7.3 | / 10 |
Users | 0.0 | |
Reviewer | 4.0 | |
Overall | 4.0 |
A naive young man witnesses an escalation of violence in his small hometown following the arrival of a mysterious circus attraction.
Starring: Peter Fitz, Hanna Schygulla, János Derzsi, Mihály Kormos, Lars RudolphForeign | 100% |
Drama | 94% |
Mystery | 6% |
Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Video resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 1.66:1
Original aspect ratio: 1.66:1
Hungarian: LPCM Mono
English
Blu-ray Disc
Single disc (1 BD)
Region A (locked)
Movie | 4.0 | |
Video | 5.0 | |
Audio | 5.0 | |
Extras | 3.5 | |
Overall | 4.0 |
Bela Tarr's "Werckmeister Harmonies" (2000) arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Criterion. The supplemental features on the release include an exclusive new program with Bela Tarr; the director's first feature film; and promotional trailer. In Hungarian, with optional English subtitles for the main feature. Region-A "locked".
Presented in an aspect ratio of 1.66:1, encoded with MPEG-4 AVC and granted a 1080p transfer, Werckmeister Harmonies arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Criterion.
The following text appears inside the leaflet that is provided with this release:
"Supervised and approved by director Bela Tarr, the new master presented here was created from the 35mm original camera negative, which was scanned and restored in 4K resolution by the National Film Institute Hungary and Cinegrell. The original monaural soundtrack was remastered from the 35mm original soundtrack negative.
Colorist: Robert Libel, NFI Filmlab, Budapest, Hungary.
Audio consultant: Gyorgy Kovacs."
The new 4K makeover of the film is also available on 4K Blu-ray/Blu-ray. You can see our listing and review of this release here. I viewed it in its entirety in native 4K and spent quite a bit of time with the 1080p presentation.
I could not see any drastic discrepancies between in the dynamic range of the visuals that the native 4K and 1080p presentations produce. In a few places, some visuals look slightly richer, but the 1080p presentation still looks mightily impressive. I specifically looked for discrepancies in darker areas where sometimes light is captured in particular ways and shadow nuances are quite unique, but the 1080p presentation was still very solid. The rest, as expected, is identical. Image stability is excellent. Fluidity is great, too. The surface of the visuals is immaculate. (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).
There is only one standard audio track on this release: Hungarian LPCM 1.0. Optional English subtitles are provided for the main feature.
While viewing the 1080p presentation of Werckmeister Harmonies, I did not encounter any anomalies. The following text is from our review of the 4K Blu-ray release.
Even though the film does benefit from a good music soundtrack, dynamic intensity is unimpressive. However, there are some interesting dynamic nuances. The dialog is very clear, clean, and easy to follow. Some unevenness is present, but it is entirely inherited. There are no encoding issues to report.
Music and math have a lot in common. For example, they rationalize and utilize order and structure in identical ways. How? In both, action and reaction are interconnected, and precision is of utmost importance. They rationalize and utilize variation and improvisation in very similar ways as well. So, if math can help people ponder the grand order of things and the cosmic forces that enable its existence, can music do it, too? During the Baroque era, German music theorist, organist, and composer Andreas Werckmeister promoted an interesting concept of harmonic organization called equal temperament, which still effectively defines how music is understood and created in the West. Werckmeister also believed that equal temperament was reflective of a much bigger cosmic order. Bela Tarr's film is a unique, very ambitious cinematic test of equal temperament that offers plenty of food for thought. It won't be everyone's cup of tea because it plays with a lot of very complex themes and does not produce any earth-shattering truths, but viewing it is unquestionably a special experience. Criterion's Blu-ray release introduces a fabulous new 4K restoration of Tarr's film that looks great in native 4K and 1080p. (You can see our review of the 4K Blu-ray release here). HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.
(Still not reliable for this title)
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