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

ADDITION: Kino Blu-ray (March 2020): Kino have transferred Giuseppe Tornatore's A Pure Formality to Blu-ray. Unfortunately, the 1080P has some DNR. It can be unnaturally soft, losing texture, but I wouldn't say it was the most egregious that I've seen. The HD presentation still has some good detail in close-ups but certain scenes reek of digitization. It looks more like it was on the D1 source. Colors have a paleness but despite these weaknesses the video is not fatal in that it is not very watchable. I thought it was but had some disappointment at the waxiness. There are heavy speckles in the opening credits and some frame-specific damage in the final two minutes (see sample below) - otherwise it is very clean.

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On their Blu-ray, Kino use a DTS-HD Master 2.0 channel track (16-bit) in the original French language. The film has a lot of rain (almost constant) and some aggression but notable is the score by Ennio Morricone (The Great Silence, Luna, A Bullet for the General, Tie Me Up! Tie Me Down!, Investigation of a Citizen Above Suspicion, U Turn, Stay As You Are etc. etc.)  sounding a bit deeper with more consistent dialogue. Kino offer optional English subtitles on their Region 'A' Blu-ray.

The Kino Blu-ray has a new audio commentary by Journalist and author Bryan Reesman (Rock Stars at Home) and he jumps right in discussing how Tornatore can be an acquired taste, meta-physical questions that arise from his viewing, the fact the clock has no hands and the phone lines are always busy, split diopter shots, utilization of the color blue, and he spends quite a lot of time on memory and how inefficient it can be, hallucinations, how A Pure Formality did poorly at the box-office in the US... I liked his analysis, referencing many other films. It was nice to hear him again (enjoyed his previous commentaries on The Deadly Trap, The Andromeda Strain and video essay on The Quiet Earth.) There are also some trailers but none for the film.

A Pure Formality was fascinating. It comes across as a mysterious detective-murder-thriller but reminded me, in its conclusion, of the 2003 film Identity - which I also really liked. I also saw signs of Polanski's own Death and the Maiden, as well. Giuseppe Tornatore crafted a immersive film experience - one that I am still trying to get my head around - regarding the ending. The Kino Blu-ray is imperfect but has a commentary and the film remains a must-see, imo.

Gary Tooze