Rocco Schiavone: Ice Cold Murders Season 1 Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		4.5
Video		3.5
Audio		5.0
Extras		0.0
Overall		4.0

Rocco Schiavone: Ice Cold Murders Season 1 Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Dr. Svet Atanasov May 6, 2022

"Rocco Schiavone: Season One" (2016) arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Kino Lorber. There are no supplemental features on the release. In Italian, with optional English subtitles for each episode. Region-A "locked".

I would like to provide you with a very accurate description of police inspector Rocco Schiavone (Marco Giallini) because a lot of what makes this TV show so good is directly related to his unique personality. In fact, his personality is often the story. Confused already? It will all make sense to you once you have his complete profile.

Let’s start here: a contemporary Italian replica of Philip Marlow. This short description gives you approximately thirty percent of Schiavone’s profile. While not a private detective, Schiavone has been gifted with Marlow’s great instincts and wicked sense of humor. Schiavone is a heavy smoker too, though instead of a cigarette he regularly lights up a joint. When he does it in his office, he pretends to be treating a stubborn cold with some very, very ancient herbs.

Schiavone is a widower and originally from Rome, but lives and works in the small provincial town of Aosta, near the Swiss border. His transfer from Rome to Aosta was a punishment for beating badly an elusive rapist with connections. Late at night, Schiavone likes to pour himself a drink and talk to his beautiful wife. Even though she has been dead for years, she is still his best friend and confidante. As the alcohol calms him down, Schiavone then slowly falls asleep in her arms. You have sixty percent of Schiavone’s complete profile now.

Sebastiano (Francesco Acquaroli), an ‘honest thief’ who is originally from Rome too, is Schiavone’s best pal and occasionally most valuable partner. Sebastiano could do things that Schiavone’s colleagues couldn’t, either because they don’t have the right skills or are unwilling to take the same risks, which sometimes is precisely the type of help he needs to crack a difficult case. Though already very comfortable bending the law, Schiavone’s official partner at the police station, Italo (Ernesto D’Argenio), is still learning the ropes, which frequently makes him unreliable and occasionally even annoying. On top of this, Italo now has trouble focusing on the job because he has fallen in love with a single female colleague, Marina (Isabella Ragonese), whom Schiavone likes as well. You have eighty percent of Schiavone’s complete profile now.

The remaining twenty percent of Schiavone’s profile are the hardest to describe. Schiavone closely resembles the famous detective Salvo Montalbano, which is a name you are most likely unfamiliar with. (Montalbano is another very special character from an excellent earlier Italian TV show inspired by Andrea Camilleri’s best-selling novels). In what way? Schiavone’s presence in different social settings is essentially a very carefully constructed litmus test that reveals a lot about the socio-cultural status quo in contemporary Italy. So, even though each episode of the show focuses on a particular crime that has to be solved, the real story that is being told is different, and it is Schiavone’s unique personality that makes it possible.

Rocco Schiavone premiered on Rai Italia in 2016. Season One has six episodes that are broken into twelve parts: Black Run, Adam’s Rib, Castor and Pollux, Out of Season, It Was in May, and Spring Cleaning. Three were directed by Michele Soavi, and three by Luca Brignone. All six were lensed by Michele D’Attanasio, who also contributed to the international TV phenomenon Gomorrah.

Giallini is the heart and soul of Rocco Schiavone, though there are some terrific actors around him whose presence is essential for the identity of each episode. Some of the very best material is the one where Giallini is seen alone with his thoughts and still hurting after the passing of his wife. However, do not assume that Rocco Schiavone is as gloomy or disturbing as some of the more popular Nordic Noir TV shows. Though some of the police talk can be quite graphic, and occasionally a familiar Nordic type of suspense begins to materialize, Rocco Schiavone is a genuine Italian show with a lovely and more importantly very effective politically incorrect sense of humor.

Rocco Schiavone: Ice Cold Murders Season 1 Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Presented in an aspect ratio of 1.78:1, encoded with MPEG-4 AVC and granted a 1080p transfer, Rocco Schiavone: Season One arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Kino Lorber.

The entire first season was obviously shot with modern digital equipment, which means that each of its six episodes has a very particular modern appearance. However, I wish I knew a little bit more about the manner in which the content was transferred to the existing HD master so that I could be able to better judge the current technical presentation of the entire season.

A lot of the darker sequences reveal light blocking. Some of it, like what you would see in screencapture #13, clearly has something to do with the encoding, but there are other developments in darker areas that I am fairly certain are a byproduct of native transfer anomalies. For example, darker nuances during darker indoor footage rarely look as solid and nicely balanced as I think they should be, and it is pretty clear that it is not because the encode isn't optimized in a particular way (see example in screencapture #27). Even during some daylight footage bright colors can be less than convincing, and at times it almost looks like there is video noise that is sneaking in. I could not tell why exactly, but I was able to spot its presence (see Rocco's jacket in screencapture #30). On the other hand, once I was aware of what was coming up in darker areas, I made some adjustments on my system and had a very pleasing viewing experience. As you can tell from the screencaptures we have included with our review, delineation, sharpness, and especially depth are often quite striking. Image stability is exceptional, too. I think that the range of natural colors is quite impressive as well, though there is quite a bit of stylization as well. Can this stylization be the reason behind some of the issues that are described above? Again, I don't know, but I am fairly certain that at least in the darker areas there are some inherited 'anomalies' that were introduced by some sort of a digital equipment. (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).

Rocco Schiavone: Ice Cold Murders Season 1 Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

There are two standard audio tracks on this Blu-ray release: Italian DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 and Italian DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0. Optional English subtitles are provided for the main feature.

The audio was crystal-clear, sharp, and wonderfully balanced. In fact, there are some pretty atmospheric sequences with lovely dynamic nuances that would have been perfect for a big-budget motion picture. I viewed all episodes with the 5.1 track, but did a few tests with the 2.0 track and thought that it was excellent. (For what it's worth, on Gomorrah I thought that the 2.0 track was simply superb). The English translation is excellent.

Rocco Schiavone: Ice Cold Murders Season 1 Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

Most unfortunately, there are no supplemental features on this release.

Rocco Schiavone: Ice Cold Murders Season 1 Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Marco Giallini's police inspector Rocco Schiavone is one of the most interesting characters that I have seen introduced in a contemporary TV show. It feels like he was supposed to be the perfect creation of someone obsessed with classic film noir, but while being polished something went terribly wrong, he got away and landed in modern-day Italy where he completed the process on his own. Needless to say, his personality shapes the identity of the show and often even becomes its story. Confused? Don't be. Once you meet Schiavone all of this will make perfect sense to you, and I am quite certain you will enjoy his antics as much as I did. Kino Lorber's technical presentation of Rocco Schiavone: Season One probably could have been better, but this release should not be missed. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.