Fantoma's release of R.W. Fassbinder's "In a Year of 13 Moons" is close to perfect. The image looks absolutely excellent, with vibrant colors, strong contrast and remarkable detail and sharpness. There are some slight instances of edge enhancement, but they are barely noticeable. You will find neither scratches nor any other distortions here. Overall it's quite a stunning transfer.

The German 2.0 soundtrack is very good too. Dialogue, background noise and music are all clearly audible and the track is free of any pops, hiss or drop-outs.  

We actually get quite a surprising amount of bonus material. First up is a video introduction by Fassbinder-fan Richard Linklater who talks about his discovery of the great German director as well as the three phases of his work and then goes on to explore the riches of "In a Year with 13 Moons". It's a very intelligent and passionate talk. Then there's an interview with Werner Schroeter, a good friend of Fassbinder's and a great artist in his own right, who talks about his relationship with Fassbinder as well as his admiration of this particular film and Volker Spengler's performance. Fassbinder's editor Juliane Lorenz is doubly present on this disc, first in a revealing and informative interview and then in a selected scene audio commentary, which repeats some of the things she said in the interview, but still gives nice input on the film's use of music and the shooting in Frankfurt.

Overall, this is a splendid way to bring this amazing film to the digital medium. "In a Year of 13 Moons" is my personal favorite Fassbinder film. It's stylistically very experimental and daring as well as tremendously moving and brilliantly acted. The superb transfer of this DVD, its flawless audio track and the insightful extras make it a no-brainer.