7.1 | / 10 |
Users | 0.0 | |
Reviewer | 3.0 | |
Overall | 3.0 |
A revolutionary Italian woman falls prey to bourgeois ideology.
Director: Jean-Luc GodardForeign | 100% |
Drama | 80% |
Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Video resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 1.33:1
Original aspect ratio: 1.37:1
French: LPCM Mono
English SDH
Blu-ray Disc
Single disc (1 BD)
Region A (B, C untested)
Movie | 3.0 | |
Video | 4.0 | |
Audio | 4.0 | |
Extras | 0.5 | |
Overall | 3.0 |
Note: This film is available as part of the box set Jean-Luc Godard + Jean-Pierre Gorin: Five Films, 1968-1971.
If you were asked to name just one film by iconic director Jean-Luc Godard, which one would you choose? Chances are for many of you it would
probably be his legendary pioneering New Wave entry Breathless,
or perhaps one of his better remembered titles from a bit later in his career like Alphaville or Masculin Féminin
.
Even if your particular choice wouldn’t in fact be one of these three films, this very trio in and of itself proves quite admirably how widely variant
the
content in Godard’s films can be, even if his style is often instantly recognizable. As perhaps evidenced by the title of what is the last film Godard
has
come out with (he’s still alive and kicking at 87 as this review is being written), 2014’s Goodbye to Language, Godard is often interested in the visceral intensity of imagery, imagery that is often either
divorced or at least tangentially related to any perceived content. In our recent Faces Places Blu-ray review, a film which has both subliminal and overt references to Jean-Luc Godard, I jokingly
referred to the five films in this set as among the "vaguest" of the Nouvelle Vague. In fact what is repeatedly so fascinating about these
five
admittedly odd films is how their presentational aspects are almost deliberately opaque, while some of their actual content is virtually screed like,
as Godard, probably already prone toward anarchistic tendencies, tipped over into what some have called "radicalization" in the wake of
sociopolitical unrest in the France of the late sixties.
It's a sometimes discomfiting mix, one that Godard and Gorin no doubt concocted intentionally, but it makes each of this quintet a rather peculiar
viewing experience at times.
All of the features included in Jean-Luc Godard + Jean-Pierre Gorin: Five Films, 1968-1971 are presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Arrow Academy with AVC encoded 1080p transfers in 1.33:1. Arrow's insert booklet contains only some very basic information on the transfers, stating:
The films in this collection were restored from the original film and audio elements by Gaumont. The presentations of these films are in keeping with their original 16mm original productions.Lotte in Italia is one of the more "static" looking offerings in this set, with long swaths of the film featuring Paola delivering confessionals straight to the camera. The film also has a number of literal "blackouts" (which later become "redouts"), as if Godard and Gorin are hinting at an almost vaudevillian approach, with "acts" ending in darkness. Detail levels are generally fine throughout this presentation, and some of the backlit material with Paola facing away from the camera actually reveals pretty good fine detail levels in terms of things like flyaway hair. As with some of the other offerings in this set, reds sometimes tip slightly toward orange territory, as in the scarf that Paola wears. Grain resolves naturally throughout the presentation and encounters no compression difficulties.
Lotte in Italia features an LPCM Mono track that encounters occasional listening challenges simply because some of the characters are speaking in Italian and the voiceover "translations" are of course in French. With that intentional (and probably intentionally confusing) layering taken into account, the track actually sounds fine throughout, with both the "dramatic" scenes and voiceover elements being offered with clarity and consistent fidelity.
Both Le vent d'est and Lotte in Italia are contained on the same Blu-ray disc. That disc features the following supplement:
Lotte in Italia was my personal least favorite in the Godard-Gorin box set, though it obviously offers a fascinating window into Godard's own thinking about his own supposed "radicalization". This is a relatively straightforward presentation, even with the odd elements like the repeated blackouts, and as such it may actually be one of the easier Dziga Vertov offerings for the uninitiated to digest. Technical merits are generally first rate considering the 16mm source elements and guerrilla filming style.
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