Mirror Zerkalo - Tarkovsky

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S E A R C H D V D B e a v e r

(aka "Mirror" or "The Mirror" or "Sarke" or "White, White Day" or "Zerkalo")

U.S.S.R. 1975

Mirror (Russian title 'Zerkalo') from 1975, is Tarkovsky's fourth of seven feature films. It has relevancy being numerically "central" in his oeuvre also marking itself as, by the director's own account, 'My most openly autobiographical, daring, and self-revealing film'. Infused with dense, personal references from memory and an inaccessible use of time, space and performances, this is considered the director most artistically bold work being steeped in layered constructions. In examining his entire body of work this tends to be a catalyst of his vision of transcendency. About the film, Tarkovsky states "It is an autobiographical film. The things that happen are real things that happened to people close to me. That is true of all the episodes in the film. But why do people complain that they cannot understand it? The facts are so simple, they can be taken by everyone as similar to the experience of their own lives. But here we come up against something that is peculiar to cinema: the further a viewer is from the content of a film, the closer he is; what people are looking for in cinema is a continuation of their lives, not a repetition. There are no entertaining moments in the film. In fact I am categorically against entertainment in cinema: it is as degrading for the author as it is for the audience.".

Gary W. Tooze

Posters

Theatrical Release Date: April, 1975 - U.S.S.R.

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DVD Comparison:

Lizard - Region 0 - PAL vs. MK2 (France) - Region 0 - PAL vs. Kino Video - Region 0 - NTSC vs. Artificial Eye- Region 0 - PAL vs. Spectrum (Korean) - Region 3 - NTSC

The Artificial Eye is on the TOP 100 List of DVDs.

Big thanks to Barton and Kevin Parent for the Lizard and Korean Screen Captures

(Lizard - Region 0 - PAL TOP LEFT vs. MK2 - Region 0 - PAL TOP MIDDLE vs. Kino Video - Region 0 - NTSC - TOP RIGHT vs. Artificial Eye- Region 0 - PAL - BOTTOM LEFT vs. Spectrum Region 0 - PAL - BOTTOM RIGHT)

DVD Box Covers

Distribution

Lizard (Russia)

Region 0 - PAL

MK2 (France)

Region 0 - PAL

Kino Video

Region 0 - NTSC

Artificial Eye

Region 0 - PAL

Spectrum
Region 3 - NTSC

	Lizard	MK2	Kino	Artificial Eye	Spectrum
Runtime	1:41:51 (4% PAL Speedup)	1:41:48 (4% PAL Speedup)	1:46:20	1:41:48 (4% PAL Speedup)	1:41:42 (4% PAL Speedup)
Video	1.33:1/4:3 FullScreen Average Bitrate: 7.42 mb/s PAL 720x576 25.00 f/s	1.33:1/4:3 FullScreen Average Bitrate: 6.30 mb/s PAL 720x576 25.00 f/s	1.33:1/4:3 FullScreen Average Bitrate: 5.34 mb/s NTSC 720x480 29.97 f/s	1.33:1/4:3 FullScreen Average Bitrate: 6.30 mb/s PAL 720x576 25.00 f/s	1.33:1/4:3 FullScreen Average Bitrate: 6.28 mb/s NTSC 720x480 29.97 f/s
	NOTE: The Vertical axis represents the bits transferred per second. The Horizontal is the time in minutes.
Bitrate: Lizard
Bitrate: MK2
Bitrate: Kino
Bitrate: Artificial Eye
Bitrate: Spectrum
Audio	Russian Dolby Digital 5.1(448Kbps) and Russian Dolby Digital 2.0(256Kbps) - real mono * although it is listed as 2.0	Russian Dolby Digital 5.1 and (added later): Russian Dolby Digital 1.0 mono	Russian Dolby Digital 1.0 mono	Russian Dolby Digital 5.1 and (added later): Russian Dolby Digital 1.0 mono	Russian Dolby Digital 1.0 mono * * although it is listed as 2.0
Subtitles	Russian or none	Russian, English, Deutsch, French, Spanish, Portuguese, Italian, Dutch, Swedish, Arabic, Hebrew, Mandarin, Japanese	Burned in yellow (English)	Russian, English, Deutsch, French, Spanish, Portuguese, Italian, Dutch, Swedish, Arabic, Hebrew, Mandarin, Japanese	Russian, English, Korean or none
Features	Released by: Krypny Plan Aspect Ratio: 1:33:1 original aspect ratio Edition Details: • Introduction: Interview with scriptwriter Aleksandr Mišarin (1.33:1, color, 32:14) • Filmographies • Photo Album of 9 images DVD Release Date: 2004 Super Jewel Case Chapters: 18 DVD Encoding: PAL Region 0 DL/DVD-9 ( 6.57 Gb)	Release Information: Studio: MK2 Aspect Ratio: 1:33:1 original aspect ratio Edition Details: • Introduction: Interview with scriptwriter Aleksandr Mišarin (1.33:1, color, 32:14) • Introduction: Interview with politician Grigory Javlinsky (1.33:1, color, 9:45 ) • Biographical Text Pages (2) on Arseny Tarkovsky • Excerpts of films with Anatoly Solonisyn (1.33:1, b+w and color, 8:18) • Documentary on Innokenty Smoktunovsky (1.33:1, color, 10:50) • Documentary on Nikolai Grinko (1.33:1, 3:24) • Edouard Artemev: Dedication to Tarkovsky (1.33:1, color, 9:14) • Filmographies: Static screens of 6 crew with imbeded trailers:or Solaris (2.35:1/4:3, 3:20), Nekončennaja p’esa dlja mekhaničeskogo pianino (1.33:1, 1:29), Sinjaja Ptica (1.33:1, 3:06), Sibiriada (1.33:1, 2:21), Dvorjanskoe gnezdo (1.33:1, 3:46) • Photo Album of 9 images DVD Release Date: May 25th, 2005 Slim digipak with no sleeve Chapters: 18 DVD Encoding: PAL Region 0 SS-DL/DVD-9	Release Information: Kino Video Aspect Ratio: 1:33:1 original aspect ratio Edition Details: None DVD Release Date: 21st March 2000 Keep Case Chapters: 14 DVD Encoding: NTSC Region 0 SS-SL/DVD-5	Release Information: Studio: Artificial Eye Aspect Ratio: 1:33:1 original aspect ratio Edition Details: • Introduction: Interview with scriptwriter Aleksandr Mišarin (1.33:1, color, 32:14) • Introduction: Interview with politician Grigory Javlinsky (1.33:1, color, 9:45 ) • Biographical Text Pages (2) on Arseny Tarkovsky • Excerpts of films with Anatoly Solonisyn (1.33:1, b+w and color, 8:18) • Documentary on Innokenty Smoktunovsky (1.33:1, color, 10:50) • Documentary on Nikolai Grinko (1.33:1, 3:24) • Edouard Artemev: Dedication to Tarkovsky (1.33:1, color, 9:14) • Filmographies: Static screens of 6 crew with imbeded trailers:or Solaris (2.35:1/4:3, 3:20), Nekončennaja p’esa dlja mekhaničeskogo pianino (1.33:1, 1:29), Sinjaja Ptica (1.33:1, 3:06), Sibiriada (1.33:1, 2:21), Dvorjanskoe gnezdo (1.33:1, 3:46) • Photo Album of 9 images DVD Release Date: 29 July 2002 Keep Case Chapters: 18 DVD Encoding: PAL Region 0 SS-DL/DVD-9	Release Information: Studio: Spectrum Aspect Ratio: 1:33:1 original aspect ratio Edition Details: • Introduction: Interview with scriptwriter Aleksandr Mišarin (1.33:1, color, 32:14) • Introduction: Interview with politician Grigory Javlinsky (1.33:1, color, 9:45 ) • Biographical Text Pages (2) on Arseny Tarkovsky • Excerpts of films with Anatoly Solonisyn (1.33:1, b+w and color, 8:18) • Documentary on Innokenty Smoktunovsky (1.33:1, color, 10:50) • Documentary on Nikolai Grinko (1.33:1, 3:24) • Cast and Crew: Static screens of 6 crew with imbeded trailers:or Solaris (2.35:1/4:3, 3:20), Nekončennaja p’esa dlja mekhaničeskogo pianino (1.33:1, 1:29), Sinjaja Ptica (1.33:1, 3:06), Sibiriada (1.33:1, 2:21), Dvorjanskoe gnezdo (1.33:1, 3:46) • Photo Album of 9 images DVD Release Date: 2003 Part of Boxset Chapters 18 NO SUBS ON EXTRAS !

