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Tetro [Blu-ray]
(Francis Ford Coppola, 2009)
Review by Gary Tooze
Production: Theatrical: American Zoetrope Video: Lions Gate
Disc: Region: 'A'-locked (as verified by the Momitsu region FREE Blu-ray player) Runtime: 2:07:00.654 Disc Size: 48,864,399,211 bytes Feature Size: 36,208,533,504 bytes Video Bitrate: 32.31 Mbps Chapters: 16 Case: Standard Blu-ray case Release date: May 4th, 2010
Video: Aspect ratio: 2.35:1 Resolution: 1080p / 23.976 fps Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC Video
Audio: DTS-HD Master Audio English 3536 kbps 5.1 / 48 kHz / 3536 kbps / 24-bit (DTS Core: 5.1 / 48 kHz / 1509 kbps / 24-bit / DN -4dB) Dolby Digital Audio English 224 kbps 2.0 / 48 kHz / 224 kbps / DN -4dB / Dolby Surround
Subtitles: English (SDH), English, Spanish, none
Extras: • Commentary with Francis Ford Coppola and Alden Ehrenreich • 'The Ballet (8:06 in HD!)• Mahai Malaimare Jr.: The Cinematography of Tetro (8:30 - HD!) • The Rehearsal Process (8:32 - HD!) • Osvaldo Golijov: Music Born From the Film (9:16 in HD!) • La Colifata: I've Always Been Crazy (5:47 in HD!) • Fausta: A Drama in Verse (4:34) • Tetro End Credits (3:30 in HD!) • Other offerings from LionsGate
Bitrate:
Description: Fresh-faced and naive, 17-year-old Bennie (Alden Ehrenreich) arrives in Buenos Aires to search for his older brother who has been missing for more than a decade. The family had emigrated from Italy to Argentina, but with the great musical success of their father Carlo (Klaus Maria Brandauer), an acclaimed symphony conductor, the family moved from Argentina to New York. When Bennie finds his brother, the volatile and melancholy poet Tetro (Vincent Gallo), he is not at all what Bennie expected. In the course of staying with Tetro and his girlfriend Miranda (Maribel Verdú), Bennie grapples with his brother and the haunting experiences of their shared past in this widely acclaimed film by legendary director Francis Ford Coppola.
The Film:
"Tetro" may be the most autobiographical film Francis Ford
Coppola has made. He said at Cannes "nothing in it happened, but it's
all true." I guess I know what that means. He could be describing any
"autobiographical" film or novel. The pitfall is in trying to find
parallels: Coppola had a father who was a famous conductor, he has a
brother he has sometimes argued with, his sister Talia Shire somewhat
resembles the heroine of this film, his nephew Nicolas Cage somewhat
resembles the character Tetro, and on and on. All meaningless.
The majority of Tetro is in black and white - and the dual-layered progressive transfer exports the deft contrast very well. At times the grayscale looks even more adept than Good Night, and Good Luck. Detail is also very strong in close-ups. There are some gorgeous pans of South American mountain ranges. Nothing is overly dark and there is some depth to the visual presentation. Minor grain is present and gives the image a gentle, consitent texture. This Blu-ray looks very impressive at times and the brief infusions of color suit the film's artistic context. This is a very good transfer with a strong bitrate and I suspect this Blu-ray probably looks like the theatrical appearance.
Audio :The lone feature track exists in a competent DTS-HD Master 5.1 at 3536 kbps. It seems to easily handle beyond the, often, dialogue-driven sequences. There is some performance music but nothing of any exceptionally aggressive nature in the mix. Separations are rare but exist and the background score by Osvaldo Golijov which always sounds soft, gentle and just wonderful. While the track could handle any further range or depth - it really doesn't exists to export. The music is a big part of the film experience and always sounds crisp and tight. There are optional subtitles offered (English and Spanish) and m y Momitsu has identified it as being a region 'A'-locked.
Extras :While the featurettes, many with Coppola input, can seem a little erratic - this is made up for by the feature-length commentary with Francis Ford Coppola and Alden Ehrenreich. Coppola covers a lot of substance with frequent production details and Ehrenreich is a appropriate foil for delving into other areas. If you enjoyed the film - this is definitely worth the extra spin. of the featurettes (all in HD, by the way) - the Mahai Malaimare Jr.: The Cinematography of Tetro, The Rehearsal Process and Osvaldo Golijov: Music Born From the Film - all running shy of 10-minutes - are interesting, and brief, enough to indulge. I should note the ability to alter the Menu effects with a sliding scale - kind of cool - although I don't know how often you would utilize. It's the first time I recall seeing this feature.
BOTTOM LINE: Gary Tooze April 24th, 2010
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About the Reviewer: Hello, fellow Beavers! I have been interested in film since I viewed a Chaplin festival on PBS when I was around 9 years old. I credit DVD with expanding my horizons to fill an almost ravenous desire to seek out new film experiences. I currently own approximately 9500 DVDs and have reviewed over 3500 myself. I appreciate my discussion Listserv for furthering my film education and inspiring me to continue running DVDBeaver. Plus a healthy thanks to those who donate and use our Amazon links.
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find HD is swiftly pushing me in that direction. So be
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