7.5 | / 10 |
Users | 0.0 | |
Reviewer | 4.0 | |
Overall | 4.0 |
Germany in the autumn of 1957: Lola, a seductive cabaret singer–prostitute, exults in her power as a tempter of men, but she wants more—money, property, and love. Pitting a corrupt building contractor against the new straight-arrow building commissioner, Lola launches an outrageous plan to elevate herself in a world where everything—and everyone—is for sale.
Starring: Barbara Sukowa, Armin Mueller-Stahl, Mario Adorf, Matthias Fuchs, Helga FeddersenForeign | 100% |
Drama | 83% |
Romance | 18% |
Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Video resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 1.67:1
Original aspect ratio: 1.66:1
German: DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 (48kHz, 24-bit)
my own blu-ray
English
Blu-ray Disc
Single disc (1 BD)
Slipcover in original pressing
Region B (locked)
Movie | 4.5 | |
Video | 4.5 | |
Audio | 5.0 | |
Extras | 2.5 | |
Overall | 4.0 |
Rainer Werner Fassbinder's "Lola" (1981) arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of StudioCanal. The supplemental features on the disc include restored German trailer for the film; new video interview with actress Barbara Sukowa; and new video interview with film editor Juliane Lorenz. In German, with optional English subtitles for the main feature. Region-B "locked".
At the brothel
Presented in an aspect ratio of 1.67:1, encoded with MPEG-4 AVC and granted a 1080p transfer, Rainer Werner Fassbinder's Lola arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of StudioCanal.
I have seen quite a few of the various films that the Rainer Werner Fassbinder Foundation has restored and I have liked virtually all of them. There have been a few instances here and there where I felt that the color gradings were not as precise as they could have been, but generally speaking the end product has also been vastly superior to previous home video presentations. Lola, which was also restored in 4K, is the first film where I feel that the end product is both gorgeous to look at and technically very convincing. Indeed, the entire film has the type of lush appearance that Douglas Sirk's famous films had, which I think was what Fassbinder was attempting to emulate, though with a slightly difference ambience. The footage from the night club, in particular, looks flat-out stunning, boasting a wide range of fantastically saturated primaries and nuances that DVD never would have been able to reproduce. (A quick comparison with my North American DVD release very instantly confirms that this is indeed the case). Furthermore, fluidity is dramatically improved, and there is proper depth during the darker footage that was previously lost (screencaptures #3 and 12 are great examples). I mention this because the entire film is very carefully lit and these are perhaps the two key improvements that provide it with a convincing organic appearance. Obviously, it also helps that there are no traces of digital corrections that would have destabilized the film's grain structure, and with it a whole range of other organic qualities, but the fluidity and depth are crucial for the darker footage. Image stability is excellent. Debris, damage marks, cuts, stains, and other age-related imperfections have been eliminated as best as possible. Finally, I should say that there is room for some encoding optimizations, but as is the film still looks stunning in high-definition. My score is 4.25/5.00. (Note: This is a Region-B "locked" Blu-ray release. Therefore, you must have a native Region-B or Region-Free player in order to access its content).
There is only one standard audio track on this Blu-ray release: German DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0. Optional English subtitles are provided for the main feature.
Despite the fact that there are quite a few music acts in the film, the original sound design is far from impressive. It quite fluid and actually utilizes plenty of organic sounds and noises. However, clarity and depth are very good, and the dialog is always easy to follow. There are no pops, audio dropouts, or distortions to report.
The more time passes by, the clearer it becomes that the films of Rainer Werner Fassbinder offer some of the most accurate dissections of post-war Germany, which in all fairness is more than a bit odd because many of them were conceived with the same sense of freedom that in America John Cassavetes utilized to create a drastically different range of films. This points to the fact that the social environment was crucial for their identity. Lola, one of the three films in the famous BRD Trilogy, has been recently restored in 4K and is now available on Blu-ray via StudioCanal. The restoration is outstanding, though the technical presentation could have been even more convincing. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.
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