6.7 | / 10 |
Users | 0.0 | |
Reviewer | 4.0 | |
Overall | 4.0 |
A family refuses to leave their country home to make way for the construction of a new road. Gradually cut off and disconnected from the world, they end up shutting themselves in.
Starring: Isabelle Huppert, Olivier Gourmet, Adélaïde Leroux, Madeleine Budd, Kacey Mottet KleinForeign | 100% |
Drama | 24% |
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
English
50GB Blu-ray Disc
Single disc (1 BD)
Region A, B (C untested)
Movie | 4.0 | |
Video | 4.0 | |
Audio | 4.0 | |
Extras | 3.0 | |
Overall | 4.0 |
The mosquito buzzing at night in your bedroom. A distant car alarm that won’t stop. That distracting hum from the back of your plasma TV. The incessantly barking cocker spaniel next door and the neighbor upstairs who wears lead shoes and apparently enjoys rearranging his furniture at three in the morning. The midnight drip…drip…drip of the faucet. Sound can be the ultimate aggravator, worming itself into your brain, expanding and exaggerating, fraying nerves and putting tempers on edge. And as those who live downtown or next to a busy road can attest, the non-stop drone of traffic is the worst. It’s not white noise—too many mufflers at different frequencies—and it can’t be drowned out. It’s enough to make you hate all motorcyclists, to curse truckers and possess a strong desire to throw a heavy object through the windshield of every car with a subwoofer in the trunk. Needless to say, the psychological effects can be devastating. Such is the case in French-Swiss director Ursula Meier’s feature debut, Home, which sets the dissolution of a family to a soundtrack of ceaseless highway noise.
They're coming...
Kino International brings Home to U.S. audiences with a 1080p/AVC-encoded transfer that's framed in the film's original 1.85:1 aspect ratio. The film makes a strong but understated appearance on Blu-ray, with an un-tampered-with look that does justice to Agnes Godard's evocative, naturalistic cinematography. Fine detail is more than adequately reproduced here, and you can easily discern facial texture, the threading in clothing, the knobbiness of a terrycloth towel, and even make out the individual blades in a waving field of wild grass. There are moments when the image seems a touch overexposed—I'm specifically thinking of the scene when the construction workers arrive, the highlights of their orange and yellow outfits slightly blown out—but otherwise color is very realistic, with strong tonal depth, even-keeled contrast, and solid black levels. Grain remains fine and stable, the print is nearly immaculate—I only spotted two or three white specks—and there are no overly apparent compression issues. (Although, some fields of color, especially the skies, look a bit blotchy.) I've got to give it to Kino—their Blu-ray output has been fantastic thus far, a massive improvement from some of their questionable transfers during the DVD days.
Since sound plays such a huge role in Home's story, I expected this disc's DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 surround track to be fairly robust. In a way, however, it's curiously restrained, although I still think that it's successful in ratcheting the family's ever-increasing tension. In the beginning of the film, before the highway opens, the mix is dominated by dialog, with only hushed ambience—crickets and airy wind, mostly—taking up residence in the rear channels. Once the roar from the freeway starts to intrude into the family's life, the front speakers get a wide spread with plenty of cross-channel traffic movement, but the rears stay conspicuously quiet. There's definitely room here for more engaging sound design, but I can't really dock this track for what was never there to begin with. Despite the limited immersiveness, the mix sounds strong—cars zip by in an ever-present drone, 18-wheelers roar with palpable LFE output, and when the soundproofing of the house begins, the track employs effectively ominous near-silence. Dialogue is clear and balanced throughout, and the optional English subtitles appear in easy-to-read white lettering.
"Sleepless" by Ursula Meier (1080i, 33:39)
The best inclusion on the disc is Ursala Meier's second short film, from 1998, which won awards at
several international film festivals. Do note that while the film is technically presented in 1080i, the
image is windowboxed within the frame and obviously upscaled.
Interview with the Director and Cinematographer (1080i, 32:36)
In lieu of a director's commentary or "making of" documentary, we get an insightful conversation with
Ursula Meier and influential cinematographer Agnes Godard, who discuss the origins and themes of the
project, the difficulties in location scouting—they eventually found a perfect spot in rural Bulgaria—and
the process of the shoot.
Stills
A classy, easy-to-navigate gallery with 19 high definition stills.
Trailers
Includes the trailer for Home (1080p, 1:43), along with a trailer for upcoming Kino release
Ajami (1080p, 1:43).
Stifling, suffocating, paranoiac—Home is a grim examination of how external forces can alter the emotional dynamics of a family. Whatever you want to call it—environmental fable, character study, pastoral gone claustrophobic—the film is an exceptionally strong debut from director Ursula Meier, who coaxes yet another ravaging performance out of Isabelle Huppert and teams up with cinematographer Agnes Godard to paint an increasingly bleak family portrait. This is another great release from Kino, continuing their streak of bringing up-and-coming international directors to U.S. home video audiences. Strongly recommended.
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