7.1 | / 10 |
Users | 0.0 | |
Reviewer | 4.0 | |
Overall | 4.0 |
After a teenager is raped by her mother's boyfriend, she sets out to exact revenge on anyone who has hurt her.
Starring: Rez Cortez, Hilda Koronel, Joe Jardy, Danilo Posadas, Mona LisaForeign | 100% |
Drama | 81% |
Crime | Insignificant |
Thriller | Insignificant |
Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Video resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 1.37:1
Original aspect ratio: 1.66:1
Filipino (Tagalog): LPCM Mono (48kHz, 24-bit)
English
Blu-ray Disc
Two-disc set (1 BD, 1 DVD)
DVD copy
Region A (locked)
Movie | 4.0 | |
Video | 4.5 | |
Audio | 3.0 | |
Extras | 1.0 | |
Overall | 4.0 |
Note: This film is available as part of Martin Scorsese's World Cinema Project, No. 2.
Martin Scorsese has been curating the World Cinema Project for well over a decade, and the result has been a veritable cornucopia of
international films that in some cases Scorsese’s efforts have helped save from the ravages of time (and vinegar syndrome). As of the writing of this
review, the World Cinema Project is closing in on fifty restorations that they’ve undertaken, allowing fans to view films that, as even Scorsese himself
states in some of the introductions included in this set, have been woefully underappreciated and rarely seen. This second volume of films aggregates
six interesting
offerings that have at least some subtextual cross connections at times, but which serve as yet another example of what an incredible job the World
Cinema Project does in bringing films of undeniable merit to a wider audience.
Insiang is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of The Criterion Collection with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 1.37:1. As with all of the films in this set, there are some preliminary text cards describing the restorations, including some information which is also repeated in the insert booklet. The following is from the insert booklet, and omits some more generalized comments about The Film Foundation's World Cinema Project, and other collaborators:
Insiang is presented in its original aspect ratio of 1.37:1. This digital transfer was created in 4K resolution on an ARRISCAN wet gate film scanner from the original camera and soundtrack negatives deposited at LTC laboratories in Paris by producer Ruby Tiong Tan. Portions of the film where the internegative had been cut into the negative had to be replaced using a 35 mm positive print preserved at the BFI National Archive. The color grading was supervised by film historian Pierre Rissient. The original optical sound negative presented critical recording issues and required considerably effort to minimize the metallic hiss and distortion. Additional restoration funding was provided by the Film Development Council of the Philippines. Restoration was completed in May 2015.This is by and large a great looking transfer, one with good saturation levels and some very nicely rendered fine detail. Despite the poverty stricken environments, there's a glut of color in things like apparel, and greens, blues and reds in particular pop with considerable authority. There are some slight fluctuations in color temperature, and a couple of the darkest moments here have a slightly blue tinge at times. One bedroom scene with Insiang and her putative bedroom is bathed in red tones, and fine detail does ebb a bit in this sequence (see screenshot 8). Clarity and grain can also vary somewhat as the film ventures between more controlled interior locales and some of the "fly on the wall" footage shot out and about.
This is the rare Criterion release where audio suffers some fairly serious impediments despite a very nice video transfer. As outlined above in the verbiage from the insert booklet, this soundtrack evidently suffered from significant issues, and the LPCM Mono track offered on this Blu-ray disc can't completely overcome deficits in the source. A lot of the presentation sounds at least relatively okay, if awfully boxy at times, but a lot of the "on the street" material suffers from noticeable distortion as well as the kind of "silver metallic" sound alluded to in the comments from the insert booklet. That same metallic background distortion continues throughout several scenes, seeming to be more prevalent in the outdoor material. Optional English subtitles are available.
Insiang struck me as the sort of story that might have matriculated to American shores as a play by Eugene O'Neill or maybe William Inge. There's an incredible sadness here, but also a kind of steely resilience, but the film's jaundiced take on Philippine socioeconomic woes makes this a more universal story than simply a tale of a woe begotten woman trying to fight back against the vagaries of fate (not to mention her mother's boyfriend). Video is great looking, but audio encounters some hurdles. Recommended.
(Still not reliable for this title)
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