6.6 | / 10 |
Users | 0.0 | |
Reviewer | 3.5 | |
Overall | 3.5 |
A pastor studying folklore in remote parts of 19th century Lithuania is invited to stay with a young nobleman whose mother, it is whispered, conceived him with a bear.
Starring: Edmund FettingHorror | 100% |
Foreign | 95% |
Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Video resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 1.66:1
Original aspect ratio: 1.66:1
Polish: DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0
English
Blu-ray Disc
Single disc (1 BD)
Region A (B, C untested)
Movie | 3.5 | |
Video | 4.5 | |
Audio | 4.0 | |
Extras | 1.0 | |
Overall | 3.5 |
Note: This film is available on Blu-ray as a part of All the Haunts Be Ours: A Compendium of Folk Horror.
All the Haunts Be Ours advertises itself as "the most comprehensive collection of its kind", which may initially beg the question as to "kind of
what?". But the release also comes with a front cover sobriquet
proclaiming it "a compendium of folk horror", which may then beg the next obvious question as to what exactly "folk horror" is. In that
regard, this set
begins with a fascinating and diverse documentary which has its own subtitle referencing folk horror, Woodlands Dark and Days
Bewitched: A History of Folk Horror, which provides a veritable glut of clips from international films which director (and this entire set's guiding
light) Kier-La Janisse has assembled to help define the genre, but perhaps the best answer is to simply echo a certain Supreme Court Justice named
Potter Stewart who was trying to decide a case involving supposed pornography, and who famously opined, "I shall not today attempt further to define
the kinds of material I understand to be embraced within that shorthand description, and perhaps I could never succeed in intelligibly doing so. But I
know it when I see it. . ."
Lokis: A Manuscript of Professor Wittembach is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Severin Films with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 1.66:1. Severin's insert booklet states this was "restored in HD from the original negative by WFDIF in Warsaw", matching the same description that Wilczyca's technical mention merited. Like Wilczyca, this is a very appealing looking transfer where a nicely nuanced palette is one of the strengths. As mentioned above in the main body of the review, the film has a surprisingly opulent production design (much more so than Wilczyca, at least in terms of sets and probably in terms of costumes as well). The palette, while maybe showing just hints of yellow at times, still radiates some intense hues, as can be seen in some of the screenshots I've uploaded to accompany this review. Detail levels are generally excellent throughout, though this film is probably less gory than Wilczyca, albeit with some closing imagery that comes close to that other Polish film in terms of displaying carrion. Grain is once again on the fine side, but still clearly visible, and resolves naturally.
Lokis: A Manuscript of Professor Wittembach features a DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 Mono track in the original Polish. This film, again like its disc mate, benefits from consistent use of ambient environmental effects, though in this case, perhaps in a slightly less quasi-hallucinatory way. This film has a much more supportive score than Wilczyca in my estimation, and Wojciech Kilar's contributions are well represented on this track. Dialogue is rendered cleanly and clearly throughout. Optional English subtitles are available.
Lokis: A Manuscript of Professor Wittembach is perhaps a bit more traditional than Wilczyca, but it also has the same strange almost meditative quality that the other Polish film offers. I think one thing this film probably shares strongly with Wilczyca is that audience expectations coming into it may frankly not match what's ultimately in store, and in that regard, both this film and Wilczyca may reflect similar reactions to any number of the other films collected in All the Haunts Be Ours, especially outings like Witchhammer and Tilbury (for radically different reasons, it should be mentioned). Therefore, Lokis: A Manuscript of Professor Wittembach , while probably not seeming quite as slow as Wilczyca, may in fact be too much of a slog for some, to a predestined end. Those willing to let Lokis: A Manuscript of Professor Wittembach weave its own rather unique spell may find this story rather compelling. Technical merits are solid and the interview with the director interesting. Recommended.
(Still not reliable for this title)
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