8.1 | / 10 |
Users | 0.0 | |
Reviewer | 4.0 | |
Overall | 4.0 |
Having recently been uprooted to Milan, Rocco and his four brothers each look for a new way in life when a prostitute comes between Rocco and his brother Simone.
Starring: Alain Delon, Renato Salvatori, Annie Girardot, Katina Paxinou, Alessandra PanaroForeign | 100% |
Drama | 80% |
Crime | Insignificant |
Sport | Insignificant |
Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Video resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 1.85:1
Original aspect ratio: 1.85:1
Italian: LPCM Mono (48kHz, 24-bit)
French: LPCM Mono (48kHz, 24-bit)
English
50GB Blu-ray Disc
Single disc (1 BD)
Region B (locked)
Movie | 5.0 | |
Video | 4.0 | |
Audio | 5.0 | |
Extras | 4.5 | |
Overall | 4.0 |
Luchino Visconti's "Rocco and His Brothers" a.k.a. "Rocco e i suoi fratelli" (1960) arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of British distributors Eureka Entertainment. The supplemental features on the disc include an original trailer for the film; documentary film about the life and legacy of Luchino Visconti; archival interviews with cast members; and more. The release also arrives with a 40-page illustrated booklet featuring writing by Guido Aristarco, essay written by Luchino Visconti, vintage interview with the director, and rare archival imagery. In Italian or French, with optional English subtitles. Region-B "locked".
Presented in an aspect ratio of 1.85:1, encoded with MPEG-4 AVC and granted a 1080p transfer, Luchino Visconti's Rocco and His Brothers arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Eureka Entertainment.
The release is sourced from the recent 4K restoration of the film which was completed by Cineteca di Bologna at the L'Immagine Ritrovata laboratory. The grading was supervised by Giuseppe Rotunno, the film's original director of photography, and the initial Venice Film Festival print was used as a reference.
I recently attended a theatrical screening of the new restoration and thought that it looked quite wonderful. Its transition to Blu-ray, however, is less impressive. Indeed, while the improvements over the previous DVD release are substantial -- with detail and fluidity now being a lot more convincing -- there are areas of the film that show some unfortunate weaknesses. The most obvious ones appear to have been introduced by some light filtering adjustments that have impacted the film's dynamic range. As a result, there are areas where some unusual flatness emerges and blocks of grays overwhelm what should be proper blacks. Many of the most obvious examples are during indoor footage (you can see examples in different screencaptures from #31-39) but the effects can be seen even during daylight close-ups (see screencaptures #5 and 27). Obviously, there are some inherited density fluctuations, but where the grays become prominent depth and the overall image balance are less than impressive; fluidity suffers as well. The good news is that a lot of the daylight footage still looks terrific. Also, image stability is outstanding -- the edge flicker and the various shaky transitions that were present on the old Italian DVD release are effectively removed. Ultimately, this is very clearly the best presentation of Rocco and His Brothers, but the film should have had a more convincing organic appearance on Blu-ray. (Note: This is a Region-B "locked" Blu-ray release. Therefore, you must have a native Region-B or Region-Free player in order to access its content).
There are two standard audio tracks on this Blu-ray release: Italian LPCM 1.0 and French LPCM 1.0. There optional English subtitles for the main feature.
The original Italian track is fantastic. I did some direct comparisons with the lossy track from the Italian DVD release of Rocco and His Brothers and I can confirm that it immediately becomes obvious how much better depth and fluidity are. Balance is also improved. Nino Rota's beautiful score also has a much more prominent presence throughout the film. There are no pops, cracks, audio dropouts, or digital distortions.
Luchino Visconti's Rocco and His Brothers is not only one of the big masterpieces of Italian cinema, but also one of the greatest films ever made. It tells the tragic story of a large family from the Italian South that relocates to Milan during a post-war transformation that divided the country and its people. It is brilliantly directed and acted, and is complemented by a fantastic score by the legendary Nino Rota. Eureka Entertainment's new Blu-ray release is sourced from the recent 4K restoration of the film. It represents a big upgrade in quality over previous DVD releases, but it could have been even more convincing. RECOMMENDED.
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