Distant Voices, Still Lives Blu-ray

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

(aka 'Distant Voices, Still Lives')

Directed by Terence Davies
UK 1988

Terence Davies's stunning debut feature film Distant Voices, Still Lives was instantly recognised as a masterpiece on its release in 1988 and the director hailed as one of Britain's most gifted and remarkable filmmakers. Re-released in April 2007 as part of a complete retrospective season of Terence Davies's films at BFI Southbank, it was once again showered with critical acclaim.

Drawn from his own family memories, Distant Voices, Still Lives is a strikingly intimate portrait of working class life in 1940s and 1950s Liverpool. Focusing on the real-life experiences of his mother, sisters and brother whose lives are thwarted by their brutal, sadistic father (a chilling performance by Pete Postlethwaite), the film shows us beauty and terror in equal measure. Davies uses the traditional family gatherings of births, marriages and deaths to paint a lyrical portrait of family life - of love, grief, and the highs and lows of being human, a 'poetry of the everyday' that is at once deeply autobiographical and universally resonant.

***

Superlatives are in short supply to describe the emotional power of Terence Davies’ fractured chronicle of the life of a working-class family in 1940s and ’50s Liverpool. Drawing on his own childhood, Davies turns his film on the pivot of a brutal patriarch’s death and his daughter’s subsequent marriage, so splitting his film into two episodes (which he filmed a year apart). The first, ‘Distant Voices’, is a set of difficult memories of childhood fear and wartime suffering that drift in and out of the wedding day, while its companion, ‘Still Lives’, portrays the life of a happier widow, her two daughters, a son and their friends who gather in pubs, sing and are beginning to suffer their own marriages. Pete Postlethwaite is Tommy Davies, the violent, damaged and taciturn father; Freda Dowie is Mrs Davies, his stoic wife and the suffering lynchpin of the family; and Angela Walsh is Eileen, the daughter whose marriage blows a gust of fresh air into the stale misery of her family but also threatens to follow the same tragic pattern as her parents.

Davies’ storytelling is a unique joy. Images evoke family photos and the struggle of recollection. Voices drift in and out, suggestive of family ghosts and inner demons. Chronology is poetic, and memories are filtered after the event like the film’s washed-out colour palette. The writer-director offers a terrifying tension between the public solidarity of pub sing-a-longs, marriage celebrations and mourning and the private horror of domestic abuse, depression and personal dreams sought and destroyed. The men are the most flawed, but the women, though the heroines of the piece, are compromised too: ‘Why did you marry him, mam?’ asks a daughter. ‘He was nice. He was a good dancer…’ It’s a heartbreaking work. Its cast are phenomenal; its songs flow through the film like blood; and Davies is unflinching in his hunt for truth and full of nothing but love and understanding for his characters. A masterpiece.

Excerpt from Time Out Film Guide located HERE

Posters

Theatrical Release: September 11th, 1988 - Toronto Film Festival

Reviews More Reviews DVD Reviews

Comparison:

BFI - Region 2 - PAL vs. Arrow - Region 'A' - Blu-ray vs. BFI - Region 'B' - Blu-ray

