My 20th Century Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		4.0
Video		4.0
Audio		4.5
Extras		1.5
Overall		4.0

My 20th Century Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Dr. Svet Atanasov April 3, 2017

Winner of Camera d'Or Award for Best First Feature Film at the Cannes Film Festival, Hungarian director Ildiko Enyedi's "My 20th Century" a.k.a. "Az én XX. századom" (1989) arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of British distributors Second Run. The only bonus feature on the disc is a video interview with director Ildiko Enyedi. The release also arrives with an 18-page illustrated booklet featuring a new essay on the film by author and academic Jonathan Owen, as well as technical credits. In Hungarian, with optional English subtitles for the main feature. Region-Free.

The times they are a-changin'

Here’s a film that kept me guessing literally until its final credits rolled. It overflows with interesting ideas and it has a genuine appreciation of beauty and elegance that nowadays I mostly discover in older films. I thoroughly enjoyed it and I am already planning to see it one more time before the end of the week.

My 20th Century was the directorial debut of Hungarian helmer Iidiko Eneyedi, who just won multiple awards at the Berlinale with her latest film, On Body and Soul, including the prestigious Golden Bear Award for Best Film. It begins at Menlo Park in New Jersey, sometime in the year 1880, shortly after Thomas Edison has introduced his revolutionary light bulb and various exhibitors have started promoting it. As everyone senses that the world is on the verge of an unprecedented transformation, in Budapest identical twins Dora and Lili (later on both played by Dorota Segda) are separated from their mother and their lives instantly head in opposite directions. The film then abruptly moves forward where Dora and Lili emerge in completely different social environments. One has become a beautiful courtesan whose ability to manipulate naïve gentlemen with deep pockets seems truly unmatched and she routinely mixes business with pleasure, while the other is a member of some radical underground group whose members are plotting a big operation. After a series of flashbacks reveal more about their previous experiences the two women board the Orient Express, and while they bump into some colorful characters and their past and present begin to overlap, the history and identity of their homeland are reexamined from multiple angles.

The film has a distinct Fellini-esque vibe that makes its complex narrative unusually attractive. Indeed, there are large sections where it is not immediately clear what the intentions of the various characters that step in front of the camera are, but in this very fluid environment Eneyedi creates numerous memorable contrasts that gradually begin to explain how an entire country is transitioning into a different era. The whole experience could be somewhat confusing at first, a bit like being in a giant mirror maze with too many reflections that look somewhat familiar but don’t make much sense, but eventually a logical pattern does emerge. After that it is really up to you to decide if the trick works as intended and the experience could end up being brilliant, or if there are too many reflections that can only give you a serious headache.

I sense that the film also uses the two women’s different philosophies of life to highlight the deep socio-cultural division that occurred in Hungary after the Eastern Bloc started collapsing. The transition that took place then was of course very different, but many of the contentious issues that Eneyedi brings up in the film were actually publicly debated in Hungary during the late ‘80s and early ‘90s. Arguably the biggest one was national identity (and the new/old values that would redefine the country after it had effectively become independent again), as some preferred to preserve the country’s close post-war ties with Moscow while others looked to shift it in a different direction and in the process reinstate some of the values of its more traditional and pro-Western cultural heritage.

Ultimately, this is a film that is guaranteed to resonate differently with different viewers as most of its visuals are essentially intended to provoke unique thoughts and emotions, rather than fit into a conventional narrative that can be easily deconstructed.

My 20th Century Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Presented in an aspect ratio of 1.34:1, encoded with MPEG-4 AVC and granted a 1080p transfer, Ildiko Enyedi's My Twentieth Century arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of British distributors Second Run.

According to press materials, the film was restored in 2K by the Hungarian Digital Archive and Film Institute, under the supervision of director Ildiko Enyedi and cinematographer Tibor Máthe. I think that the overwhelming majority of it looks lovely in high-definition. There are a couple of small damage marks that remain and a few tiny flecks that pop up in the first half, but the entire film has a very solid and pleasing organic appearance. Close-ups boast nice depth, but there are some stylistic choices that introduce minor fluctuations. The larger panoramic shots and especially the daylight footage typically conveys great clarity as well. My guess is that the black levels could have been toned down a bit to avoid what appears to be light crush in select scenes, but to be honest the film's stylistic appearance is such that the elevation will almost certainly remain unnoticed even by folks that typically pay attention to such details. There are no traces of problematic sharpening adjustments. Finally, overall image stability is very good. (Note: This is a Region-Free Blu-ray release. Therefore, you will be able to play it on your player or PS3 regardless of your geographical location. For the record, there is no problematic PAL or 1080/50i content preceding the disc's main menu).

My 20th Century Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

There is only one standard audio track on this Blu-ray release: Hungarian LPCM 1.0. Optional English SDH subtitles are provided for the main feature.

Music has a small but important role in the film as it adds an extra dose of flavor to a number of different sequences. Dynamic intensity is modest, but depth and clarity are always pleasing. Balance is very good, and there are no age-related anomalies to report.

My 20th Century Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Interview - in this video interview, Ildiko Enyedi recalls how she secured funding for her first projects and My Twentieth Century, and discusses the political environment in Hungary during the late 1980s, cinematographer Tibor Máthe's contribution, some of the key themes and ideas that are channeled through the film, etc. The interview was conducted in Budapest in 2016. In English, not subtitled. (28 min).

• Booklet - 18-page illustrated booklet featuring a new essay on the film by author and academic Jonathan Owen, as well as technical credits.

My 20th Century Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

There is an almost euphoric sense of freedom in this film that can be somewhat intimidating at first, but its playfulness and appreciation of beauty and elegance are impossible to resist. I loved it. It reminded me of Federico Fellini's work as it plays with the mind a lot like the great maestro's best films do, but it does it in its own way, never pretending to be something that it was not meant to be. Second Run's Blu-ray release of My 20th Century is sourced from a 2K restoration of the film that was supervised by director Ildiko Enyedi and cinematographer Tibor Máthe, and is Region-Free. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.