Review by Gary Tooze

Production:

Disc:

Video:

Audio:

• Towards the Moon with Fellini, a rarely seen hour-long documentary on the film's production, featuring interviews with Fellini, Roberto Benigni and Paolo Villagio (59:33)
• Felliniana Archive
• Reversible sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Peter Strain
• FIRST PRESSING ONLY: Illustrated collector s booklet featuring new writing on the film by Pasquale Iannone

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Description: The swansong of the great Italian filmmaker Federico Fellini (La dolce vita, 8½), The Voice of the Moon emerged without fanfare: it played the Cannes Film Festival out of competition after its Italian premiere and failed to secure distribution in North America and the UK. This new restoration from the original negative seeks to right that wrong and provide the film with a second chance...

Adapted from a novel by Ermano Cavazzoni, The Voice of the Moon concerns itself with Ivo Salvini (Roberto Benigni, Life Is Beautiful), recently released from a mental hospital and in love with Aldini (Nadia Ottaviani). As he attempts to win her heart, he wanders a strange, dreamlike landscape and encounters various oddball characters, including Gonnella (Paolo Villagio, Fantozzi), a paranoid old man prone to conspiracy theories.

Concluding a career that had stretched back more than fifty years, The Voice of the Moon combines the nostalgia of Amarcord (the film is set in Emilia-Romagna countryside of the director s youth), the surreal satire of City of Women and the naïf-adrift-in-a-brutal-world structure of La strada. Plenty for Fellini fans to get their teeth into.

 

 

The Film:

Excerpt from therLastExit located HERE

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

This is the another Arrow Blu-ray release that is being simultaneously released in both region 'A' (US) and 'B' (UK). It is the exact same package on both sides of the pond to the best of our knowledge.

NOTE: As Michael Brooke informed us on Facebook in regards to Day of Anger: 'As the producer of Arrow's release, I can confirm first hand that the UK and US discs are absolutely identical: we only paid for one master, so there's no doubt about this at all! Which means that no matter which package you buy, the discs will play in any Region A or B setup (or Region 1 or 2 for DVD - and in the latter case the video standard is NTSC, to maximise compatibility). The booklets are also identical, but there are minor cosmetic differences on the disc labels and sleeve to do with differing copyright info and barcodes, and the US release doesn't have BBFC logos.' The Voice of the Moon is the same situation.

The Voice of the Moon on Blu-ray is advertised as "Brand new 2K restoration from original film elements, produced by Arrow Films exclusively for this release".  It is dual-layered with a very high bitrate for the 2 hour feature. Colors are rich and there are some wonderfully consistent textures supporting the presentation. The 1080P reproduces solid contrast exhibiting healthy, black levels and some pleasing depth in the 1.66:1 frame.  It's very clean with no noticeable damage. There is no noise in the many dark sequences. This Blu-ray provides a remarkably strong video presentation.

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

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Audio is transferred via a faithful linear PCM mono track at 2304 kbps (24-bit) in the original Italian with some brief Japanese. Post Dubbing has the usual sync miscues. There are a few effects - and a pleasant score by Nicola Piovani's (The Perfume of the Lady in Black, Night of the Shooting Stars, Footprints) that sounds clean and tight exporting some Fellini-esque life-affirming atmosphere. The overall audio is flat with a tight high end but probably fully authentic. There are optional English subtitles for both Italian and English audio versions. My Oppo has identified it as being a region 'A' + 'B'.

Extras :

Towards the Moon is Eugenio Cappuccio's 2006, hour-long documentary described as a "rare, comical and up-close behind-the-scenes look at the late Italian director Federico Fellini, as he directs his last film, "La Voce Della Luna". It has footage of Fellini, Giulietta Masina, Benigni, Christina Engelhardt, Paolo Villaggio and others. It is in HD - Italian with yellow English subtitles. There is also a 'Felliniana Archive' gallery, the package has a reversible sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Peter Strain and an illustrated collector s booklet featuring new writing on the film by Pasquale Iannone.

 

BOTTOM LINE:
I enjoyed The Voice of the Moon! It's more of Fellini's eccentric characters, absurd humor and fun situations. It's a pleasure to watch such happiness and celebration of life. The Arrow Blu-ray provides an excellent a/v presentation and a valuable supplement. His last effort, and while not his premium work, deserves its audience and fans should have it in their collection! Thanks Arrow for bringing this to Blu-ray! 

Gary Tooze

October 26th, 2016