NOTE: The below Blu-ray captures were taken directly from the Blu-ray disc.

ADDITION: Criterion Blu-ray (August 2024): Criterion have transferred 'Two Films by Kira Muratova; Brief Encounters (1967) and The Long Farewell (1971) to Blu-ray. They are cited as being from "New 4K digital restorations". Both films are in the 1.37:1 aspect ratio and transferred to individual dual-layered Blu-rays with max'ed out bitrates. Both look very similar with excellent contrast, very clean (no speckles) and looked impressive in the HD presnetations.  

NOTE: We have added 74 more large resolution Blu-ray captures (in lossless PNG format) for DVDBeaver Patrons HERE

On their Blu-ray, Criterion use linear PCM mono tracks (24-bit) in the original Russian language. Both films are fairly passive in terms of violent content only reaching a head with heated arguments. Both also have music by Soviet and Russian composer Oleg Karavaychuk (Soldaty, The Dark Night.) Karavaychuk collaborated with Sergei Parajanov (Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors / The Color of Pomegranates,) and other in the with the avant-garde, like Sergey Kuryokhin. The scores are a representation of their roots and era and compliment the films effectively. . Criterion offer optional English subtitles on their Region 'A' Blu-ray.

The Criterion Blu-rays include a 26-minute interview with scholar Elena Gorfinkel (author of Lewd Looks: American Sexploitation Cinema in the 1960s.) She talks about Kira Muratova and how her life was effected by World War II and much more. There are two separate interviews, about each film, with Isabel Jacobs who specializes in Russian, German and French philosophy. They run over 1/2 hour in total and discuss Muratova's background (Kingdom of born in Romania, now Moldova to a Jewish Mother, Russian Father) and she provides an excellent background for the films. Included is an archival, 5-minute, interview with director Kira Muratova who passed in 2018. The package has liner notes with an essay by Berlin-based freelance film critic and programmer Jessica Kiang.

Kira Muratova's debut feature film, Brief Encounters, was banned by Soviet censors for 20 years before getting an official premiere during the increased government transparency in the USSR (glasnost) and her The Long Farewell, completed in 1971, was shelved for 16 years later till perestroika (political reform movement within the Communist Party of the Soviet Union.) Muratova's films came under constant criticism of the Soviet officials due to her idiosyncratic film language that lacked complying with the norms of socialist realism - the official cultural doctrine of the Soviet Union. Aside from Aleksandr Sokurov (Russian Ark, Mother and Son), Muratova was considered the most idiosyncratic contemporary Russian-language film director. The Criterion 'Two Films by Kira Muratova' Blu-ray package has two Russian dramas with romance, humor, happenstance, jealousy, alienation, etc. from a fascinating and unconventional director. I'm so pleased to have seen these films and hope more of her more unusual stylistic work will be coming to Blu-ray soon. Certainly recommended.

Gary Tooze