Eric Cotenas

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Film Movement

Region 1 - NTSC

2.41:1 Original Aspect Ratio

16X9 enhanced
Average Bitrate: 6.43 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.

Aspect Ratio:
Widescreen anamorphic - 2.41:1

Edition Details:
• Interview with directors Fabio Grassadonia and Antonio Piazza (16:9; 15:49)
• Interview with actress Sara Serraiocco (16:9; 4:03)
• Backstage Featurette (16:9; 19:39)
• Biographies for Fabio Grassadonia and Antonio Piazza, Saleh Bakri, and Sara Serraiocco
• Theatrical Trailer (16:9; 1:21)
• Bonus Fabio Grassadonia and Antonio Piazza short film 'Rita' (16:9; 20:05)
• Film Movement Trailers

DVD Release Date:January 6th, 2015
Amaray

Chapters 12

Film Movement's dual-layer, progressive, anamorphic widescreen transfer sports crisp detail in close-up and somewhat less in longer shots (the film was shot using the 35mm Aaton Penelope camera which is capable of shooting 3-perf 16:9 or 2-perf scope with spherical lenses in the style of the Techniscope non-anamorphic format) with minor edge enhancement. The image is deliberately sun-baked (given the summer Palermo setting) with harsh contrasts and almost bleached highlights. The Dolby Digital 5.1 track is restrained with almost no music (apart from a song heard repeatedly on the radio), but the sound design is very subtle and detailed (with live audio and additional sound elements recorded by Michael Haneke's sound recordist of choice Guillaume Sciama). Translation is provided courtesy of both optional English subtitles and closed-captioning.

Extras start off with an interview with the two writer/directors who discuss their choice of their birthplace of Palermo as a setting and trying to look at it with critical eyes, its relation to their earlier short RITA - also included on the disc as an extra - and trying to create the POV of someone who cannot see, the film's sound design (which included which of the few lines spoken by Salvo they would actually use), as well as the film's casting. Also interviewed is actress Serraiocco who discusses having to research playing a blind character for her very first film role (which included a lot of interaction with the film's cinematographer). These are presumably the same interviews that appeared on the Italian release from Koch Media (which also included interviews with actors Bakri and Lo Cascio).

The "Scenes from the Set" segment is just a collection of behind the scenes video without commentary (just remarks and directions picked up by the camera and translated with English subtitles). We see the camera rigs, how the sets look before the color grading, rehearsals and the shooting of scenes, as well as script excerpts (which have been translated into English). The disc also includes a trailer for the film and six other Film Movement titles (including Italy's submission for this year's Oscars: HUMAN CAPITAL which has not yet been released here on disc).

  - Eric Cotenas

CLICK to order from:

Film Movement

Region 1 - NTSC