7.3 | / 10 |
Users | 0.0 | |
Reviewer | 3.5 | |
Overall | 3.5 |
A desperate woman searches for her missing husband who never returned from the Russian front during World War II.
Starring: Sophia Loren, Marcello Mastroianni, Lyudmila Savelyeva, Anna Carena, Silvano TranquilliDrama | 100% |
Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Video resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 1.89:1
Original aspect ratio: 1.85:1
Italian: Dolby TrueHD 2.0
English
25GB Blu-ray Disc
Single disc (1 BD)
Region A, B (C untested)
Movie | 3.5 | |
Video | 3.0 | |
Audio | 3.5 | |
Extras | 0.5 | |
Overall | 3.5 |
Actor-turned-director Vittoria De Sica was a major figure in the Italian neorealist movement—a “cinema of the poor” that depicted the real-life issues of Italy’s underclass—and his films Shoeshine (1946), The Bicycle Thief (1948), and Umberto D. (1952) are now considered classics of the post-war canon. Although his later films never recaptured the documentary-like power and social scope of his earlier efforts, he made a number of fine romances and comedies as he got older, several of them starring the most memorable screen couple in Italian cinema: seemingly immortal sex-bomb Sophia Loren and Marcello Mastroianni, the handsome, versatile actor best known for his roles in Antonioni’s La notte, and Fellini’s La dolce vita and 8 1/2. Kino Video has recently released three latter-day De Sica/Loren/Mastroianni collaborations on Blu-ray, including Marriage Italian Style, Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow, and Sunflower. This last film has the distinction of being one of the first international movies allowed to be shot inside the U.S.S.R., and includes several scenes of daily life in turn-of-the-1970s Moscow. This makes Sunflower interesting from a historical perspective, but the film is certainly worthwhile on its own as an example of finely made melodrama.
A transfer of an older film is only as good as its source print and the amount of work that's been put into restoring it. While Sunflower does indeed look better here than it's ever looked on home video, Kino's 1080p/AVC-encoded transfer leaves plenty of room for improvement. The picture is often dotted with black specks and small scratches, and it doesn't look like there's been much attempt to clean up minor debris. If you look closely at the right side of the screen, however, you will often notice a faintly perceptible vertical line that's present for most of the film. It looks like there was a scratch that ran through the duration of the print and Kino has scrubbed it out, leaving slight digital traces of their restoration work. As far as I'm concerned, this is vastly preferable to having a thick line running down the screen for the entire film, but it's worth noting. It also appears that some degree of DNR has been used to remove excess noisiness from the picture. Grain is still apparent, but it looks somewhat frozen at times, and textures are noticeably soft and spongy. How much of this softness is inherent in the source material is hard to say, but I suspect the picture doesn't look as natural and filmic as it could. Still, the upgrade to high definition is immediately apparent. Even if the image is never truly sharp, it looks tighter and more refined. Color seems suitable dense too, although blacks can be a bit hazy. Do note that the 1.85:1 image has been windowboxed, presumably to prevent overscan.
Kino-Lorber has given Sunflower a true-to-source Dolby TrueHD mono track. Obviously, given the limitations of the recording process and low- budget sound design at the time, you shouldn't expect miracles from this mix, but for the most part, the film sounds wonderful. Henry Mancini's score is the real highlight here—it's a good one—and although the music sounds somewhat overdriven and harsh during the opening credits, it seems to improve throughout the film. A lot of the dialogue seems to have been recorded on location—rather than being dubbed later—so there's a good bit of acoustic ambience in the mix, especially when the couple is staying in their honeymoon cottage. Voices aren't as crisp and defined as what you'd expect from a more contemporary film, but they're never overly muffled or unintelligible. The disc includes optional English subtitles.
This isn't the best of the De Sica/Loren/Mastroianni collaborations, but if you're in the mood for a sweeping melodrama about impossible love—starring an iconic onscreen couple—Sunflower delivers all the tears and heartache you could ask for. Although Kino's high definition presentation isn't quite perfect, this is certainly the best the film has ever looked on home video. Recommended for any and all fans of Sophia Loren and/or Italian cinema.
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