Studio: Bandai Visual / Honneamise
Video: 1080p -16:9 - AVC (±38Mbps)
Audio: Polish Dolby TrueHD 6.1 (± 2.8Mbps), Polish Dolby
Digital EX 5.1 (640kbps), Japanese PCM 2.0 (1.5Mbps)
Subtitles: Japanese, English, none
Disc: Dual-Layered Blu-Ray (50GBs) + Dual-Layered DVD
Runtime: 106 min.
Extras: Trailers, Booklet
Release Date: September 25th, 2007
Package: Blu-Ray+DVD Box
Overview:
The film is set in a bleak future, where the population
is hooked on an immersive virtual reality video game
called Avalon. Despite its popularity the game can be
deadly, leaving players' bodies catatonic in the real
world. One player of the game, Ash (played by Polish
actress Małgorzata Foremniak), hears of a secret level
hidden within Avalon. The film follows her quest to find
the level.
The film's colour palette is mainly sepia tones, helping
to blur the line between the real world and that within
the game itself.
The film is typically Mamoru Oshii styled in its pacing
and editing. It is relatively slow paced, reinforcing
the mundane nature of the world Ash lives in and
highlighting the excitement of playing the game. The
film also features a basset hound, a breed of dog common
in Oshii's films, since he has one, named Gabriel.
The film's score is by regular Oshii collaborator, Kenji
Kawai.
From Wikipedia HERE
The Film:
Today, instead of artificial entities who look, talk and
act like us (or at least those of us who have had moral
lobotomies), dark future films are speculating more
about the unreality of reality and the merger of
humanity with the bit stream that surrounds us -- and
threatens to engulf us. Among the best is "Ghost
in the Shell," a 1995 animated movie by Mamoru
Oshii set in a future Hong Kong menaced by a cyber
criminal who has no mortal form, only malicious control
over an enormous sea of data. The ultimate computer
virus, as it were.
Now Oshii has returned with, not more cel animation -- a
technology that is beginning to look dated -- but a
live-action film that takes up where "Ghost
in the Shell" left off, in a future Poland
instead of Hong Kong. Place, however, is less important
than post-apocalyptic mood, in which the risky thrills
of a virtual-reality game (with the emphasis on
"reality") coexist with economic depression and social
collapse.
There is little recognizably Polish about this world --
it could be any Eastern European country with
picturesquely decaying cityscapes, wheezing streetcars
and statuesque brunettes whose glamour comes from an air
of experience and an aura of danger.
****
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The heroine is Ash (Malgorzata Foremniak), one of the aforementioned brunettes, who lives alone in a run-down apartment block with her basset hound. She makes a precarious living playing Avalon, a virtual-reality RPG (role-playing game) with a military theme, in which the losing players end up as "lost" -- i.e., burned-out shells whose connection with reality (or at least our current version of it) has been permanently severed. The grimly ironic name of the game refers to the mythical island where warriors go after their deaths in glorious battle.
An expert player, who vaporizes enemy soldiers and equipment with ease, including a deadly looking monster of a chopper, Ash wants to move to the next, highest level of the game: Special A, which has no reset and, for all but the winners, no return. She is also determined to play solo, despite the urgings of the aged Game Master (Wladyslaw Kowalski) to join a "party" or team.
This, so far, is pretty standard
woman-on-a-mission stuff. It
unfolds, otaku-like, too slowly for
strangers to the RPG culture, who
may not be as enthralled as
initiates with Ash's quest to battle
through to the "mission complete"
screen and rack up more points on
her Avalon gold card.
But once she enters Special A, the
game, and the film, moves to
another, more complex, level, in
which the quest becomes more inner
than outer and the objective begins
to shift in ways that Ash could not
foresee or humanly understand. What
is "virtual reality" when you're no
longer sure what is virtual and what
is real?
This is the same question posed by
the Wachowski brothers' "The
Matrix" and David Cronenberg's "eXistenZ,"
and, for fans of those films,
Oshii's answers may have a familiar
ring. (Though Oshii first got the
idea for "Avalon" nearly a
decade ago, long before his American
and Canadian competition hit the
screen.) I liked Oshii's, though: He
is not trying to graft heady New Age
philosophy onto Hollywood SF and
Hong Kong chopsocky cliches ("The
Matrix") or film the equivalent
of a bad acid trip with gross-out
effects ("eXistenZ").
Instead, he is taking his personal
RPG obsession to the outer limits,
giving "Avalon" a feeling of
conviction and commitment the other
films lack. Hit the play button --
if you dare.
Excerpt from The Japan Times (Mark
Schilling) HERE
The Video:
This Blu-Ray transfer is a great
improvement from previous DVD editions
and since the film is intensively
post-processed, making it difficult to
clearly recognize image flaws, most of
my review is based on comparisons with
previous SD DVD releases and the SD DVD
included in the package.
Package:
The usual Bandai double disc set with a
standard DVD keep case for each disk (I
like that) and another beautiful glossy
textured box similar to "Ghost
in the Shell"
release.
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The SD DVD included is by itself a
considerable upgrade from the previous
editions but the Blu-Ray DVD is at least
30% visibly better than this new SD DVD
transfer, notably tones, sharpness, and
contrast were all cleanly enhanced.
(NOTE: comparison was done with the SD
DVD upscaled to 1080p. The player and
the settings were the same for both
formats). To me this is a great
achievement considering the problematic
source, once used to deliver past
troublesome releases, and unless they
come up with a complete different and
better new master I doubt you will see
any improvements in future releases.
Note that Miramax has the rights for US
distribution and it doesn't seem that
anything will come out this decade.
I tried to capture the images closest
possible to the original intend for
them, I checked some notes, data,
internet info, and images from the
booklet included. The movie changes from
cooler tones to warmer ones often making
it difficult to find out what is the
correct calibration, but after compiling
all the info I got I believe the grabs
below are close to intended.
Luiz R.
(SD TOP vs. Blu-ray BOTTOM)
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(SD TOP vs. Blu-ray BOTTOM)
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(SD TOP vs. Blu-ray BOTTOM)
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Blu-ray Screen Captures
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Audio:
The original Polish soundtrack comes in 2 available options, The Dolby
TrueHD 6.1 and the Dolby Digital EX 5.1. The second. The DD EX is very
good and I couldn't notice veryo much of a difference between the two,
maybe with a 6.1 sound system... But the TrueHD is better, I won't say
it is overwhelmingly more rich but it is more open and the subwoofer
kicked me more often. Sound is pure and clean on both.
The Japanese PCM stereo dub is excellent as well and the differences are
subtle, the voices are more evident than the other two options and it
sounded more detailed in a few occasions than the Dolby DD EX.
Extras:
As usual, the only real supplement is the nice booklet full of images
and data, but all in Japanese, that was helpful giving me tips about how
the image should look. You can also find some trailers (actually I had
the impression it was just one single trailer) in the Blu-Ray disc, but
the image quality isn't too good anyway.
Menus
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Subtitles:
The subtitles look precise and in agreement with the comments posted
HERE. I also got the impression the timing is better in this
Blu-Ray release than before, but I wouldn't say it is perfect.
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BOTTOM LINE: I find the movie interesting enough to deserve a recommendation. The visuals, the cinematography and the work with tones are worth a look even if one is not interested in the surrealistic sci-fi genre. This Blu-Ray is a superb evolution from previous editions and finally delivers the quality the film deserves. To say the least this is a solid distinct package that even though pricey won't disappoint!
Luiz R.
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