6.6 | / 10 |
Users | 0.0 | |
Reviewer | 3.0 | |
Overall | 3.0 |
Middle-aged zoo worker Natasha still lives with her mother in a small coastal town. She is stuck and it seems that life has no surprises for her until one day - she grows a tail and turns her life around.
Starring: Natalya PavlenkovaForeign | 100% |
Drama | 66% |
Comedy | Insignificant |
Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Video resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 1.85:1
Original aspect ratio: 1.85:1
Russian: DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1
Russian: LPCM 2.0
English SDH
Blu-ray Disc
Single disc (1 BD)
Region A (B, C untested)
Movie | 3.0 | |
Video | 4.0 | |
Audio | 4.0 | |
Extras | 2.0 | |
Overall | 3.0 |
There’s almost a clinical detachment that runs through much of Franz Kafka’s writing, something that puts style at rather peculiar odds with content at times, perhaps nowhere more so than in Kafka’s troubling story of an inexplicable transformation, The Metamorphosis. As those who have read this particular piece of Kafka’s may recall, a hapless traveling salesman named Gregor Samsa awakens one morning to find that he has mysteriously changed into — well, exactly what is a matter of debate due to uncertain translations from German, but the upshot is it’s something big and nasty like a mutant insect. In typical Kafka-esque fashion, Gregor’s traumatic predicament plays out against an almost mundane assortment of everyday trials and tribulations. If the Samsa family had any relatives in Russia, chances are one of them might have been a middle aged woman named Natasha (Natalya Pavlenkova), a dowdy sort who works at a zoo, finding some of her only sources of consolation in interactions with the animals there, since her human coworkers are louts and bullies, intent on teasing the downtrodden woman. Things only get worse for Natasha when, somewhat like Gregor in the opening phrase of Kafka’s iconic work, she unexpectedly transforms, though in this case perhaps slightly less dramatically than Gregor, maintaining her human form while growing the addition of a rather long tail. Russian writer-director Ivan I. Tverdovsky, who made a bit of a splash in 2014 with his debut piece Class Corrections, plies some perhaps suitably Kafka-esque territory in Zoology, documenting the sad aspect of Natasha’s lonely life before ever revealing her curious appendage.
Zoology is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Arrow Academy with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 1.85:1. Arrow's insert booklet contains only some brief generic verbiage about the transfer:
Zoology appears in its original aspect ratio of 1.85:1 with 5.1 surround sound. The High Definition master was supplied by New Europe Film Sales.The IMDb lists this as having been shot with the Arri Alexa, and I assume the Blu-ray was culled from whatever DI was prepared. The result is a rather interesting, if at times fairly widely variable, presentation. Tverdovsky (whose name is transliterated as Tverdovskiy on the IMDb, for those interested in such things) and cinematographer Aleksandr Mikeladze play with light, brightness and contrast, sometimes achieving frames with effulgent halos that create a kind of hazy look. That said, fine detail levels on things like the ratty sweater Natasha wears are generally excellent even given some of the lighting issues (see screenshot 4). There are some sequences that have been graded fairly heavily towards blue, and with that technique plus some nighttime footage added to the mix, there is a somewhat softer ambience to these scenes than the bulk of the presentation (see screenshot 18). In reasonably decent lighting, this transfer pops quite well in terms of detail levels, even when the palette is intentionally tamped down and kept on the drab side. There's quite a bit of outdoor material on display here, and detail levels remain high across the board, with some nice depth of field when vistas allow.
Zoology features a DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 mix (in the original Russian, with optional English subtitles) that frankly doesn't have a whale of a lot of opportunities to fully exploit immersion. There is good placement of ambient environmental effects when the film ventures outside, and even some interior moments, as in a couple of vignettes with Natasha in various waiting rooms, offer at least some discrete channelization of effects, but on the whole this tends to be a somewhat subtle sound mix that supports all elements without ever really offering anything overtly "showy". Fidelity is fine throughout, with no problems of any kind.
Zoology has some fascinating elements, but I'm not sure its central conceit is all that helpful to a story that might have resonated even more had it been left in the realm of "kitchen sink" realism. As it stands, Zoology kind of reminded me in some ways of The Lobster, albeit without the context that film provides in order to "explain" the transformations its characters undergo. Zoology will probably be best appreciated for those with more outré tastes tending toward Art House fare. Pavlenkova is outstanding in the main role, and the entire film has a very Russian combination of dourness and pitch black humor. Technical merits are strong for those considering a purchase.
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