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

 

ADDITION: Kino - Region 'A' Blu-ray - June 2018: Kino's 1080P has no discernable difference in the screen captures below but it has a slightly lower bitrate and the AE may looks marginally superior in-motion depending on your system. It looks great on my system - expressive visuals - kudos to DoP Mikhail Krichman.

 

Audio leans to Kino with the 24-bit lossless options of stereo and surround in the original Russian. This may be notable for some in a richer expression of Andrey Dergachev's beautiful score - an important part of the presentation. Kino include optional English subtitles (slightly different translation at times - see below) and their Blu-ray disc is Region 'A'-locked.

 

Supplements are also very similar to the UK package with the 24-minute 'Making of' but a different, shorter, but newer, interview with director Andrei Zvyagintsev plus a trailer for the film and two other works (Elena, The Return).

 

Such an impressive, impacting film - shades or Tarkovsky - simply owing one of these Blu-ray editions is essential for world cinephiles.

Gary Tooze

 

***

Artificial Eye give us Andrey Zvyagintsev's second film, "The Banishment" on Blu-ray. The 1080P transfer is on a dual-layered disc with a high bitrate. The image is very detailed and the color scheme reminds me of the muted pastels often favored by Andrei Tarkovsky. Film grain is prevalent and supports the presentation well. The sumptuous cinematography by Mikhail Krichman looks fabulous in HD.

The Curzon Artificial Eye Blu-ray has the option of a DTS-HD Master 5.1 surround audio track (16-bit) or a linear PCM Stereo track (24-bit) - both in the original Russian language. There are many scenes of quiet atmospheric effects in the film, presented here faithfully. The score by Andrey Dergachev (frequent collaborator with Zvyaginstev, having worked on Leviathan, Loveless and The Return) is a wonderful addition to the film, not to mention "Für Alina" by Estonian composer Arvo Pärt. There are optional English subtitles (see sample) offered on Artificial Eye's Region 'B' Blu-ray.

Curzon Artificial Eye give us extras that are very worth your while. First up is a 23-minute 'making of' featurette that gives a good look at the production of the film. Next up is an 18-minute interview with director Andrei Zvyagintsev where he talks about how he got into filmmaking, as well as detailing the work that went into making this film. Both the 'making of' and the interview are in Russian with English subtitles.

Following up his impressive debut film, The Return, director Andrei Zvyaginstev proves himself to be more than a one-trick-pony. Though probably most noted for his upcoming works "Leviathan" and "Loveless", it is not hard to see that his films were masterful from the start. Though obviously being influenced by Tarkovsky and Antonioni, Zvyaginstev is still unique in his field. Highly recommend this film to anyone that is interested.    

Colin Zavitz