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(aka "Inimi cicatrizate" or "Coeurs cicatrisés" or "Vernarbte Herzen")
directed by Radu Jude
Romania/Germany/Belgium/France 2016
Twenty-eight year old Manu (Lucian Teodor Rus) is taken to a sanitarium by his merchant father Alexandru Dabija, SHADOW OF A CLOUD) where Dr. Ceafalan (Serban Pavlu, THE DEATH OF MR. LAZARESCU) with "Pott's Disease" wherein his tuberculosis has eroded a bone in his spine, requiring him to undergo painful drainage of pus-filled fistulas and to remain bed-ridden in a body cast so as not to cause further fractures. He tries to mask his fears and entertain the doctor, staff, and his parents with shows of his intellect and storytelling. At first, he adapts a superior attitude over his more optomistic fellow patients, but soon discovers that his ward mates have found ways to enjoy themselves, and the attentions of former patient "Solange" (Ivana Mladenovic) encourage him more than ever to live life to the fullest from the confines of his bed. Director Radu Jade's follow-up to his Tarkovskian AFERIM!, SCARRED HEARTS is loosely based on the short life of Jewish-Romanian writer Emanuel "Max" Blecher (1909-1938), SCARRED HEARTS is an odd failure of a film. Told in extended long takes and long shots, the formal beauty of the compositions and production design are far more involving than the characters which the literally "distanced" approach prevents the viewer from really knowing and the performances equally difficult to assess. That would not be such a problem if the characters as depicted could be seen as extensions of Manu, but he is afforded little more emphasis beyond the visual and his character is most communicated through the interstitial text that appears between sequences. |
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Theatrical Release: 27 July 2018 (USA)
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DVD Review: Big World Pictures - Region 1 - NTSC
Big thanks to Eric Cotenas for the Review!
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Distribution |
Big World Pictures Region 1 - NTSC |
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Runtime | 2:21:25 | |
Video |
1.30:1 Original Aspect Ratio
16X9 enhanced |
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NOTE: The Vertical axis represents the bits transferred per second. The Horizontal is the time in minutes. |
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Bitrate |
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Audio | Romanian Dolby Digital 5.1; Romanian Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo | |
Subtitles | English (burnt-in) | |
Features |
Release Information: Studio: Big World Pictures Aspect Ratio:
Edition Details: Chapters 18 |
Comments |
Despite the film's length, Big World Pictures has given the pillarboxed fullscreen transfer of SCARRED HEARTS a low-bitrate, single-layer transfer. Due to the nature of the locked-down camera long take scenes, the encode is able to contend with the image in its broad strokes for the most part. I'd like to think that the a dual-layer presentation or a Blu-ray encode (afforded by Big World to the director's prior film AFERIM!) might have done more to draw the viewer in, but the film's entire approach is such that heightened detail might just distract the viewer with the detail of the production design and compositions rather than the uninvolving character interaction within the frame. Audio options include Dolby Digital 5.1 and 2.0 tracks which are pretty much the same given the film's sparse music and effects track while the burnt-in English subtitles are free of any glaring errors. The only extras are the film's trailer and trailers for two other films. |
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Screen Captures
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DVD Box Cover |
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CLICK to order from:
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Distribution |
Big World Pictures Region 1 - NTSC |