1) BFI - Region 2 - PAL LEFT

2) Arrow - Region 'A' - Blu-ray MIDDLE

3) BFI - Region 'B' - Blu-ray RIGHT

Box Covers
Distribution	BFI Video - Region 2 - PAL	Arrow - Region 'A' - Blu-ray	BFI - Region 'B' - Blu-ray
Runtime	1:20:30 (4% PAL Speedup)	1:24:10.045	1:24:10.045
Video	1.78:1 Aspect Ratio Average Bitrate: 5.69 mb/s PAL 720x576 25.00 f/s	1080P Dual-layered Blu-ray Disc Size: 46,557,803,228 bytes Feature: 26,797,809,024 bytes Codec: MPEG-4 AVC Video Total Video Bitrate: 37.99 Mbps	1080P Dual-layered Blu-ray Disc Size: 46,359,958,217 bytes Feature: 26,796,236,160 bytes Codec: MPEG-4 AVC Video Total Video Bitrate: 37.99 Mbps
	NOTE: The Vertical axis represents the bits transferred per second. The Horizontal is the time in minutes.
Bitrate:
Bitrate: Arrow - Region 'A' - Blu-ray
Bitrate: BFI - Region 'B' - Blu-ray
Audio	English (Dolby Digital 2.0)	LPCM Audio English 2304 kbps 2.0 / 48 kHz / 2304 kbps / 24-bit Commentary: Dolby Digital Audio English 192 kbps 2.0 / 48 kHz / 192 kbps	LPCM Audio English 2304 kbps 2.0 / 48 kHz / 2304 kbps / 24-bit Commentary: Dolby Digital Audio English 192 kbps 2.0 / 48 kHz / 192 kbps
Subtitles	English, None	English (SDH), None	English (SDH), None
Features	Release Information: Studio: BFI Video Aspect Ratio: Original Aspect Ratio 1.78:1 Edition Details: • Feature commentary by director Terence Davies • Video interview with director Terence Davies • Filmed introduction with Art Director Miki van Zwanenberg • Original trailer • 24-page liner notes booklet including essays by Beryl Bainbridge and Adrian Danks, an original review from the Monthly Film Bulletin and more. DVD Release Date: July 30th, 2007 Transparent Keep Case Chapters: 12	Release Information: Studio: Arrow 1080P Dual-layered Blu-ray Disc Size: 46,557,803,228 bytes Feature: 26,797,809,024 bytes Codec: MPEG-4 AVC Video Total Video Bitrate: 37.99 Mbps Edition Details: • New 4K digital restoration from the original 35mm camera negative, approved by director Terence Davies Q&A With Terence Davies (2018, 32:14 mins): recorded after the UK premiere of the new restoration at BFI Southbank • Audio commentary by Terence Davies: the director scrutinises his film in this commentary from 2007 • Interview With Terence Davies (2007, 20:22 mins): director Terence Davies discusses his work with film critic Geoff Andrew • Interview With Miki van Zwanenberg (2007, 6:31): the film's art director looks back on its making Introduction by Mark Kermode (2016,2:34) • Images of Liverpool in Archive Film (1939-42, 62 mins): three archive shorts depicting the city of Liverpool and its community "Homes for Workers" (10:48), "Liverpool 1941" (39:53), "Worker and War Front No. 3" (11:07) • Original Theatrical (02:58)and 2018 re-release trailers (01:37) • Image gallery Reversible sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Jennifer Dionisio FIRST PRESSING ONLY: Illustrated collector s booklet featuring new writing on the film by critic Christina Newland plus archive essays Blu-ray Release Date: October 23rd, 2018 Transparent Blu-ray Case Chapters 12	Release Information: Studio: BFI 1080P Dual-layered Blu-ray Disc Size: 48,693,955,920 bytes Feature: 28,593,420,288 bytes Codec: MPEG-4 AVC Video Total Video Bitrate: 34.49 Mbps Edition Details: • New 4K digital restoration from the original 35mm camera negative, approved by director Terence Davies Q&A With Terence Davies (2018, 32:14 mins): recorded after the UK premiere of the new restoration at BFI Southbank • Audio commentary by Terence Davies: the director scrutinises his film in this commentary from 2007 • Interview With Terence Davies (2007, 20:22 mins): director Terence Davies discusses his work with film critic Geoff Andrew • Interview With Miki van Zwanenberg (2007, 6:31 S mins): the film's art director looks back on its making Introduction by Mark Kermode (2016,2:34 mins) • Images of Liverpool in Archive Film (1939-42, 62 mins): three archive shorts depicting the city of Liverpool and its community "Homes for Workers" (10:48), "Liverpool 1941" (39:53), "Worker and War Front No. 3" (11:07) • Original Theatrical (02:58)and 2018 re-release trailers (01:37) • Image gallery • Fully illustrated booklet with new writing on the film by critic Derek Malcolm and art director Miki van Zwanenberg, essays by Geoff Andrew and Adrian Danks, and full film credits Blu-ray Release Date: October 22nd 2018 Standard Blu-ray Case Chapters 15

