Rating summary

Movie		4.0
Video		5.0
Audio		5.0
Extras		2.5
Overall		4.0

Like Someone in Love Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Dr. Svet Atanasov April 20, 2014

Nominated for the prestigious Palme d'Or Award at the Cannes Film Festival, Iranian director Abbas Kiarostami's "Like Someone in Love" (2012) arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Criterion. The supplemental features on the disc include an original trailer and a documentary film. The release also arrives with an illustrated booklet featuring an essay by film scholar and critic Nico Baumbach. In Japanese, with optional English subtitles for the main feature. Region-A "locked".

Akiko

In a chic bar in Tokyo, Hiroshi (Denden, Cold Fish, Himizu), a pushy but elegant pimp, asks Akiko (Rin Takanashi, Love Actually, Killers), a beautiful student and part-time escort girl, to meet a client in Yokohama. At first Akiko refuses because she wants to see her grandmother who is visiting the city for a day, but Hiroshi quickly changes her mind. In the taxi, Akiko listens to her grandmother’s phone messages and cries.

The client is Takashi Watanabe (Tadashi Okuno, A Taxing Woman), a retired sociology professor who lives alone in a small apartment full of books and paintings. Takashi welcomes Akiko and the two quickly warm up to each other. But before Takashi can serve the traditional soup he has prepared for his guest, Akiko falls asleep in his bed.

On the following morning Takashi drives Akiko to the local university, where she is confronted by her jealous boyfriend Noriaki (Ryo Kase, Outrage Beyond). After they part ways, Noriaki introduces himself to Takashi, assuming that he is her grandfather. Then he tells Takashi that he has wanted to meet and talk to him for a long time because he plans to marry Akiko. Rather reluctantly, the old man assumes the role of the elusive grandfather.

Eventually, Noriaki discovers the truth about Takashi and Akiko’s relationship and all hell breaks loose.

The title of Abbas Kiarostami’s latest film comes from the classic Ella Fitzgerald song "Like Someone in Love". The film is also only the second one to be written and shot by the Iranian director outside of his native country. (The first was the beautiful Certified Copy with Juliette Binoche and William Shimell).

The minimalistic style and structure of Like someone in Love remind of Yasujiro Ozu’s films. Kiarostami’s camera spends a great deal of time observing the main protagonists as they communicate and try to evaluate each other. When important confessions are made, the melodrama is also kept to an absolute minimum.

The role playing is fairly basic, but Kiarostami is fascinated by it. At times it literally feels like his camera does not want to turn away after the discussions have ended. Indeed, a Japanese director would not have captured a lot of what is seen between the discussions. However, this rather unusual fascination with Japanese sensibilities and passions is essentially what makes Like Someone in Love so fascinating to behold.

Admittedly, the pacing could frustrate some viewers, but those who don’t mind naturalistic intimate films in which the action isn’t as important as the atmosphere will be delighted by it. To be perfectly clear, the entire film is like an exotic blind date – some viewers will be thrilled to have spent time with it, but some will simply conclude that it was not meant for them.

Takanashi looks appropriately brittle and sincere. The sequence where she asks the taxi driver to circle around the station and quietly sobs is one of the best in the entire film. Okuno is also very convincing as the gentle professor. The great Japanese actor Denden’s time in front of the camera is limited but he also manages to impress.

Like Someone in Love Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Presented in an aspect ratio of 1.66:1, encoded with MPEG-4 AVC and granted a 1080p transfer, Abbas Kiarostami's Like Someone in Love arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Criterion.

The following text appears inside the booklet provided with this Blu-ray release:

"This film was shot with a RED One MX digital camera, and the entire production was completed in a digital workflow. The final color-corrected DPX files were output in Rec. 709 high-definition color space for Blu-ray and DVD release. The master was approved by director Abbas Kiarostami.

The film features a fully digital soundtrack. The 3.0 surround audio for this release was mastered at 24-bit from the original digital audio master files using Pro Tools HD. Though only three channels of audio are present, the soundtrack was encoded as 5.1 on the disc to maintain compatibility with legacy receivers.

Colorist: Isabelle Laclau/Sylicone, Paris."

The high-definition transfer appears to have been sourced from the same digital master British distributors New Wave Films accessed when they prepared their Blu-ray release of Someone in Love. I did some direct comparisons between the two releases but aside from an extremely small discrepancy in the brightness settings -- and the difference truly is insignificant -- their basics are virtually identical. This should not be too surprising, however, considering the fact that the film was shot digitally, and more than likely there is only one digital master that has been approved by the Iranian director.

Detail and especially clarity are very pleasing. As noted in our review of the British release, even extremely small details are exceptionally easy to see despite the fact that at times light is restricted. Colors are soft but natural. There are absolutely no compression or encoding anomalies to report in this review. Also, overall image stability is outstanding. (Note: This is a Region-A "locked" Blu-ray release. Therefore, you must have a native Region-A or Region-Free PS3 or SA in order to access its content).

Like Someone in Love Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

There is only one standard audio track on this Blu-ray release: Japanese DTS-HD Master Audio 3.0. For the record, Criterion have provided optional English subtitles for the main feature.

The film does not have a prominent soundtrack. Unsurprisingly, dynamic intensity is rather limited. However, there are various random sounds and noises that are exceptionally easy to identify. (The footage from the busy area of the city is a good example). The dialog is clean, stable, and very easy to follow. Also, there are no audio dropouts or digital distortions to report in this review. The English translation is excellent.

Like Someone in Love Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Trailer - original trailer for Like Someone in Love. With music only. (3 min, 1080p).

• Making of Someone in Love - an outstanding documentary in which director Abbas Kiarostami explains what inspired him to shoot Like Someone in Love, and discusses his work with the Japanese actors, the style of the film, his preference for digital formats/cameras, etc. The same documentary also appears on New Wave Films' release of Someone in Love. In Persian, with optional English subtitles. (47 min).

• Booklet - an illustrated booklet featuring an essay by film scholar and critic Nico Baumbach.

Like Someone in Love Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Sometimes less is more. And this is precisely the case with director Abbas Kiarostami's Like Someone in Love, a simple but very elegant and quite exotic film about the games people play while looking for love and other things that matter. Admirers of the Iranian master's work will not be disappointed with it. Criterion's release uses a high-definition transfer that is not identical to the one British distributors New Wave Films used for their release of the film last October, but their basic characteristics are the same. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.