8 | / 10 |
Users | 0.0 | |
Reviewer | 4.0 | |
Overall | 4.0 |
A novelist and his frustrated wife confront their alienation from each other and the achingly empty bourgeois Milan circles in which they travel.
Starring: Jeanne Moreau, Marcello Mastroianni, Monica Vitti, Bernhard Wicki, Rosy MazzacuratiDrama | 100% |
Foreign | 98% |
Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Video resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 1.85:1
Original aspect ratio: 1.85:1
Italian: LPCM Mono (48kHz, 24-bit)
English
50GB Blu-ray Disc
Single disc (1 BD)
Region B (locked)
Movie | 5.0 | |
Video | 3.5 | |
Audio | 4.5 | |
Extras | 1.5 | |
Overall | 4.0 |
Winner of Golden Bear Award for Best Film at the Berlin International Film Festival, Michelangelo Antonioni's "La Notte" (1961) arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of British distributors Eureka Entertainment. The only bonus feature on the disc is an original Italian theatrical trailer for the film. Also included with this release is a 56-page illustrated booklet with an essay by film critic and scholar Brad Stevens, and the transcript of a lengthy Q&A conducted in 1961 with Antonioni upon the film’s release. In Italian, with optional English subtitles for the main feature. Region-B "locked".
Let's play!
Presented in its original aspect ratio of 1.85:1, encoded with MPEG-4 AVC and granted a 1080p transfer, Michelangelo Antonioni's La Notte arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of British distributors Eureka Entertainment.
I have mixed feelings about this release. On one hand, the basics of the high-definition transfer are strong and the final result is clearly a major step up in quality over Eureka Entertainment's R2 DVD release of La Notte. Detail and image depth are very pleasing even during the heavy rain footage (see screencapture #18). During the daylight footage contrast levels are also stable, while sharpness is greatly improved when one compares it to that of the DVD release. The balance between the blacks, whites, and grays is also stable and natural because there are no traces of boosting. Generally speaking, there are no traces of problematic degraining corrections either (but there are areas of the film where the grain could be resolved better). On the other hand, there are some surprising compression issues, a few of which could be distracting. To be perfectly clear, occasionally there are light artifacts that pop up as well as chroma noise effects that seem similar to those present on Gaumont's release of Robert Bresson's A Man Escaped. (Take a look at screencapture #5 where the chroma could be seen on Jeanne Moreau's back). Fortunately, these chroma effects are not too intense, and my feeling is that only very sensitive viewers are likely to notice them. For the record, there are no serious stability issues to report in this review. (Note: This is a Region-B "locked" Blu-ray release. Therefore, you must have a native Region-B or Region-Free PS3 or SA in order to access its content).
There is only one standard audio track on this Blu-ray release: Italian LPCM 1.0. For the record, Eureka Entertainment have provided optional English subtitles for the main feature.
The lossless track is very strong. The sound is well rounded, stable, and with plenty of depth. The range of nuanced dynamics is rather limited, but this should not be surprising considering the age of the film. The dialog and the occasional jazzy tunes remain crisp and free of background hiss throughout the entire film. Also, there are absolutely no distortions to report in this review. The English translation is very good.
Michelangelo Antonioni's La Note is an essential film to see and own. This new Blu-ray release of the film from Eureka Entertainment represents a strong upgrade in quality over their R2 DVD release, but in my opinion it could have been even more convincing. RECOMMENDED, but with some reservations.
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