6.5 | / 10 |
Users | 4.0 | |
Reviewer | 4.0 | |
Overall | 4.0 |
Three men face their mother's death.
Starring: Philippe Noiret, Michele Placido, Vittorio Mezzogiorno, Andréa Ferréol, Maddalena CrippaForeign | 100% |
Drama | 60% |
Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Video resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 1.86:1
Original aspect ratio: 1.85:1
Italian: LPCM Mono (48kHz, 24-bit)
English
50GB Blu-ray Disc
Two-disc set (1 BD, 1 DVD)
DVD copy
Region B (locked)
Movie | 4.0 | |
Video | 3.5 | |
Audio | 3.5 | |
Extras | 2.0 | |
Overall | 4.0 |
My Brothers was one of the more potent reviewing pleasures of mine in 2013, and it’s still somewhat baffling that this intimate but extremely moving film about three male siblings didn’t make more of a dent during either its theatrical exhibition or its ultimate release on Blu-ray. At least somewhat similarly, Three Brothers is also rife with the interactions between a trio of siblings, again (as with My Brothers) sparked by mortality (or at least threatened mortality) within the family. Also at least somewhat like My Brothers, Three Brothers has not had much of a home video life, despite the fact that it received an Academy Award nomination for Best Foreign Language Film in 1981. My Brothers’ titular boys were in fact boys, young guys still wandering through the thicket of outright childhood or at best young manhood, while in Three Brothers the titular sibilings are now adult men, though their childhoods play into the overall emotional arc of the film. Also linking these two entries is the fact that both film evocatively weave the countries of the brothers’ birth into the stories. In the case of My Brothers, it’s Ireland, while in the case of Three Brothers, it’s Italy. Three Brothers has the same spacious languor that informs other Italian films taking place at least some of the time in rural environments, with the characters living in the rhythms of the seasons and the land.
Three Brothers is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Arrow Films with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 1.86:1. Rather surprisingly given the film's status and its legacy as an Academy Award nominee, there had evidently been no previous home video releases before this, and Arrow's booklet details a new 2K restoration done for this release from unspecified "film elements". There are some very minor signs of age related wear and tear on display, most of which boil down to tiny flecks that dot the frame, but on the whole from a damage perspective, things look great. The palette seems just slightly anemic at times, leaving some of the verdant green foliage of the Italian countryside tending to look a bit gray at times. That said, in brightly lit scenes (especially those outside), the palette is wonderfully warm and detail levels are excellent (see screenshot 1). Brightness struck me as a bit overamped at times, leading to some blown out highlights. There are some occasional and relatively minor issues with image instability, including aliasing on elements like the gate that leads into the courtyard of Donato's farm estate. Grain is fairly heavy at times, but resolves naturally throughout the presentation.
Three Brothers features a decent sounding LPCM mono track in the original Italian. While I haven't been able to track down any explicit information in this regard, I'm assuming that this was either done in the "traditional" Italian way, meaning all dialogue was looped later after filming, or at least some actors (notably Noiret, who I'm assuming spoke French on set) were dubbed later, for there's a noticeable disconnect between lip movements and dialogue being spoken throughout the presentation. That distraction aside, there's no real damage to report and the track, while a bit shallow sounding, offers good reproduction of dialogue, effects and Piero Piccioni's score.
Three Brothers weaves its spell rather slowly, but it is ultimately a very moving film and one which benefits from its rather languorous pace. The film may "mean" more to those up to speed on the roiling sociopolitical atmosphere of Italy in the 1980s, but anyone who has had "issues" with their siblings will certainly understand the subtext of the film without the need for much extraneous coaching. Technical merits are generally very good to excellent, and Three Brothers comes Highly recommended.
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