unlike the French Blu-ray release, this domestic Chinese Puzzle comes equipped with DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 and Dolby Digital 5.1 tracks largely in French, but with a smattering of English and Spanish here and there. For some reason, this disc has been authored to default to the Dolby Digital 5.1 track instead of the lossless option, something I frankly didn't even realize until I was partway through the film and started checking specs. That may be one indication of how relatively unambitious the sound mix is for this film. There's certainly solid surround activity courtesy of elements like the busy cityscape of New York, and there's even good lower midrange to low range exploitation courtesy of some source cues, but there's nothing here that made my ears perk up and wonder "is that a lossy track?" Toggling between the lossy and lossless tracks does reveal some differences in dynamic range and the low end. All of this said, the DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 track supports the film's nice blend of dialogue, effects and score perfectly well, with excellent fidelity and no problems of any kind.
For those who haven't been following the now dozen year long adventures of Xavier, Wendy and Martine, entering this film in media res may prove to be something of a Chinese puzzle in and of itself. As with previous entries, there's an effortless ebullience here, but Chinese Puzzle also does a good job looking at real life issues like "blended" families and coming to terms with middle age. Technical merits here are very strong, and Chinese Puzzle comes Recommended.
(Still not reliable for this title)
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