Comments:

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

ADDITION: Terence Davies' masterpiece "Distant Voices, Still Lives" has been restored in 4k resolution by the BFI under the supervision and approval of the director. This new transfer comes to us on Blu-ray thanks to Arrow Academy in the US and BFI in the UK. Both discs are the same 4K restoration/transfer and have the exact same running time to the 1/1000th of a second. They feature an impressive maxed out bitrate and look marvelous in-motion. The dual-layered Blu-rays show the intentional rich grain and more efficiently export the films style. Contrast levels replicate the filmmakers intentions with bleached-sepia cast. Colors are intentionally skewed to a certain visual palette and are faithfully recreated here on these Blu-rays.

Both the Arrow and BFI discs have a 24-bit linear PCM 2.0 audio track. These identical tracks sound very clean, with easily audible dialogue as well as impressive ambient sounds. There are optional English subtitles on both of the Region-A and Region-B Blu-rays.

The extras are identical on both Blu-rays. The film has an optional 2.5-minute introduction by Mark Kermode. There is the wonderful commentary from director Davies, recorded in 2007. There is also a 32-minute Q&A with Davies recorded after the UK premiere of the new restoration at BFI Southbank. Critic Geoff Andrew talks with the director in the 20-minute "Interview with Terence Davies". There is also a 6-minute interview with the film's art director, Miki van Zwanenberg. There is a fantastic extra here, entitled "Images of Liverpool in Archive Film". This over an hour of archival footage from Liverpool. This footage is divided into three sections, the 11-minute "Homes for Workers", the 40-minute "Liverpool 1941", and the 11-minute "Worker and War Front No. 3". These wonderful time-capsules reinforce how "Distant Voices..." got the look and feel of the era just right. Both the original trailer and the 2018 4k re-release trailers are both on the Blu-ray. There is also a fully illustrated booklets for both - on the BFI they include new writing on the film by critic Derek Malcolm and art director Miki van Zwanenberg, essays by Geoff Andrew and Adrian Danks, and full film credits. Arrow's Blu-ray offers a reversible sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Jennifer Dionisio and for the first pressing has an illustrated collector's booklet featuring new writing on the film by critic Christina Newland plus archive essays.

"Distant Voices, Still Lives" is an impressive story - told in two segments. The film is almost uncanny in its vivid recreation of pre-war England. This new 4k restoration is a revelation. You can absolutely throw out any old DVDs and immediately purchase this Blu-ray, either BFI's Region-B disc or Arrow Academy's Region-A. The extras are wonderful and only enhance the importance of this unique cinema. I look forward to more of Davies work (especially that Emily Dickinson adaptation, "A Quiet Passion").

Colin Zavitz

***

Yet another fabulous DVD package from BFI. Such an impressive, and at times understated, film that it's hard imagining it not touching everyone to some degree. The film's image is often intentionally styled to produce effects - age or photographic moments (sepia tinted or heavily grained) but the quality looks as true to theatrical as one could imagine. The transfer looks unmanipulated and there are no visible damage marks. Audio was clean and clear and it is support by optional English subtitles.

BFI have put some love in to this with many strong, relevant, extras. First a director commentary from Davis. He has a wonderfully soft-spoken accent and imparts production details that only the director would be aware of. There is also a 20 minute video interview with Davis by Geoff Andrew and a six minute intro from the Art Director Miki van Zwanenberg. BFI include the original trailer but I also got a lot out of the liner notes booklet with essays by Beryl Bainbridge (entitled Bittersweet Symphony) and Adrian Danks (The Art of Memory), plus an original review from the Monthly Film Bulletin and a Davis biography.

In conclusion I'd say this is just about a perfect DVD package. Although I had heard of the film I had never had the privilege of seeing it. Magnificent... and BFI continue to impress as a company that cares by bring it to us with extensive effort, care and diligence on their part. Bravo! I strongly suggest owning this DVD. Very strongly.

Gary W. Tooze

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