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(aka "Paradise: Love" or "Paradies: Liebe" or "Paradis: Amour")

 

directed by Ulrich Seidl
Austria/Germany/France 2012

 

In the first entry of the "Paradise Trilogy" by Ulrich Seidl (IMPORT/EXPORT), PARADISE: LOVE looks at Kenya's sexual tourism trade through the eyes of fifty-year-old Austrian nurse Teresa (Margarete Tiesel) who is looking for love among men looking for "Sugar Mamas". Leaving her teenage daughter, cat, and a laundry list of instructions with her sister, Teresa joins her friend Inge (Inge Maux) at a Kenyan resort. Inge is a regular guest at the resort and has an ongoing relationship as a "Sugar Mama" for a young man (she considers the motorbike she purchased for him as "an investment"). In between taking iPhone snaps of picturesque vistas, camels, monkeys, and the local poor (and later her lover's genitals), Teresa is quickly overwhelmed by the very forward young local men trying to sell her trinkets as well as the ones immediately professing love for her. Munga (Peter Kazungu) seems different initially, taking her to his apartment, introducing her to his sister and her sick child, and the local school (she gives them all cash and takes souvenir photos in return); but it soon becomes apparent that the money is an obligation in return for sexual favors, and Munga soon forgets any pretense of interest in her when she runs short of cash. Heartbroken and humiliated, Teresa returns to her hotel to new opportunities with local men (including one bought for her surprise birthday party). Even as she becomes as jaded and deplorable as her "Sugar Mama" friends, can financially-based physical gratification supplant her longing for genuine affection?

Eric Cotenas

Posters

Theatrical Release: 26 April 2013 (USA)

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DVD Review: Strand Releasing - Region 1 - NTSC

Big thanks to Eric Cotenas for the Review!

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Distribution

Strand Releasing

Region 1 - NTSC

Runtime 2:01:00
Video

1.85:1 Original Aspect Ratio

16X9 enhanced
Average Bitrate: ~8.0 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 German Dolby Digital 5.1
Subtitles English (burnt-in)
Features Release Information:
Studio: Strand Releasing

Aspect Ratio:
Widescreen anamorphic - 1.85:1

Edition Details:
• Theatrical Trailer (16:9; 1:57)
• Trailers for the other two films in the Paradise Trilogy
• Trailers for 'White Elephant', 'Post Tenebras Lux', 'In the Fog', and 'Yossi'

DVD Release Date: 6 August 2013
Amaray

Chapters 12

 

Comments

Strand Releasing's high-bitrate, dual-layer, progressive, anamorphic encoding of this Super 16mm-lensed production - released theatrically in DCinema and as a 35mm blow-up - sports no overt overt edge-enhancement (the lack of detail in some scenes seems to have more to do with the natural lighting including some skewed color temperatures than DNR or bad encoding), although I'm sure some of the more detail-intensive long shots would look stunning on Blu-ray. The Dolby Digital 5.1 track is restrained but has a better sense of environment than that of co-feature PARADISE: FAITH. The burnt-in English subtitles are error-free and attempt to make references more familiar to American viewers (when Teresa and Inga insultingly compare the face of the bartenders to the logo of a German food brand, the subtitles substitute Uncle Ben's Rice for the other brand). There are no extras other than a photo gallery, trailers for the entire trilogy and four other Strand titles.

  - Eric Cotenas

 


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DVD Box Cover

CLICK to order from:

 

 

Distribution

Strand Releasing

Region 1 - NTSC

 




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