Holy Motors Blu-ray - Eva Mendes

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

directed by Leos Carax
France/Germany 2012

Over the course of a single day, Monsieur Oscar travels by limousine around Paris to a series of nine appointments, transforming into new characters at each stop. He is a captain of industry, a gypsy beggar, a digitized ninja warrior (and reptilian sex god!), a gibberish-spewing troglodyte, the melancholy father of a teenage daughter, a shadowy assassin, a dying old man, and a thwarted lover reuniting with a past flame.

***

Surreal? Erratic? Mad? Daring? Those four words are a good start when it comes to describing Leos Carax's Holy Motors. It's only the writer/director's second film in 13 years, following 1999's Pola X, and here he's focusing on a single day in Paris. Moreover, we spend time in the company of Monsieur Oscar, played by regular Carax collaborator Denis Levant. Monsieur Oscar is a chameleon-like figure, who's being chauffeured around the city. And while travelling, he takes on the guise of many others, swiftly changing on board before heading off for his next appointment.

This puts a sizeable responsibility on the shoulders of Denis Levant, as the number of characters he's effectively inhabiting in Holy Motors hits double figures. The different guises, which vary dramatically, also allow Carax to shift the tone of the film a lot. The finished movie is wildly ambitious, as unpredictable as anything to hit the screen in 2012, and often, quite brilliant as well.

The disc features an interview with Leos Carax, as well as a collection of scenes that didn't eventually make the final cut of the movie. It's a decent package, to support a film that demonstrates the ongoing genius of its writer/director. If you've ever complained that films are just a little bit too predictable, then Holy Motors is even more of an unmissable movie.

--Jon Foster of Amazon.UK located HERE

Posters

Theatrical Release: 4 July 2012 (France)

Reviews More Reviews DVD Reviews

Comparison:

Artificial Eye - Region 2 - PAL vs. Indomina - Region 'A' - Blu-ray vs. Artificial Eye - Region 'B' - Blu-ray

Big thanks to Eric Cotenas for the DVD Review!

1) Artificial Eye - Region 2 - PAL LEFT

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

3) Artificial Eye - Region 'B' - Blu-ray RIGHT

Box Covers

Distribution	Artificial Eye Region 2 - PAL	Indomina Region 'A' - Blu-ray	Artificial Eye Region 'B' - Blu-ray
Runtime	1:50:48 (4% PAL speedup)	1:55:46.958	1:55:39.766
Video	1.85:1 Original Aspect Ratio 16X9 enhanced Average Bitrate: 5.84 mb/s PAL 720x576 25.00 f/s	1080P Single-layered Blu-ray Disc Size: 24,387,130,588 bytes Feature: 14,524,635,264 bytes Video Bitrate: 19.93 Mbps Codec: MPEG-2 Video	1080P Dual-layered Blu-ray Disc Size: 35,951,148,590 bytes Feature: 23,812,478,976 bytes Video Bitrate: 20.00 Mbps Codec: MPEG4 AVC Video
	NOTE: The Vertical axis represents the bits transferred per second. The Horizontal is the time in minutes.
Bitrate
Bitrate Indomina Blu-ray
Bitrate AE Blu-ray
Audio	French Dolby Digital 5.1; French Dolby Digital 2.0 stereo	Dolby Digital Audio French 448 kbps 5.1 / 48 kHz / 448 kbps Dolby Digital Audio French 192 kbps 2.0 / 48 kHz / 192 kbps	LPCM Audio French 2304 kbps 2.0 / 48 kHz / 2304 kbps / 24-bit DTS-HD Master Audio French 3730 kbps 5.1 / 48 kHz / 3730 kbps / 24-bit (DTS Core: 5.1 / 48 kHz / 768 kbps / 24-bit)
Subtitles	English, none	English, none	English (mandatory not burned-in)
Features	Release Information: Studio: Artificial Eye Aspect Ratio: Widescreen anamorphic - 1.85:1 Edition Details: • Trailer (16:9; 1:50) • Deleted Scenes (16:9; 7:58) • Conversation with Leos Carax at the 2012 Festival del Film Locarno (16:9; 63:04) DVD Release Date: 28 January 2013 Amaray Chapters 12	Release Information: Studio: Indomina Aspect Ratio: Widescreen anamorphic - 1.85:1 1080P Single-layered Blu-ray Disc Size: 24,387,130,588 bytes Feature: 14,524,635,264 bytes Video Bitrate: 19.93 Mbps Codec: MPEG-2 Video Edition Details: • Drive-In: The Making of Holy Motors (47:28 in 1080P) • Kylie Minogue Interview (13:22 in 1080P) • Domestic Trailer (2:32 in 1080P) • International Trailer (1:51 in 1080P) Blu-ray Release Date: February 26th, 2013 Standard Blu-ray Case Chapters 16	Release Information: Studio: Artificial Eye Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1 1080P Dual-layered Blu-ray Disc Size: 35,951,148,590 bytes Feature: 23,812,478,976 bytes Video Bitrate: 20.00 Mbps Codec: MPEG4 AVC Video Edition Details: • Trailer (1:56 in 1080P) • Deleted Scenes (8:20 in 1080P) • Conversation with Leos Carax at the 2012 Festival del Film Locarno (1:03:06 in 1080i) Blu-ray Release Date: January 28th, 2013 Green Blu-ray case Chapters 12

