My 20th Century Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		4.0
Video		4.5
Audio		5.0
Extras		3.5
Overall		4.5

My 20th Century Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Dr. Svet Atanasov June 11, 2020

Ildiko Enyedi's "My 20th Century" a.k.a. "Az én XX. századom" (1989) arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Kino Lorber. The supplemental features on the disc include original trailer for the film; audio commentary by Ildiko Enyedi and director of photography Tibor Mathe; interview with the director; and more. In Hungarian, with optional English subtitles for the main feature. Region-A "locked".

*The text below was initially used for our review of the UK release of My 20th Century from Second Run.

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 its original aspect ratio of 1.37:1, encoded with MPEG-4 AVC and granted a 1080p transfer, My 20th Century arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Kino Lorber.

I expected the technical presentation to be identical to the one that Second Run offered on this release in 2017, but it is not. The first release from Second Run was sourced from a 2K master, while this release is sourced from a brand new 4K master. Both masters were finalized in Hungary.

There are a number of notable differences. First, delineation and clarity are better on the new release, and you don't have to have a larger screen to appreciate the improvements. However, arguably the most substantial upgrades come from the superior grading job, which eliminates the light black crush that was present on the previous release. (You can compare screencapture #14 with the corresponding screencapture from our review of the previous release to see what type of improvements are present). I still think that there are a few areas where more careful optimizations/tweaks could have been made, but it is very easy to tell that there are different and superior ranges of grays and blacks on the new master, and because the overwhelming majority of the film is quite dark, these new grading settings can produce some rather big improvements. The brightness levels are adjusted as well. Image stability is excellent. Fluidity is very nice, but the overall improvement is actually small. Finally, the new master is completely free of age-related imperfections. To sum it all up, the older 2K master is quite nice, but this new 4K master is very clearly superior. My score is 4.75/5.00. (Note: This is a Region-A "locked" Blu-ray release. Therefore, you must have a native Region-A or Region-Free player in order to access its content).

My 20th Century Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

There is only one standard audio track on this Blu-ray release: Hungarian DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0. Optional English subtitles are provided for the main feature.

The audio is very healthy. I am curious to find out if any specific new work was done to optimize it because it sounds somewhat 'thicker' on my system, but I through that on the previous release the audio was already very solid. There are no transfer-specific anomalies to report in our review.

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

• Introduction - a new video introduction by director Ildiko Enyedi. In English, not subtitled. (2 min, 1080p).

• 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, 1080p).

• Commentary - Ildiko Enyedi and director of photography Tibor Mathe recall how My 20th Century was put together, and discuss its stylistic appearance, some of the main themes that give it its identity, the important role music has in it, etc. In Hungarian, with optional English subtitles.

• Booklet - 10-page illustrated booklet featuring an essay by Dorota Lech and 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. Kino Lorber's release is sourced from a lovely new 4K restoration and also features a good commentary by Ildiko Enyedi and director of photography Tibor Mathe. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.