7 | / 10 |
Users | 5.0 | |
Reviewer | 4.0 | |
Overall | 4.2 |
A popular high school teacher concocts an extreme plan to deal with the rise of bullying and bad behavior among the student body.
Starring: Hideaki Itô, Takayuki Yamada, Shôta Sometani, Fumi Nikaidô, Mitsuru FukikoshiForeign | 100% |
Horror | 22% |
Drama | 17% |
Psychological thriller | 5% |
Thriller | Insignificant |
Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Video resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 2.39:1
Original aspect ratio: 2.39:1
Japanese: DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 (48kHz, 16-bit)
English
50GB Blu-ray Disc
Single disc (1 BD)
Slipcover in original pressing
Region B (A untested)
Movie | 4.0 | |
Video | 4.0 | |
Audio | 5.0 | |
Extras | 3.0 | |
Overall | 4.0 |
Takashi Miike's "Lesson of Evil" a.k.a. "Aku no kyôten" arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of British distributors Third Window Films. The supplemental features on the disc include an original trailer as well as a lengthy documentary with footage from the shooting of the film and cast and crew interviews. In Japanese, with optional English subtitles for the main feature. Region-B "locked.
The teacher
Presented in its original aspect ratio of 2.39:1, encoded with MPEG-4 AVC and granted a 1080p transfer, Takashi Miike's Lesson of Evil arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of British distributors Third Window Films.
When there is plenty of light definition and clarity are outstanding and even exceptionally small details are very easy to see. Image depth is consistently pleasing as well, though during the second half there are portions of the footage from Shinko Academy where contrast occasionally fluctuates. It is easy to tell, however, that the fluctuations are part of the film's image design (they occur naturally when the action moves from the decorated rooms to other parts of the school). Colors are lush, stable, and natural. Overall image stability is outstanding. There are no serious encoding anomalies. However, there is definitely room for improvement as occasionally light artifacts sneak in (see the upper right side of screencapture #12). All in all, this is a good technical presentation of Lesson of Evil, but with some specific encoding adjustments the film can look even more impressive in high-definition. (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: Japanese DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1. For the record, Third Window Films have provided optional English subtitles for the main feature. When turned on, they split the image frame and the black bar below it.
The lossless track opens up the film exceptionally well. While there are no elaborate sound effects, during the second half the rifle shots are notably crisp and clear and the sound of broken glass could be quite impressive. There are other random sounds and noises that are also incredibly easy to identity during the chaos. The dialog is very crisp, clean, always stable and easy to follow. There are no audio dropouts or digital distortions to report in this review.
Takashi Miike's Lesson of Evil is one of those polarizing films that is very difficult to grade. I think that it is almost impossible to defend it in a rational way, but Miike is a unique stylist whose work does not really need to be defended. He just shoots different films and they are definitely not meant to be "crowd-pleasers". My feeling is that those of you who have enjoyed his more extreme films will like Lesson of Evil while everyone else will probably find it quite frustrating. I personally am glad that it is available to see on Blu-ray. RECOMMENDED.
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