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

ADDITION: Anti-Worlds Releasing Blu-ray (August 2023): Anti-Worlds Releasing have transferred Lucile Hadžihalilović's Earwig to Blu-ray. It is a modern film on a dual-layered disc with a max'ed out bitrate and it looks as pristine as one might imagine. The cinematographic techniques utilized in Earwig seem well-supported in 1080P establishing dark, textured, moods throughout. The Blu-ray immediately give the option of English or French menus.

NOTE: We have added 34 more large resolution Blu-ray captures (in lossless PNG format) for DVDBeaver Patrons HERE

On their Blu-ray, Anti-Worlds Releasing use a DTS-HD Master 5.1 surround track (24-bit) in the original English language. Earwig has few aggressive moments (one notable in the Pub,) nor on over-reliance on discreet separations, and the music in the film is credited to Nicolas Becker (Sound of Metal), Warren Ellis (The Proposition) and Augustin Viard (La Japonaise), sounding clean via the lossless transfer. There is also an English 'descriptive audio ' track option. Anti-Worlds Releasing offer optional English or French subtitles on their Region 'B'-locked Blu-ray.

The Anti-Worlds Releasing Blu-ray includes a 20-minute interview with the always interesting director Lucile Hadžihalilović, a 1-1/4 hour documentary on the fascinating British sculptor, poet, novelist, film maker and performance artist Brian Catling with plenty on his novels including The Vorrh Trilogy and Earwig. He died on September 26th, 2022 at 73-years of age. There is also a dozen-minute documentary on the soundtrack and a trailer. The package contains an extensive 50-page booklet with photos and writings on the film.

Earwig was Lucile Hadžihalilović's first English-language feature. I loved her 2004 film, Innocence for which she became the first woman to win the Stockholm International Film Festival's Bronze Horse Award for Best Film. Earwig appears loosely based on Brian Catling’s 2019 surrealist novel of the same name. It seems to be the 1950's Scotland but this, like many points, are not specified. The film is intentionally mysterious, vague and sparse of specific detail. It is dark, themes arise about identity, past trauma, melancholy rhythms, illness, eavesdropping, layers of symbolism... It is incoherent and meant to be that way. It's another highly interesting and challenging film from Anti-Worlds Releasing on Blu-ray (see Holiday and Chained For Life.) So we love it... echoes of Lynch, Cronenberg... the disc is stacked with extras. Adventurous cinephiles are encouraged to indulge.

Gary Tooze