7.6 | / 10 |
Users | 4.0 | |
Reviewer | 4.5 | |
Overall | 4.5 |
Billy is a fifteen-year-old miner's son whose close bond with a wild kestrel provides him with a spiritual escape from his dead-end life.
Starring: Colin Welland, Brian Glover, David Bradley (II), Lynne Perrie, Freddie FletcherDrama | 100% |
Coming of age | 8% |
Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Video resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 1.66:1
Original aspect ratio: 1.66:1
English: LPCM Mono
English: Dolby Digital Mono
English SDH
50GB Blu-ray Disc
Single disc (1 BD)
Region A (locked)
Movie | 5.0 | |
Video | 4.5 | |
Audio | 5.0 | |
Extras | 4.0 | |
Overall | 4.5 |
Ken Loach's "Kes" (1969) arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Criterion. The supplemental features on the disc include the film's original theatrical trailer; "Cathy Come Home" (1967), a feature directed by Ken Loach and produced by Tony Garnett; "The South Bank Show: Ken Loach (1993), a profile of the filmmaker featuring award-winning directors Stephen Frears and Alan Parker among others; and a standard making of featurette. The disc also arrives with an illustrated booklet featuring an essay by film writer Graham Fuller. In English, with optional English SDH subtitles for the main features. Region-A "locked".
It is up there.
Presented in its original aspect ratio of 1.66:1, encoded with MPEG-4 AVC and granted a 1080p transfer, Ken Loach's Kes arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Criterion.
I really could not be any more pleased with Criterion's treatment of this most beautiful film. Anyone who has seen the old R2 DVD release of Kes, which MGM released in the UK (but not in the United States), will immediately recognize the enormous improvements in terms of quality - the difference between the non-anamorphic DVD and Criterion's Blu-ray release is indeed like night and day. This new, approved by director Ken Loach and director of photography Chris Menges, digital transfer is simply beautiful. For example, the various close-ups convey fantastic depth and tightness, while colors are finally vibrant and healthy. Furthermore, many of the panoramic scenes used to look fuzzy - if you still own the R2 DVD, compare the sequence where Billy shows Kes to one of his teachers - and more often than not blocky. Now they look exceptionally crisp and vibrant. There are no traces of heavy noise reduction. As a result, a light layer of healthy grain is present throughout the entire film. Edge-enhancement is also not a serious issue of concern, though there are a couple of scenes that have a somewhat rougher look (for example, the scene where Billy is questioned by his teacher in front of his classmates). There are no serious stability issues to report in this review either. All in all, I am happy to say that Kes has finally arrived in North America and it looks the best it ever has. (Note: This is a Region-A "locked" Blu-ray disc. Therefore, you must have a native Region-A or Region-Free PS3 or SA in order to access its content).
There are two audio tracks on this Blu-ray disc: English LPCM 1.0 (the filmmaker's original soundtrack, with production dialogue) and English Dolby Digital 1.0 (the internationally released soundtrack, with postsync dialogue). For the record, Criterion have provided optional English SDH subtitles for the main feature.
I opted for the English LPCM 1.0 track (as most of you know, there are some quite serious discrepancies in the international soundtrack) and could not be happier. It has a very good dynamic amplitude that gives John Cameron's wonderful score a tremendous boost - clarity and stability, in particular, are dramatically improved. The dialog is crisp, clean, and stable, while the much needed English subtitles are indeed very good. For the record, I did not detect any disturbing pops, cracks, hissings, or audio dropouts to report in this review.
Buy with confidence, folks. Without a shadow of a doubt, this Blu-ray release is the definitive release of Ken Loach's legendary Kes. I really could not be any happier with the presentation. Let's hope that eventually all of the British director's early films will find their way to Blu-ray. VERY HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.
1956
2009
1993
1997
2014
1947
includes Texasville on Blu-ray
1971-1990
1987
Tom à la ferme / English packaging / Version française
2013
1968
2016
2009
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2017
1994
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1971
Signed Limited Edition to 100 Copies - SOLD OUT
2015
1971