Garibaldi's Lovers - Alba Rohrwacher

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

(aka "Il comandante e la cicogna" or "The Commander and the Stork")

directed by Silvio Soldini
Italy/Switzerland/France 2012

GARIBALDI'S LOVERS - also known as THE COMMANDER AND THE STORK - reflects on state of modern day Italy one hundred and fifty years after unification from the point of view of a statue of Giuseppe Garibaldi from his perch on Janiculum hill watching the comings and goings of an ensemble of characters whose three stories eventually intertwine. Widowed plumber Leone (Valerio Mastandrea, THE FIRST BEAUTIFUL THING) works night and day to pay off the debts on his late wife Teresa's (Claudia Gerini, THE UNKNOWN WOMAN) - who turns up every night at 4 A.M. to rehash the day with him - salon while trying to raise his two temperamental children: moody Maddelena (Serena Pintucci) and Elia (Luca Dirodi). Struggling artist Diana (Alba Rohrwacher, I AM LOVE) is behind in her rent because her wealthy client has been arrested for embezzling, and her grumpy landlord - Amanzio (Giuseppe Battiston, DAYS AND CLOUDS), who encounters much violent opposition when he lectures passersby on the ways in which they contribute to the nation's aesthetic and moral downfall - threatens to rent out her apartment. When Diana goes to her client's lawyer Malafanno (Luca Zingaretti, MY BROTHER IS AN ONLY CHILD) to get her money, she winds up being hired to paint a vulgar mural in his office, and Leone meets her by becoming embroiled in a property scheme with Malafanno when he consults the lawyer about a video his daughter's boyfriend has posted of her in flagrante delicto. Elia forms a friendship with Armanzo after they meet while Elia is stealing frogs legs for his pet stork Agostina and whiel Armanzo is attempting to re-claim expired food from the grocery store. A climax involving a political corruption, private investigators, and a trip to Switzerland bring the principal characters together and leads to new discoveries and beginnings.

Eric Cotenas

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Theatrical Release: 18 October 2012 (Italy)

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DVD Review: Film Movement - Region 1 - NTSC

Big thanks to Eric Cotenas for the Review!

DVD Box Cover		CLICK to order from:
Distribution	Film Movement Region 1 - NTSC
Runtime	1:49:16
Video	2.34:1 Original Aspect Ratio 16X9 enhanced Average Bitrate: 7.1 mb/s NTSC 720x480 29.97 f/s
	NOTE: The Vertical axis represents the bits transferred per second. The Horizontal is the time in minutes.
Bitrate
Audio	Italian Dolby Digital 5.1; Italian Dolby Digital 2.0 stereo
Subtitles	English, none
Features	Release Information: Studio: Film Movement Aspect Ratio: Widescreen anamorphic - 2.34:1 Edition Details: • Biographies • Theatrical Trailer (16:9; 2:14) • Anete Melece short film 'Kiosk' (16:9; 7:01) • Trailers for 'Shun Li and the Poet', 'Come Undone', 'Days & Clouds', 'The Day I Saw Your Heart', • 'Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow?', and 'The Deflowering of Eva Van End' • About Film Movement DVD Release Date: January 21st, 2014 Amaray Chapters 12

Comments

Film Movement's dual-layer, progressive, anamorphic DVD offers a good rendition of this Arri Alexa-photographed/35mm-printed film free of edge enhancement or compression artifacts apart from some faint banding in the darker scenes (although this may be a limitation of the original capturing or an effect of the color correction). The Italian Dolby Digital 5.1 track (and 2.0 downmix) emphasizes the city atmosphere with only occasional gimmicky sound effects related to a handful of visual effects and sight gags. The optional English subtitles are error-free, although the master does not seem to have been made for export since some Chinese dialogue is presented with optical Italian subtitles (the English subtitle translation appears on top of the frame in these scenes).

Apart from a cast/crew text biographies, the only extras related to the film are the its theatrical trailer and paragraphs on the reverse of the cover that state why Film Movement selected the film as well as an excerpt from an interview with the director. The disc also includes a short Swiss film (GARIBALDI'S LOVERS is a Swiss co-production) and six trailers for other releases including two of Soldini's other films (the first three trailers also appear as start-up trailers upon loading the disc).

- Eric Cotenas

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