7.6 | / 10 |
Users | 3.8 | |
Reviewer | 3.5 | |
Overall | 3.8 |
Military dictator Augusto Pinochet calls for a referendum to decide his permanence in power in 1988, the leaders of the opposition persuade a young daring advertising executive - René Saavedra - to head their campaign. With limited resources and under the constant scrutiny of the despot's watchmen, Saavedra and his team conceive of a bold plan to win the election and free their country from oppression.Pinochet is put to a national plebiscite.
Starring: Gael García Bernal, Alfredo Castro, Luis GneccoForeign | 100% |
Drama | Insignificant |
History | Insignificant |
Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Video resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 1.40:1
Original aspect ratio: 1.37:1
Spanish: DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 (48kHz, 24-bit)
English, English SDH, French
50GB Blu-ray Disc
Single disc (1 BD)
Region A (locked)
Movie | 4.0 | |
Video | 4.5 | |
Audio | 4.0 | |
Extras | 1.5 | |
Overall | 3.5 |
It's difficult to remember a time when life didn't move at the speed of "now," when phone calls required looking in the White Pages and punching buttons or moving a dial; when sending a written message required pen, paper, stamp, and envelope; when television wasn't crisp and lifelike; when getting the word out took real effort, not a few clicks or keystrokes. Now, the iPhone can remember thousands numbers, call them up instantly, and dial them with a word. It can send off e-mails and text messages and videos and even allow people to see one another, live, while they talk, and in better quality than older televisions. Facebook posts and Twitter blurbs can reach millions in a matter of seconds. What a difference a few decades make. Remember 1988? It was still big hair, loud clothes, 8-bit Nintendo consoles, and bulky CRT televisions. Star Wars fans were blissfully unaware that Jar Jar Binks would forever haunt their beloved franchise. Friends were just a group of people who gathered to watch the game or go shopping for shoes. Nobody knew what an "MP3" was, and Michael Jordan hadn't yet won any rings. The Berlin Wall was still up, New Coke was on its way down, and politics, well, it was just politics as usual all around the world. Except in Chile. The South American nation, under international pressure, was to hold an up-or-down referendum on Augusto Pinochet's rule. The "Yes" and "No" camps were to get the word out through brief television exposure -- they didn't have all the fancy "get out the vote" tools available to campaigns today -- and one man's vision for how to craft a winning political message using the latest and greatest techniques was set to alter the course of history. Sure, it wasn't done with the help of RAM and gigabytes and WiFi and 3Gs or 4Gs or anything like that, but that one forward-thinker understood how to use the cutting edge to manipulate his audience on presentation, not simply hard data and boring facts and figures. If political manipulation has come this far in just a couple of decades-plus, where will it be in another few?
The ad man.
As mentioned in the film review, No was photographed as if it were made in the late 1980s, documenting the action in the old standard definition television aspect ratio and with standard definition quality. The picture, then, doesn't meet modern high definition standards of visual excellence, but that's balanced out by filmmaker intent and the Blu-ray's capture of the movie's natural appearance. As such, it scores highly for replicating the filmmakers' vision, which should be always first and foremost when evaluating a transfer. That said, it's not very pretty by modern standards. Details are soft, muddy, and absent any sort of positive definition and clarity beyond the basics. Colors, too, are lacking in vibrancy and stability. The palette is often murky and bleeds. Random halos, stray vertical lines, false colors, and all sorts of visual anomalies are present. Again, though, this is how the picture was intended to look. Anything else would be a betrayal to the content, and as such the Blu-ray transfer earns high marks.
Unlike the video, No features a fairly active and modern DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 lossless soundtrack. It always feels a bit discombobulating when something sounds way better than it looks. The "found footage" style of movies are always guilty of this, and while No doesn't fit into that category, it nevertheless features a soundtrack that feels engineered rather than natural, not captured on the fly or with lower grade recording equipment as is the case with the video. Nevertheless, the end product proves fairly dynamic, in places, and somewhat low-key in others. Listeners will enjoy a broad range of elements, from hushed but mood-defining background ambience at a restaurant (clanking silverware, light music) to the din of a busy office (ringing telephones, clanking typewriter keys). Ocean waves gently roll into the stage in one scene, a toy train encircles it in another, and the track often finds a good, precise posture for most of its sound effects. The track gains energy during some later scenes of rioting and intense street-level action. Alarms, crashes, and all variety of mayhem fill the stage with some aggression. Dialogue plays smoothly and accurately from the center. It's a well-put-together track, though audiences may find it doesn't always quite match the visual presentation.
No contains only two primary supplements.
No tells a fascinating tale about political messaging and style that's just as relevant today as the real McCoy was decades ago. It's a movie that shows the power of political persuasion and manipulation not through hard facts and figures -- and sobering ones at that, in this case -- but rather a change in tone that makes it hip and cool to favor one side over another. Such techniques are a given today, but No tells an early story of how modern mediums can reshape an age-old landscape. Supported by a smart, engaging throwback visual style and great performances, "yes" should be the answer when questioning whether to see No. Sony's Blu-ray release of No features quality video and audio. Unfortunately, the supplements are a little on the thin side. Recommended nevertheless.
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