Rating summary

Movie		5.0
Video		5.0
Audio		4.5
Extras		4.0
Overall		4.5

Ivan's Childhood Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Dr. Svet Atanasov June 22, 2016

Andrei Tarkovsky's "Ivanovo detstvo" a.k.a. "Ivan's Childhood" (1962) arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of British distributors Curzon Artificial Eye. The supplemental features on the disc include filmed video introduction by film psychoanalyst Mary Wild; video interviews with actor Evgeniy Zharikov, cinematographer Vadim Yusov, and composer Vyacheslav Ovchinnikov; and more. In Russian, with optional English subtitles for the main feature. Region-B "locked".

Vanya

Twelve-year old Vanya (Nikolay Burlyaev, Living Rainbow, Andrei Rublev) looks happy. His mother is next to him, smiling. The sun is bright and hot. Somewhere up in the trees there is a cuckoo. Then a piercing scream abruptly changes the scenery. Vanya looks around and realizes that he has been dreaming a beautiful dream. He then quietly exits the windmill where he has been hiding and disappears into the night.

He can barely stand on his feet now but enters the nearby forest. There is freezing water everywhere. Somewhere on the other side of the forest, German patrols repeatedly fire off flares. But Vanya isn’t scared. He moves slowly, in the shadows where no one could see his tiny body, and eventually crosses the river that separates the forest from the wheat fields.

Some hours later, Vanya is picked up by Soviet soldiers. He is sent to an underground bunker where Lt. Galtsev (Yevgeni Zharikov, Robinson Crusoe) asks him how he managed to cross the river. The explanation does not satisfy the seasoned soldier - no one can cross the river like Vanya claims he did. The boy's insistence to speak with HQ’s Col. Gryaznov (Nikolai Grinko, Solaris) also annoys him.

But a quick message from HQ changes everything. Galtsev is informed that Vanya has been on an important mission and must be trusted. Eventually, Captain Kholin (Valentin Zubkov, The Cranes are Flying), an old friend, arrives to see him. When he enters the bunker, the boy jumps in his arms and he kisses him.

Vanya’s info is crucial - the Germans have regrouped for a decisive battle, and now it is only a matter of time before they attack the Soviets. He is congratulated for a job well done and told that he will be sent to a safer place - an elite military school, far away from the nightmares of war. But the announcement enrages Vanya because he is convinced that there is a lot more he could do to help. Barely able to contain his anger, he warns that if Kholin attempts to send him away he will find a way to escape and join the partisans.

Andrei Tarkovsky’s first full-length feature, Ivan’s Childhood, is like a giant dream in which past and present frequently overlap. The past is revealed through different flashbacks and memories. The present is seen either through Vanya’s eyes or those of different characters that would leave a trace in his life.

The film is notably bleak yet strikingly beautiful. At times it also looks awkwardly peaceful, though the abandoned army trucks, destroyed houses, and the black smoke that is repeatedly seen throughout the film certainly keep one aware that there is war, and that somewhere nearby men are dying. This is Tarkovsky’s signature touch - seeing beauty where most other directors would see ugliness.

Vanya is seen from two entirely different angles. Early into the film he is still a young boy, looking brittle, desperately needing the encouraging words of someone older than him. Later on he looks like a hurt animal, barely able to control his anger. His love for the motherland and hatred for its enemies are often as overwhelming as those of the seasoned soldiers around him.

The film is slow and moody. There are long sections where the camera also moves freely, observing men and objects with the same curiosity. The result is a deeply atmospheric and unusually fluid film, arguably one of Tarkovsky’s very best.

Note: In 1962, Ivan’s Childhood won Golden Lion Award for Best Film at the Venice Film Festival.

Ivan's Childhood Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Presented in an aspect ratio of 1.34:1, encoded with MPEG-4 AVC and granted a 1080p transfer, Andrei Tarkovsky's Ivan's Childhood arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Curzon Artificial Eye.

I don't have a confirmation to share in our review, but it appears that the release has been sourced from the same 4K master that Criterion accessed when they prepared the U.S. release Ivan's Childhood. Brightness levels may have been ever so slightly elevated, but the rest of the technical characteristics that we typically address in our reviews appear identical. Generally speaking, detail and clarity are outstanding, with the daylight footage in particular looking quite wonderful. Density is also dramatically improved. There are no traces of problematic degraining or sharpening adjustments. This being said, while I was taking notes, during two darker sequences I noticed some extremely light blocking, though I was able to see it only because I was comparing the the same footage on the two releases (see screencaptures #6 and 18). During normal playback the effect becomes more or less impossible to detect. My score is 4.75/5.00. (Note: This is a Region-B "locked" Blu-ray release. Therefore, you must have a native Region-B or Region-Free player in order to access its content).

Ivan's Childhood Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

There is only one standard audio track on this Blu-ray release: Russian LPCM 1.0. Optional English subtitles are provided for the main feature.

The audio is crisp, clean, and stable. Depth is excellent -- and this is likely what people who have previously seen the film only on DVD will immediately notice -- and there is a good range of nuanced dynamics. There are no audio dropouts, pops, or digital distortions to report in our review.

Ivan's Childhood Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Andrei Tarkovsky's Metaphysical Dream Zone: An Introduction by Mary Wild - a short video introduction to Ivan's Childhood and Andrei Tarkovsky's unique body of work by film psychoanalyst Mary Wild. In English, not subtitled. (3 min).

• Andrei Tarkovsky's Metaphysical Dream Zone - Part 1: Ivan's Childhood - in this video piece, Mary Wild discusses the significance of the reoccurring dream in Ivan's Childhood, the narcissistic scar/key subplot in the film, the elusive eroticism (the hanging scene), the ambivalent position of the war child, etc. In English, not subtitled. (9 min).

• Interview with Evgeny Zharikov - in this video interview, actor Evgeniy Zharikov recalls how he was cast to play Galtsev, and discusses his interactions with dierctor Andrei Tarkovsky during the shooting of Ivan's Childhood, some important changes that were made in the original script for the film, the visual style and atmosphere of the film, the delicate composition of select sequences, etc. In Russian, with optional English subtitles. (19 min).

• Interview with Vadim Usov - in this video interview, cinematographer Vadim Yusov discusses in great detail discusses his work on Ivan's Childhood, Andrei Tarkovsky's complete vision of the film, his working methods, etc. In Russian, with optional English subtitles. (34 min).

• Interview with Vyacheslav Ovchinnikov - in this video interview, composer Vyacheslav Ovchinnikov discusses his early work (starting with his contribution to Andrei Tarkovsky's Andrei Rublev and Andrei Konchalovskiy's A Nest of Gentry), the awful political climate in the USSR at the time when Ivan's Childhood was made, the orchestration of different scores, Andrei Tarkovsky's relationship with Ingmar Bergman, etc. In Russian, with optional English subtitles. (34 min).

• Booklet - 36-page illustrated booklet.

• Exclusive slipcase -

Ivan's Childhood Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Ivan's Childhood is a stunningly beautiful, deeply atmospheric film from one of cinema's greatest masters, Andrei Tarkovsky. In the West, it is not as universally praised as his latter films, but I think that it is one of his most complete, most profoundly moving films. Curzon Artificial Eye's upcoming Blu-ray release has been sourced from the same restored master that was used to produce the North American release of the film. However, this release comes with additional supplemental features that are not included on it. VERY HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.