DVD Comparison Krzysztof Kieslowski's - A Short Film About Love - Krótki film o milosci DVD Review Krzysztof Kieslowski A Short Film About Love Krótki film o milosci DVD Review Krzysztof Kieslowski A Short Film About Love Krótki film o mil

A Short Film About Love ( 86 minutes version)

(aka "Krótki film o milosci")

directed by Krzysztof Kieslowski
Poland 1988

Krzysztof Kieslowski made the ten part series of short films for polish TV in the ‘80s called the Decalogue, of which 2 short films were made into feature films. Both films were quite popular in the international film festival circuits during its run in the late ‘80s. I happened to have come across the DVD versions of these masterpieces. The DVD is an officially released region 3 version from South Korea (perhaps the only release as feature film out on DVD with the running time of 82 minutes). Short film versions of this exist in various regions as part of the Decalogue box set with running time of 58 minutes.

I had been searching and waiting for months for these films to be released on DVD. After seeing the Three Colors trilogy, I couldn’t resist the thought of watching more of Kieslowski’s feature length films!

I must say that the 86 minute version adds much to already an intriguing plot and makes the story more coherent with a different ending. This version allows the viewers a chance to see more of Magda’s reactions to Tomek’s attempted suicide. I remember watching the 58 minute version and wondering what if and so on… and somewhat of an inconclusive ending. I’ll leave it at that and convince you fans of Kieslowski to watch this 86 minute version. Just remember if you saw the 58 minute version, you will not want to miss this 86 minute version.

Byung Joo

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DVD Comparison:

Artificial Eye - Region 2 - PAL vs. A9 Media ( South Korea) - Region 3

Thanks to Byung Joo for the Region 3 captures and to Per-Olof Strandberg for the Artificial Eye captures!

(Artificial Eye - Region 2 - PAL - LEFT vs. A9 Media ( South Korea) - Region 3 - RIGHT)

DVD Box Covers
Distribution	Artificial Eye Region 2 - PAL	A9 Media ( South Korea) - Region 3 - NTSC
Runtime	1:22:42 (4% PAL speedup)	1:22:54 (taken from PAL master)
Video	1.61:1.00 Letterboxed WideScreen 16X9 enhanced PAL 720x576 25.00 f/s Bit-rate: 6.2	1.5:1.00 Letterboxed WideScreen 16X9 enhanced NTSC 720x480 29.97 f/s Bit-rate: 6.42 bps
	NOTE: The Vertical axis represents the bits transferred per second. The Horizontal is the time in minutes
Bitrate: AE	Not Available
Bitrate: A9 .
Audio	Polish Dolby Digital 2.0 (Mono)	Polish 2.0 Channel (Mono)
Subtitles	English, and none (as well as Extras)	Korean, English ( both removable)
Features	Release Information: Studio: Artificial Eye (UK) Aspect Ratio: Widescreen anamorphic - 1.61:1 Edition Details: • Annette Insdorf introduction (00:07:07) • Grazyana Swapolowska interview (00:07:40) • Emmanuel Finkiel interview (00:17:20) • Short film TRAMWAY (00:05:14) • Trailer (00:02:20) DVD Release Date: Sept 29th 2003 Transparent Keep Case Chapters 11	Release Information: Studio: A9 Media ( South Korea ) Aspect Ratio: 1.5:1 Letterboxed Widescreen, Anamorphic Edition Details: • Interactive Menu • Photo Gallery • Cast and Crew Info • Movie Highlights (like a trailer) DVD Release Date: December 4, 2002 Keep case Chapter stops: 12

Comments:

It appears as though the R3 Korean was ported from a PAL source and hence hence has some "ghosting" (Running time: Listed as 87 minutes including the extra Movie Highlights. Running time of the film itself was 1:22:59 minutes ). I don't own it myself but that would be my bet. Now, as far as the transfer is concerned, there are quite a few problems to this South Korean release by A9 media. The aspect ratio is out of whack. It looks to have been stretched vertically and another obvious problem was how dark and hazy the film looked. Pops and scratches are also evident throughout. The R3 DVD does provide good removable English subtitles and a decent original polish stereo (from mono source) soundtrack. The DVD is definitely inferior to the Artificial Eye disc which has s sharper image and very good Extras. The AE release does seem to have an abundance of green in the image but to date it is the best available for this film.

- Gary W. Tooze

DVD Menus

(Artificial Eye - Region 2 - PAL - LEFT vs. A9 Media ( South Korea) - Region 3 - RIGHT)

Screen Captures