6.6 | / 10 |
Users | 0.0 | |
Reviewer | 4.0 | |
Overall | 4.0 |
The Idiot receives his mission: to travel to Earth and make another film to the best of his abilities. A group of musicians work hard in attempt to find the perfect harmony. A man in search of Utopia wonders if he is on the wrong planet. A party of travellers are trying to work out where they are going...
Starring: Jean-Luc Godard, Jane Birkin, Dominique Lavanant, Pauline Lafont, Isabelle SadoyanDrama | 100% |
Comedy | Insignificant |
Fantasy | Insignificant |
Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Video resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 1.34:1
Original aspect ratio: 1.37:1
French: DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0
English
25GB Blu-ray Disc
Single disc (1 BD)
Region A (B, C untested)
Movie | 4.0 | |
Video | 4.0 | |
Audio | 4.0 | |
Extras | 0.0 | |
Overall | 4.0 |
Note: Olive Films is embarking on a branded effort to release Godard films on Blu-ray. My introductory
comments on these releases will remain the same, in order to provide context. For those interested in a discussion of
the individual films, simply jump to the text below the first screenshot.
Jean-Luc Godard is one of the most legendary names of twentieth century film, and one with an astoundingly long and
varied oeuvre, so it’s perhaps a little shocking that so few of his directorial efforts have made it to Blu-ray. A
cursory review of domestic releases reveals a relatively meager set of films (we’re speaking number here, not quality):
Breathless, Vivre Sa Vie, Contempt, Band of Outsiders, Pierrot le fou,
Weekend and Film
Socialisme. With the exception of Film Socialisme, one of Godard’s more recent efforts, the bulk of the
titles listed above come from Godard’s heyday in the sixties, when the famed auteur was a leading force in the
Nouvelle Vague movement, otherwise known as the New Wave, a deconstructionist faction of filmmakers who sought to
defy conventional logic and accepted tropes in writing, directing and performance. This approach is probably nowhere
better exemplified than in Godard’s own Breathless, a film which continues to provoke heated debate more than
a half century after its release. As bracing as Godard’s sixties’ opuses are, there are just as many pleasures—albeit
awfully peculiar pleasures at times—to be had in this protean creator’s output after that whirlwind decade.
Keep Your Right Up is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Olive Films with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 1.34:1
(it's perhaps instructive to note that in the 1980s Godard was continuing to use so-called Academy Ratio, more or less, yet
another thumb to the nose aimed at the "Establishment"). The elements here are in very good condition. The film is never
incredibly sharp by modern day standards, but that is no doubt due mostly to the lenses Godard preferred as well as the film stock which was
utilized.
Colors are nicely saturated, though some may feel things have a very slightly faded look (Keep Your Right Up only
appeared very briefly at theaters in the United States, and then years after its French release, so I have never seen this
film exhibited theatrically). At just a little less than 90 minutes and with no supplementary material, Keep Your Right
Up
fits more than comfortably on a BD-25, and no compression artifacts of any kind were noticed, and as always, Olive does not seem to have
fiddled digitally with the release.
Note: While the bulk of the film is subtitled, there is a final placard that is not translated. That placard reads (in English):
This film has not yet, for technical reasons, been presented to the Commission for the Control of Cinematographic Films; the audience is invited, at its projection, to check if it is allowed for everyone.One assumes this is another example of Godard's often opaque sense of humor. Does this refer to the film we're watching or the film within the film (which at this point is almost a film within a film within a film)? Such are the questions that regularly accompany any given Godard outing.
Keep Your Right Up features a lossless DTS-HD Master Audio Mono track in French (with forced English subtitles). The film may not have a surplus of dialogue, but it actually has quite a bit of sound, whether that be the nascent musings of the band or repeated foley effects when Godard aims his camera at the sky or, later, a train. The mono soundtrack can sound just slightly busy at times in the noisiest scenes, but this lossless rendering has no damage and presents everything with excellent fidelity. Listeners (and viewers) beware: when things fade to black and go silent at a bit after the 1:21:00 mark, stay tuned—the film has several more minutes to go.
No supplements are offered on this Blu-ray disc.
Keep Your Right Up is a typically obtuse latter day Godard offering. It does not reveal its secrets willingly, but it has a surface sheen ("it's so shiny") that hypnotizes and carries the film through its often inexplicable wanderings. I really don't have a clue what Godard's ultimate aims in this film might be. I could hazard a good guess or two, but your guesses might be completely different—and just as valid. And that, I believe, is exactly what Godard is trying to say. It's not just beauty that's in the eye of the beholder—it's meaning. I'll be unpacking the meaning of Keep Your Right Up for a good long while to come, and it's a joy to have this nice looking and sounding Blu-ray to return to over and over again. Highly recommended.
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Limited Edition to 3000
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Slipcover in Original Pressing
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