Comments

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

ADDITION: Artificial Eye - Region 'B' - Blu-ray (March 2013): The Artificial Eye 1080P version is AVC and , not surprisingly, looks better in-motion. You can see that while the bitrate is the same - using MPEG-4 as opposed to MPEG-2 a larger file size is required for the duplicate bitrate. This translates as smoother visuals. The Indomina transfer was, most likely, a cost-cutting measure to keep the film and extras on a single layered disc but the resulting video is... clunkier. The UK Blu-ray is dual-layered and the resulting image quality showcases a brighter, more detailed presentation - free of noise.

The UK Blu-ray has also gone with lossless audio with the option of very clean linear PCM stereo 2.0 channel or DTS-HD Master 5.1. The few separations are significantly crisper than the US edition. The soundtrack has quite a mix with some Kylie Minogue performed numbers and a few other pieces all benefitting from the lossless rendering. English subtitles are forced but not burned-in (like AE's Blu-ray of Amour). The disc is region-coded for 'B'.

Extras duplicate the DVD with the Deleted Scenes, trailer and hour long conversation with Carax at the Festival del Film Locarno (see Eric's comments below!)

I enjoy this film more each time I see it. AE is the Blu-ray edition to get!

NOTE: The AE Blu-ray cover is actually green (see image above and below) not the one posted on Amazon.UK.

***

ADDITION: Indomina - Region 'A' - Blu-ray (February 2013): Strangely, the new Domina Region 'A' Blu-ray is encoded via MPEG-2 as opposed to the more popular and effective AVC. I'm glad we are comparing although I suspect that adding the Artificial Eye Blu-ray would be the most telling. I don't think the US 1080p (yes, it is still 1080P!) looks poor - contrast seems a bit weak on the single-layered transfer - but looking at the DVD this duller appearance may have been a function of the production/style. It is a bit less-smooth in-motion. There is a minor touch of depth and the disc gave me a reasonable, but certainly not stellar, presentation.

A further slight is the audio which is not rendered in a lossless track but in standard Dolby with the option of 5.1 surround or 2.0 channel stereo. It sounded unremarkable with the separations lacking any crispness or definition. There are optional English subtitles on the region 'A'-locked disc.

Supplements include a 45-minute 'making of..." entitled Drive-In with plenty of behind-the-scenes sequences. There is also a 13-minute interview with Kylie Minogue and both a domestic and international trailer. What the US Blu-ray lacks is the hour-long conversation with Carax which is probably quite revealing.

Without even seeing it, I lean to the AE Blu-ray out of the UK. Both the MPEG-2 and no lossless audio are two blackmarks that are key to an HD presentation. LOVED the film though! Lavant is a God!

Gary Tooze

***

ON THE DVD: With many scenes photographed in low-light settings (underground as well as several neon-lit Paris night exteriors), a higher-bitrate would might have served the film better on DVD (although perhaps the two extras did not justify a second disc), but HD-ready viewers will likely opt for the Artificial Eye's Region B Blu-ray (HERE) (the US Blu-ray and DVD editions will street in late February). Audio is provided in the original 5.1 and a 2.0 stereo doxnmix (the former is of course recommended to fully experience Carax's busy Paris soundscape) as well as optional English subtitles. Eight minutes of deleted scenes includes a short conclusion to the sequence with Eva Mendes, but the major extra is an hour long conversation with Carax at the Festival del Film Locarno in which he gives some fairly straightforward and succinct responses to some pretentious and multi-part questions (although there is an apt question about the parallel themes of Carax's film and the simultaneously-released Cronenberg's COSMOPOLIS).

- Eric Cotenas

Menus

Artificial Eye - Region 2 - PAL LEFT vs. Indomina - Region 'A' - Blu-ray RIGHT