Review by Gary Tooze

 

Production:

Theatrical: Dogwood Films

Video: Studio Canal / Broadgreen

 

Disc:

Region: 'B'-locked / Region 'A' (as verified by the Oppo Blu-ray player)

Runtime: 1:58:10.913  / 1:58:20.343

Disc Size: 46,177,238,947 bytes / 45,430,414,067 bytes

Chapters: 12 / 24

Case: Standard Blu-ray case

Release date: January 14th, 2016 / June 21st, 2016

 

Video (both):

Aspect ratio: 2.35:1

Resolution: 1080p / 23.976 fps

Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC Video

 

Audio:

DTS-HD Master Audio English 5.1
DUB:

DTS-HD Master Audio German 5.1

DTS-HD Master Audio English 3175 kbps 5.1 / 48 kHz / 3175 kbps / 24-bit (DTS Core: 5.1 / 48 kHz / 1509 kbps / 24-bit)
DUB:

DTS Audio Spanish 768 kbps 5.1 / 48 kHz / 768 kbps / 24-bit

 

Subtitles:

English (SDH), German, none
English (SDH), Spanish, none

 

Extras:

• Press Conference Berlin Film Festival 2015 (34:38)
• Red Carpet Interviews (2:39)
• Featurette (3:23)
More extras, when choosing the German menu page (in German language):
• Trailer (04:08)
• Trailer (02:18)
• Trailer Reel

 

Making of (16:02)

Also from Broadgreen (25:48)

 

 

 

Description: Hollywood - the city of dreams: The successful author Rick is looking for the deeper meaning of life and for true love. He is lost in a world of illusion, plunging into extravagant parties and cavorting with a variety of women including a Doctor, Nancy, with whom he was once married, the model Helen, whose beauty captivates him, the stripper Karen and finally Isabel, which might bring him closer to the truth that is evading him.

 

 

The Film:

Festival badgeholders queued up more than an hour in advance, even though the film was playing in the largest venue, the Berlinale Palast, which seats a zillion, or something like that. Expectations were high, as they always are with Malick, and even though I count myself as a skeptic, I had some rather positive — if complicated — feelings about the director’s last movie, To the Wonder, a story of fractured couplehood starring Ben Affleck and Olga Kurylenko. While the picture featured way too much ballerina-twirling on Kurylenko’s part — what is it with Malick and twirling women? — I found its slightly raggedy (for Malick), scrapbook feel refreshing. I wondered if the picture might be pointing in a new direction for Malick, away from movies that take five or ten or more years to get off the ground. To me, Malick’s pictures feel worried into a state of being rather than simply made, layered with so much visual and meaning-of-life obsessiveness that they render human actors practically unnecessary.

Excerpt from The Village Voice located HERE

 

Malick's style remains the same; by this point, it should be familiar to us all. The camera stays nimble and low, circling the actors and pushing in close, all while staring up at them in low-angled awe. Conventional scene structures and dialogue exchanges are altogether left out; replaced with glimpses of interactions began in media res and whispered voiceovers of feelings and thoughts. In the Malickverse (assisted by phenomenal DP Emmanuel Lubezki) every hour is magic hour. Like I said - you know how it is.

Excerpt from Twitch  located HERE

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

When you put in the disc, you get a choice between UNITED KINGDOM, and GERMANY, so I presume that this is physically the same Studio Canal disc, that later arrives in the UK market. When choosing to German menu pages, there’s some more extras, than the UK menu pages(trailers).

The HD image quality is excellent. According to IMDb, is partly shot on a 65 mm, and 35 mm film stock, as well as Digital 4K, using Arri Alexa, GoPro and Red Epic cameras. Visually impressive in 1080P as all Malick films are - it's quite beautiful.

 

The North American release is a similarly strong transfer - dual-layered with a high bitrate. It shows the strengths and weaknesses (this is HOW the film looks) of HD cam productions.

 

CLICK EACH BLU-RAY CAPTURE TO SEE ALL IMAGES IN FULL 1920X1080 RESOLUTION

1) Studio Canal - Region 'B' - Blu-ray - TOP 2) Broadgreen - Region 'A' - Blu-ray - BOTTOM

1) Studio Canal - Region 'B' - Blu-ray - TOP 2) Broadgreen - Region 'A' - Blu-ray - BOTTOM

1) Studio Canal - Region 'B' - Blu-ray - TOP 2) Broadgreen - Region 'A' - Blu-ray - BOTTOM

1) Studio Canal - Region 'B' - Blu-ray - TOP 2) Broadgreen - Region 'A' - Blu-ray - BOTTOM

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Audio :

Like The Tree of Life  King of Cups starts with this screen:

 

 

So I did, and spent two haunting hours falling into a sublime dream state. It’s masterly shot by Emmanuel Lubezki, and with the score by Hanan Townshend, To the Wonder among his other excellent sound work, it keeps you hoping that the film would never end.

There’s very little straight dialog in the film. Terrence Malick has used a narrator (Ben Kingsley), voice-over, music and environment sounds to make everything floating in it’s own direction. According to IMDB, the main actors spent more days on the voice-over work for the movie than they did on the actual shooting of the film.

I heard twice a silent crack on the right channel, that I don’t know if it’s intentional, or an authoring error (like an old LP record). It’s like there was sound missing from a frame or two. It’s not big deal. There are optional English (SDH) and German subtitles and it as being a region 'B'-locked.

 

Similar DTS-HD Master - with an optional Spanish DUB. It has English and Spanish subtitles and is region 'A'-locked.

 

 

Extras :

The extra material doesn't directly relate to the film. It is mostly commercial nonsense, but perhaps Malick wanted the film's expression to stand on its own merit.

 

Only a Making of... but it's good with input from the actors. I liked it.

 

Studio Canal - Region 'B' - Blu-ray

 

 

Broadgreen - Region 'A' - Blu-ray

 

 

BOTTOM LINE:
The structure resembles of Malick’s two latest films, The Tree of Life, and To the Wonder. You don’t need to understand everything, you only need to feel the film, and get your mind into absorbing it's essence.  It's a solid Blu-ray - great a/v and the director's fans should indulge and drink deeply of his impressive cinematic vision.

 

Great to finally see the film - pure, evocative, stimulation for your retinas and eardrums. Don't hesitate if you are fans of Malick. Great price. 

Per-Olof Strandberg

February 16th, 2016

June 19th, 2016

 

 

Studio Canal in the UK are releasing their Blu-ray - August 22nd, 2016: