7.4 | / 10 |
Users | 4.0 | |
Reviewer | 4.0 | |
Overall | 4.0 |
An old shepherd lives his last days in a quiet medieval village perched high on the hills of Calabria, at the southernmost tip of Italy. He herds goats under skies that most villagers have deserted long ago. He is sick, and believes to find his medicine in the dust he collects on the church floor, which he drinks in his water every day.
Starring: Giuseppe Fuda, Bruno Timpano, Nazareno TimpanoDrama | 100% |
Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Video resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 1.85:1
Original aspect ratio: 1.85:1
Italian: Dolby TrueHD 5.1
Italian: Dolby TrueHD 2.0
None
25GB Blu-ray Disc
Single disc (1 BD)
Region A, B (C untested)
Movie | 4.0 | |
Video | 4.0 | |
Audio | 4.0 | |
Extras | 0.5 | |
Overall | 4.0 |
Part movie, part meditation tool, Italian director Michelangelo Frammartino’s droll and elegiac Le Quattro Volte lulls you into a kind of
pleasantly reflective trance. The film is based on ancient mathematician and mystic Pythagoras’ belief in the transmigration of souls through four
phases—hence the title—human, animal, vegetable, and mineral. Almost the polar opposite of Gaspar Noé’s recent Enter the Void—a
breakneck reincarnation shocker shot from the point of view of a disembodied soul flying over Tokyo—Le Quattro Volte’s take on rebirth is
almost unspeakably serene, so serene, in fact, that there’s no dialogue in the film whatsoever.
Instead, Frammartino quietly observes his subjects—a goatherd, a goat, a pine tree, and a charcoal kiln—from a distance, with wide shots that are
surprisingly intimate and engaging. If, that is, you’re in the properly contemplative frame of mind. This is the kind of film that will either enrapture you
or bore you to distraction. It asks you to be quiet. It demands you pay attention and submerge yourself in its circadian rhythms. Resist and you’d be
better off checking your news feed on Facebook, but check into the right headspace and in you’re in for a beautiful, tranquil experience.
Kino-Lorber brings Le Quattro Volte to Blu-ray in the U.S. with a 1080p/AVC-encoded transfer that's strong but not quite perfect. For the most part, I was really impressed by the image here. Andrea Locatelli's cinematography is gorgeously natural—in keeping with the film's theme—and the Calabrian countryside has rarely looked so beautiful. The grain structure of the 35mm image is chunky at times—especially in darker sequences—and there are a few scenes that look to have been lightly cleaned up, and inevitably slightly softened, with digital noise reduction. The emphasis being on lightly and slightly. If it is DNR, it's been judiciously applied, as the picture never takes on the waxy, smeary, clay-faced quality you sometimes expect from a heavy-handed used of the process. Most of the film displays a strong degree of clarity. While longer shots—and there are many —can seem a bit soft, close-ups reveal lots of fine texture, especially in the old man's weather-wrinkled face and the shaggy hair of the goats. Color is realistic and dense, resting on a foundation of solid-but-never-oppressive blacks, and contrast looks good. You'll spot some compression noise—especially if you're watching on a larger screen—but nothing too distracting. Oddly enough, for such a recent film, I also spotted a few small specks on the print, but once again, it's no big deal. Overall, any small issues with the encode/transfer are easily overshadowed by the general beauty of the cinematography.
Yes, at the top of the page you'll notice it states that the disc includes an Italian Dolby TrueHD 5.1 surround track, but forget the Italian part—there is no discernable dialogue in the film whatsoever. You'll hear the distant clamor of villagers' voices from time to time, but not once are we ever intended to hear enough to be able to understand. So, we don't really need to address the clarity and balance of the vocals. There's also no score—there's no reason for one—so we can leave that out of the sound quality equation as well. Still, this is far from a silent film. Everything you hear in this mix falls under the large umbrella of "ambience." The bleating of goats and the atonal clanging of the brass bells around their necks. The bass-heavy rustle of wind and the tolling from a church tower. Festival din and the crackle of fire. The rear channels are only used quietly and sparsely, but the surrounds do figure prominently during the death/rebirth/fade-to-black scenes, where you'll hear dripping water behind your head and strange knocking noises. Everything sounds as rich and full as it ought to. The disc also includes an equally strong TrueHD 2.0 fold-down for those of you without surround systems. No subtitles options are given, or needed.
The only extras on the disc are a theatrical trailer (1080p, 2:07), a stills gallery with six high definition photos, and additional trailers for Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow (4:12), Sunflower (3:59), Marriage Italian Style (1:50), and Korkoro (2:04).
Le Quattro Volte is not for everyone, and even those who gravitate toward this kind of conceptual, almost non-narrative material will want to be in the right frame of mind—and in a quiet, distraction-free environment—to properly experience and enjoy it. But if you have the patience and the attention span there's a lot of simple truth and beauty to be found here. Personally, after reviewing the epic Star Wars box set earlier this week —which was loud and action-oriented and good in an entirely different way—I found Le Quattro Volte to be a much-needed change of pace. Recommended for anyone looking for a contemplative break after the mind-numbing non-stop spectacle of the summer blockbuster season.
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