8 | / 10 |
Users | 4.5 | |
Reviewer | 4.5 | |
Overall | 4.5 |
Indian landowner Biswambhar Roy lives in luxury, but his fortune is slowly slipping away. Despite his decreasing funds, Roy insists on maintaining his lavish lifestyle, particularly his ornate music room, which he utilizes as a performance space for an array of accomplished singers, dancers, and musicians. Even as Roy continues his financial freefall, he futilely struggles to compete with the concerts put on by his younger neighbor.
Starring: Chhabi Biswas, Padmadevi, Pinaki Sengupta, Sardar Akhtar, Gangapada BasuForeign | 100% |
Drama | 94% |
Music | 4% |
Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Video resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 1.34:1
Original aspect ratio: 1.37:1
Bengali: LPCM Mono
English
50GB Blu-ray Disc
Single disc (1 BD)
Region A (locked)
Movie | 4.5 | |
Video | 4.5 | |
Audio | 4.0 | |
Extras | 4.0 | |
Overall | 4.5 |
Satyajit Ray's "Jalsaghar" a.k.a "The Music Room" (1958) arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Criterion. The supplemental features on the disc include an interview with critic and writer Andrew Robinson; video interview with acclaimed director Mira Nair; excerpt from the French television program L'invite de FR3; and a documentary film directed by Shyam Benegal. In Hindi, with optional English subtitles for the main feature. Region-A "locked".
In the Music Room
Presented in an aspect ratio of 1.34:1, encoded with MPEG-4 AVC and granted a 1080p transfer, Satyajit Ray's The Music Room arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Criterion.
The following text appears inside the booklet provided with this Blu-ray disc:
"This new high-definition digital transfer was created on a Spirit 4K Datacine from an original 35mm fine-grain master positive. Thousands of instances of dirt, debris, scratches, splices, warps, jitter, and flicker were manually removed using MTI's DRS system and Pixel Farm's PFClean system, while Digital Vision's Phoenix system was used for small dirt, grain, noise reduction, and scratches.
Telecine supervisor: Maria Palazzola.
Color correction: Gregg Garvin/Modern Videofilm, Los Angeles."
Considering the fact that the original camera negative of The Music Room was destroyed (though a second-generation fine-grain master positive was made directly from it), the quality of the high-definition transfer Criterion has used for this Blu-ray release is indeed very impressive. Detail is consistently strong, clarity very good throughout the entire film, and contrast levels well balanced. Color reproduction is also very convincing -- the blacks are rich but not boosted, while the grays and whites are stable and looking fresh. Edge-enhancement is not an issue of concern. There are only a few scenes in the film where extremely mild traces of sharpening are visible. There are no traces of heavy denoising either. Naturally, grain is prominent, though not always evenly distributed and well resolved. There are various small frame transition issues -- skips, jumps, etc., -- but none of them are overly distracting. Small scratches and cuts are also visible, but it is obvious that they could not be removed completely without affecting the integrity of the image. All in all, this is a strong, very convincing presentation that does the film justice. (Note: This is a Region-A "locked" Blu-ray disc. Therefore, you must have a native Region-A or Region-Free PS3 or SA in order to access its content).
There is only one audio track on this Blu-ray disc: Bengali LPCM 1.0. For the record, Criterion have provided optional English subtitles for the main feature.
The following text appears inside the booklet provided with this Blu-ray disc:
"The monaural soundtrack was remastered at 24-bit from the original 35mm soundtrack print. Clicks, thumps, hiss, and hum were manually removed using Pro Tools HD. Crackle was attenuated using AudioCube's integrated workstation."
I noticed some very small dynamic fluctuations, mostly during the performances in the music room, but I assume that they are inherited from the soundtrack print. On the other hand, the dialog is crisp, clean, stable, and easy to follow. There are no distortions, pops, or annoying hiss either. The English subtitles are excellent and easy to read.
Satyajit Ray's The Music Room is a fascinating film about a powerful man in love with music and the end of an era. As expected, Criterion's presentation of the film is of exceptionally high quality and is complimented with a set of very good supplemental features. VERY HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.
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