Rating summary

Movie		5.0
Video		4.5
Audio		5.0
Extras		0.5
Overall		4.5

The Fool Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Dr. Svet Atanasov September 10, 2017

Winner of Prize of the Ecumenical Jury and Best Actor Award at the Locarno International Film Festival, Yury Bykov's "The Fool" (2014) arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of independent distributors Olive Films. The only bonus feature on the disc is an original theatrical trailer for the film. In Russian, with optional English subtitles for the main feature. Region-A "locked".

The old building

Yury Bykov's The Fool delivers a massive dose of ugly socialist reality that must have forced some of Vladimir Putin’s lackeys to shift uncomfortably in their cozy chairs. Actually, it is quite surprising that after the initial round of early screenings some high-ranking government bureaucrat in Moscow did not use the ‘propaganda piece’ label to ban it. The existence of The Fool truly is a modern-day Russian miracle.

The film is set in an unnamed town -- and this is intentional because it literally can be any town outside of the great Moscow area -- that has been overtaken by the red mafia, which is an alliance of former communists who are now elite businessmen and prominent local government officials. Their leader is the town’s mayor, Nina Galaganova (Natalya Surkova), and she keeps everyone on a short leash, from the chief of police right down to the zoning boss and his property inspectors. Nothing in this town ever happens without her blessing -- and of course for a hefty fee that makes her even richer.

On a brutally cold winter night while Nina is celebrating her birthday surrounded by her lap dogs in the area’s best restaurant, a plumber in his early thirties named Dima Nikitin (Artyom Bystrov) is asked to visit an old building on the outskirts of the town and inspect some damaged pipes. At first Dima refuses to go because he is studying for an important exam, but then changes his mind because it turns out that the only other qualified person that can do the job is the local zoning inspector who could very well be his next boss. Shortly after Dima enters the building, however, he discovers that the pipes have been broken by massive cracks in the bearing walls and that it is only a matter of hours before they collapse and bring down the entire structure.

What happens next is absolutely mind-boggling. Dima rushes to the restaurant, breaks Nina’s birthday party and starts begging the various powerful city officials to organize an evacuation that would save the 800 people in the old building -- for which he is promptly ridiculed and even labeled “shit-stirrer”. Eventually, after Nina realizes that Dima’s description of the damage could very well be legit she orders the zoning inspector and the fire department chief to go to the building so that they can figure out what to do. Instead of saving the tenants, however, the whole gang begins plotting how to actually distance themselves from the inevitable tragedy without exposing decades of crooked dealings.

The entire film has a distinctive Kafka-esque quality that will probably inspire some viewers to compare it to Orson Welles’ The Trial, but the truth is that it captures brilliantly socialist madness in its most disturbing form. Indeed, it is not a coincidence that Bykov has the film set in some forgotten town in the middle of nowhere because other than the emergence of the ‘new elite’ everything else is as it was during the days of the Soviet Union.

The title is of course quite ironic because just like Anthony Perkins’ famous character Dima is the only one that isn’t brainwashed or a corrupt irredeemable lunatic. And yet the harder he tries to be rational and prevent an enormous tragedy, the more he is kicked around and openly mocked.

The most disturbing segment is in the third act where one of the city officials declares that their problem is not that they have stolen the money that should have been used to repair the building, but that the plebs that live in it were not dealt with a long time ago. If they had done so, he explains, these forgotten residents would have never reemerged to stain and disrupt the new town they have built for themselves (!!). Then all hell breaks loose and the snakes turn on each other.

The Fool Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Presented in an aspect ratio of 2.38:1, encoded with MPEG-4 AVC and granted a 1080p transfer, Yury Bykov's The Fool arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Olive Films.

Though I don't know precisely what camera was used, I think that it is rather easy to tell that The Fool was shot and transferred digitally as the entire film has the clean and very nicely polished look that a new Alexa for instance would deliver. This being said, I am a little uncertain if the master that was given to Olive Films to source the release was done with the gamma levels that are on the Blu-ray. The main reason for my uncertainty is this: the indoor footage from the building has plenty of unfiltered light that is frequently captured quite awkwardly and it produces nuances and shadows that are throwing off the gamma levels (screencapture #7 is a very good example). The final grading is also quite stylized and supports an overall warm/subdued palette. However, when the action moves outside of the building there are entirely different nuances and balance appear to be proper (see screencapture #9 and 18). If I had to guess, I would say that the gamma levels are not entirely correct, but the digital cinematography is responsible for plenty of the obvious gamma elevation as well. Either way, the stylizaion pretty much makes the discrepancies a moot point to argue because the intended shifts in tonal balance have that distinctive digital identity anyhow, and even as is the overall balance is very much supportive of the film's bleak atmosphere. Image stability is excellent. There are two segments where I noticed some very light macroblocking trying to sneak in dark patches, but there are no big and distracting anomalies to report. My score is 4.25/5.00. (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).

The Fool Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

There is only one standard audio track on this Blu-ray release: Russian DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0. Optional English subtitles are provided for the main feature.

The film features a fully digital soundtrack that utilizes a wide range of natural sounds and noises; silence is also a crucial element of the sound design. Clarity, sharpness, and balance are outstanding. During the mass scenes separation is also outstanding. Dynamic intensity is good, but again, the film is a lot more interested in color and ambience than pure dynamic intensity. The English translation is good, but I noticed a couple of minor errors.

The Fool Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Trailer - original trailer for The Fool. In Russian, with English subtitles. (3 min, 1080p).

The Fool Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

It is really odd that the films of Yury Bykov are not as popular and regularly discussed as those of Andrey Zvyagintsev. Frankly, I believe that he is much more effective in his criticism of everything that is wrong in Vladimir Putin's Russia -- and there is a lot because the red mafia is running rampant there -- and definitely bolder when actually identifying the hypocrites that control the system. The Fool is an absolute masterpiece, and I urge you to consider picking up a copy for your collection even if you typically avoid contemporary foreign films. This one truly is special. Olive Films' technical presentation is good, but the only bonus feature on the Blu-ray is an original theatrical trailer. VERY HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.