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

ADDITION: Second Run Blu-ray (April 2020): Second Run have transferred Denis Côté's Curling to Blu-ray. It is cited as being from a "a brand new HD transfer of the film, approved by the director". It can look a bit pale, but I assume that is an accurate representation on a dual-layered disc with a max'ed out bitrate. Some of the close-ups show impressive detail. It's a shade grey, dull blue leaning but that too may be an accurately 'cold' look.

On their Blu-ray, Second Run offer both a DTS-HD Master 5.1 surround track or a 2.0 channel stereo linear PCM mono track (both 16-bit) in the original French (Quebecois) language. It's a modest production without a ton of separation. There is some music; I Think We're Alone Now sung by Tiffany, Two of Hearts by Stacey and "Hennin Hardine" Jucifer (Amber Valentine, Edgar Livengood). The latter rocking you into reality with the closing credits. Second Run offer optional English subtitles on their Region FREE Blu-ray.

The Second Run Blu-ray offers a new 25-minute interview with director Denis Côté. It is in English and he talks about his passion for film. He talks about growing up in the 80's and the proliferation of videos - liking Fulci and color cinema of Argento, Hitchcock's The Man Who Knew Too Much etc. he describes that Curling comes out of his 2008 film "All That She Wants". He is interesting. We also get his 1/4 hour short film, May We Sleep Soundly (Que nous nous assoupissions) from 2015. It is creepy as heck and described as "Winter persists. Something happened. At the heart of the woods, on the slopes of mountains, in the streets and even inside homes, a strange silence took up residence. Will there remain a soul to witness the recent event?" on IMDb. There is also a liner notes booklet featuring writing by film critic Adam Nayman and Robert McSorley, Executive Director of the Canadian Film Institute.

Firstly, where have I been? I'm Canadian and knew nothing about Denis Côté's Curling . It's damn interesting - with themes akin to Nicholas Ray. I am still trying to get my head around it. What we have is definitely provocative cinema. Another amazing choice for Second Run to bring to Blu-ray. I'm going to have to watch this again - it has such a comfortable flow - with unintentional humor. Impressive stuff. Nice to hear from the director and see his creepy short as well. Recommended!

P.S. After finishing the review, I see that Eric covered the DVD of 'Curling' HERE. I should have compared but it's easy to see the improvement of the Blu-ray presentation.

Gary Tooze