Comments:

ADDITION: Lizard - Region 0 - PAL - October 05' - The Lizard edition looks quite good - I would say a small notch ahead of the AE and MK2 in terms of sharpness but, of course, its fatal drawback, for most, are the lack of English subtitles. It might very well be vertically stretched a bit and looks more correct to me, at times, next to the other releases. The real conundrum of any transfer of Mirror, is that it cannot be digitally tampered with - there is too much archival footage, often very damaged. So when you boost or de-saturate it become easily apparent in those scenes. Ex. the damage in the balloon sequence is supposed to be there!

If you are keen to own this Lizard edition BEWARE - this is a DVD9 (Dual layer - 6.57 Gb), but Lizard also produces a DVD5 (single layer - 4.33 Gb) of the same film. Big thanks to Barton for supplying these captures!

*******

Bottom line for many - the 'new' MK2 is an exact copy of the Artificial Eye (which barring a few subtle differences is an exact copy of the RusCiCo. The Korean editions is the same but was not converted from PAL to NTSC and will have those apparent artifact deficiencies.)

The MK2 offers the same 5.1 and original Russian mono tracks and the same extras which are subtitled. It comes in a slim digipak case with no sleeve.

Major differences in the editions:

1) The Kino is overly bright and saturated. It has abused the intended color scheme.

2) The initial AE disc did not offer the original mono, but does now.

3) The Korean edition does not have subtitles on the extras.

4) The RusCiCo ports (AE, MK2 and Korean) have a sepia tinge to the black and white sequences.

NOTE: I'd like to think there will one day be a superior edition of this important film. The image is soft and the bitrate indicates it is probably from analog, but for now the definitive choice is either the AE or MK2 dependant on which you can obtain least expensively.

- Gary W. Tooze

DVD Menus

(Lizard - Region 0 - PAL LEFT vs. MK2 - Region 0 - PAL MIDDLE vs. Kino Video - Region 0 - NTSC - RIGHT)

		NO MAIN MENU

(Artificial Eye- Region 0 - PAL - LEFT vs. Spectrum Region 0 - PAL - RIGHT)

Screen Captures

(Lizard - Region 0 - PAL TOP vs. MK2 (France) - Region 0 - PAL 2nd vs. Kino Video - Region 0 - NTSC - 3rd vs. Artificial Eye- Region 0 - PAL - 4th vs. Spectrum Region 0 - PAL - BOTTOM)

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Report Card:

Image:	Lizard? or Artificial Eye / MK2
Sound:	(all have original mono - beware older AE versions with only 5.1)
Extras:	Artificial Eye / MK2
Menu:	Lizard