Donbass Blu-ray - Sergei Loznitsa

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(aka "Donbass")

In the Donbass, a region of Eastern Ukraine, a hybrid war takes place, involving an open armed conflict alongside killings and robberies on a mass scale perpetrated by separatist gangs. A journey through the Donbass unfolds as a chain of curious adventures, where the grotesque and drama are as intertwined as life and death. This is not a tale of one region, one country or one political system. It is about a world, lost in post-truth and fake identities. It is about each and every one of us.

From acclaimed Ukrainian director Sergei Loznitsa (My Joy, A Gentle Creature), Donbass is a unique take on one of the most disturbing and threatening of contemporary conflicts, a grotesque tour de force, brilliantly, if harrowingly, imaging with stunning cinematography courtesy of Oleg Mutu (4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days).

***

In the historic Donbass region of eastern Ukraine, despite the cruel war that has been raging since 2014 between the self-proclaimed People's Republics of Donetsk and Luhansk and the Ukrainian government, people tries to survive in the rotten heart of chaos, where violence disguises itself as peace, propaganda becomes univocal truth and hatred reigns in the name of love.

Posters

Theatrical Release: May 9th, 2018 (Cannes Film Festival)

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Review: Eureka (Montage Pictures) - Region 'B' - Blu-ray

Box Cover		CLICK to order from:
Compliance Statement:	"Gary Tooze is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon."
Distribution	Eureka (Montage Pictures) - Region 'B' - Blu-ray
Runtime	2:01:35.246
Video	2,35:1 1080P Dual-layered Blu-ray Disc Size: 38,690,182,655 bytes Feature: 37,183,819,776 bytes Video Bitrate: 34.99 Mbps Codec: MPEG-4 AVC Video
	NOTE: The Vertical axis represents the bits transferred per second. The Horizontal is the time in minutes.
Bitrate Blu-ray:
Audio	DTS-HD Master Audio English 1984 kbps 5.1 / 48 kHz / 1984 kbps / 16-bit (DTS Core: 5.1 / 48 kHz / 1509 kbps / 16-bit) LPCM Audio English 1536 kbps 2.0 / 48 kHz / 1536 kbps / 16-bit
Subtitles	English, None
Features	Release Information: Studio: Eureka (Montage Pictures) 2,35:1 1080P Dual-layered Blu-ray Disc Size: 38,690,182,655 bytes Feature: 37,183,819,776 bytes Video Bitrate: 34.99 Mbps Codec: MPEG-4 AVC Video Edition Details: • Trailer (01:51) • PLUS: A collector's booklet featuring a new essay by film writer Jason Wood Blu-ray Release Date: June 24th, 2019 Transparent Blu-ray Case Chapters 12

Comments:

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

ADDITION: Eureka (Montage Pictures) Blu-ray (October 2020): Eureka (via Montage Pictures) present director Sergei Loznitsa's 2018 film "Donbass" on an all-new Blu-ray. The film is located on a dual-layered disc with a maxed-out bitrate. The typically handheld cinematography (courtesy of Oleg Mutu who lensed the equally bleak "4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days") benefits from a nice amount of detail to the digital image. The film has documentary (and mockumentary) style that benefits from the 'embedded journalist' free camera movement. Colors seem to be appropriately dreary and cold during the exterior shots, falling in line with the film's themes.

Donbass is presented with the option of either an uncompressed 2.0 linear PCM audio track (in 16-bit), or a lossless DTS-HD Master audio 5.1 (16-bit as well) with some modest, yet effective separation in the various channels. Regardless of which track you choose, the vérité-styled audio is well represented. There are optional English subtitles on this Region 'B' Blu-ray from Eureka (Montage Pictures).

The only extra on the disc itself is the film's trailer. Though not available to us at the time of this writing, there is also a booklet included in the packaging featuring a new essay by film writer Jason Wood.

Ukrainian director Sergei Loznitsa won the directing prize (Un Certain Regard) at the 2018 Cannes Film Festival for this unique take on the devastating conflict in Ukraine. Though some may find the dark humor off-putting, the manufactured 'fake news' is all too timely, and once you get past the rather acerbic wit, the film implicitly asks some pretty dark and thoughtful questions. After "My Joy", and "A Gentle Creature", director Loznitsa's body of work is something cinephiles should keep their eyes on.

Colin Zavitz

Menus / Extras

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

Box Cover

CLICK to order from:

Compliance Statement:

"Gary Tooze is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon."

Distribution

Eureka (Montage Pictures) - Region 'B' - Blu-ray

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