7.6 | / 10 |
Users | 4.0 | |
Reviewer | 3.5 | |
Overall | 3.5 |
At a spa in the Tuscan Hills, a Russian poet and musicologist, researching the life of an 18th century composer, meets a mysterious man who is convinced that the end of the world is nigh. The Russian, Andrei Gorchakov (Oleg Yankovsky), is asked to cross an ancient sulphur pool carrying a lighted candle as an act of faith. Tarkovsky's first film outside the USSR is full of personal and Christian symbols and works as a study of such themes as memory, melancholia and disenchantment with the material world.
Starring: Oleg Yankovsky, Erland Josephson, Delia Boccardo, Milena Vukotic, Domiziana GiordanoDrama | 100% |
Foreign | 97% |
Video codec: HEVC / H.265
Video resolution: 4K (2160p)
Aspect ratio: 1.66:1
Original aspect ratio: 1.66:1
Italian: DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 (48kHz, 24-bit)
English
Blu-ray Disc
Two-disc set (2 BDs)
4K Ultra HD
Slipcover in original pressing
Region A (locked)
Movie | 3.5 | |
Video | 3.5 | |
Audio | 4.0 | |
Extras | 4.0 | |
Overall | 3.5 |
Andrei Tarkovsky (1983) arrives on 4K Blu-ray courtesy of Kino Lorber. The supplemental features on the release include recent program with director of photography Giuseppe Lanci; new audio commentary by critic Daniel Bird; documentary film by Tonino Guerra; and re-release trailer. In Italian, with optional English subtitles for the main feature. Region-Free.
Kino Lorber's release of Nostalghia is a 4K Blu-ray/Blu-ray combo pack. The 4K Blu-ray is Region-Free. However, the Blu-ray is Region-A "locked".
Please note that some of the screencaptures that appear with this article are taken from the 4K Blu-ray and downscaled to 1080p. Therefore, they do not accurately reflect the quality of the 4K content on the 4K Blu-ray disc
Screencaptures #1-26 are from the Blu-ray.
Screencaptures #31-39 are from the 4K Blu-ray.
The release introduces a recent 4K restoration of Nostalghia that was completed under the supervision of director of photography Giuseppe Lanci at Centro Sperimentale di Cinematografia - Cineteca Nazionale, Italy. In native 4K, the 4K makeover cannot be viewed with HDR or Dolby Vision grades. I spent a lot of time with the native 4K and 1080p presentations of it.
Nostalghia made its high-definition debut with this release, also from Kino Lorber, in 2014. I have the previous release in my library, so it was very easy for me to do plenty of comparisons.
The quality of the 4K makeover and its technical presentation are a mixed bag. For example, there are various, very easy to appreciate improvements in terms of delineation, clarity, and depth. However, these improvements are not as impressive as they may initially appear because the older master that was used to produce the previous release has plenty of limitations. Some of these limitations are serious, too. Also, a lot of darker areas reveal pretty big macroblocking patterns. The majority of them are a lot easier to see in 1080p (you can see examples in screencaptures #10 and 11). However, I also spotted various anomalies in native 4K, which surprised me quite a lot because I expected the substantially higher bitrates of this presentation to hide them very well or effectively eliminate them. Color balance is very inconsistent, too. This film features a lot of stylization work that intentionally desaturates some primaries and arranges supporting nuances in very interesting ways that support its unique atmosphere, but not as conveyed by the new 4K makeover. Now, the entire film reveals very strong teal/turquoise saturation that gives it a digital appearance. (For reference, in many areas the change is extremely similar to that introduced on the new 4K makeover of Snapshot). Image stability is excellent. The surface of the visuals is very healthy, too. My score is 3.25/5.00.
There is only one standard audio track on this release: Italian DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0. Optional English subtitles are provided for the main feature.
Clarity, sharpness, and stability are excellent, as I expected. However, there are at least two spots where the continuity of the English translation is broken. It is possible that for some reason my player skips a second there, but I do not think that this is what happens. Most likely, there is a tiny glitch on the translation file. It is easy to tell what is being said, but this is something that I noticed.
4K BLU-RAY DISC
Several of the films Andrei Tarkovsky directed are legit masterpieces of cinema that will be admired for as long as films are viewed. While very ambitious, often strikingly beautiful too, Nostalghia, which was the first film Tarkovsky shot outside the U.S.S.R., is not one of them. It sets out to present a convincing cinematic deconstruction of the grand, multi-layered concept of the Russian soul, but remains a frustratingly introverted affair. Kino Lorber's release introduces a recent 4K restoration of Nostalghia that was supervised by director of photography Giuseppe Lanci. Parts of the 4K restoration look good, but the work that was done should have been a lot more convincing.
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