Kusturica's WHEN FATHER WAS AWAY... and DO YOU REMEMBER DOLLY BELL? Mini DVD Reviews
04-28-05, 10:04 AM
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Kusturica's WHEN FATHER WAS AWAY... and DO YOU REMEMBER DOLLY BELL? Mini DVD Reviews
I've been waiting eagerly for any DVD releases of Emir Kusturica's movies with English subtitles. The only ones left that need DVD releases with English subtitles are TIME OF THE GYPSIES and LIFE IS A MIRACLE. But for now, I was happy to pick up Kustirica's first two movies on Region 1 DVD, WHEN FATHER WAS AWAY ON BUSINESS and DO YOU REMEMEMBER DOLLY BELL?
I've only watched all the extras and the first 20 minutes of both flicks to get a sense of the video and audio quality. I'll watch the flicks sometime this weekend...
DO YOU REMEMEMBER DOLLY BELL?
This DVD has anamorphic video, Yugoslavian stereo & Dolby Digital 5.1 audio, and only English subtitles.
The anamorphic video is fair with grainyness and spots/lines all over the video, but it's a lot better than a VHS copy.
The audio is a mixed bag - the original stereo sounds a lot better than the DD 5.1, because the DD 5.1 is mixed so that everything is coming out of each speaker (front and back) equally. So it's sort of distracting hearing the dialogue from behind the viewer. The bass is nice, but to avoid the distracting DD 5.1 coming from behind the viewer, I recommend turning the volume much lower than usual. If that doesn't help and still distracts, then just listen to the stereo.
The English subtitles are excellent and easy to read.
The extras are just an interview with Emir, a photo gallery, and 10 or so trailers of other foreign flicks.
NOTE: on my copy, I couldn't directly play the movie from the PLAY button. I had to go to the SCENES section and just click on the first scene to get the movie started.
Video: 7
Audio: 6
Extras: 3
WHEN FATHER WAS AWAY ON BUSINESS
This DVD has letterboxed non-anamorphic video, Yugoslavian stereo & Dolby Digital 5.1, and only English subtitles.
I rarely buy non-anamorphic dvds anymore and I was worried that the video quality would be worse on this dvd, but surprisingly the letterboxed non-anamorphic video is better than I expected. If you just zoom in a bit and up a bit (to get the subtitles in), the image still matches DOLLY BELL's anamorphic image. But it still has it's fair share of graininess, lines, spots all over the place just as with the DOLLY BELL DVD. 10 times better than a VHS copy at least.
The audio has the same situation as with DOLLY BELL.
The subtitles are excellent and easy to read, and are not huge or blocking the image if you zoom the image in to fill your HDTV.
The extras are an interview with Emir (a different one) with the sound impossible to hear. Ya gotta crank it to hear this one. And a bunch of the same foreign movie trailers as on DOLLY BELL dvd, and photo gallery.
Video: 7
Audio: 6
Extras: 3
OVERALL: Im glad these movies are finally on DVD. It would have been nice if the quality control did a better job with the different audio problems on both dvds. But overall, it's a good enough DVD video presentation for two old Yugoslavian flicks. Im probably biased because it's a pain in the ass to get Emir Kusturica movies on DVD. (Arizona Dream imported from France, Black Cat White Cat imported from Australia, my first DVD copy of Underground was imported from Australia)
I've only watched all the extras and the first 20 minutes of both flicks to get a sense of the video and audio quality. I'll watch the flicks sometime this weekend...
DO YOU REMEMEMBER DOLLY BELL?
This DVD has anamorphic video, Yugoslavian stereo & Dolby Digital 5.1 audio, and only English subtitles.
The anamorphic video is fair with grainyness and spots/lines all over the video, but it's a lot better than a VHS copy.
The audio is a mixed bag - the original stereo sounds a lot better than the DD 5.1, because the DD 5.1 is mixed so that everything is coming out of each speaker (front and back) equally. So it's sort of distracting hearing the dialogue from behind the viewer. The bass is nice, but to avoid the distracting DD 5.1 coming from behind the viewer, I recommend turning the volume much lower than usual. If that doesn't help and still distracts, then just listen to the stereo.
The English subtitles are excellent and easy to read.
The extras are just an interview with Emir, a photo gallery, and 10 or so trailers of other foreign flicks.
NOTE: on my copy, I couldn't directly play the movie from the PLAY button. I had to go to the SCENES section and just click on the first scene to get the movie started.
Video: 7
Audio: 6
Extras: 3
WHEN FATHER WAS AWAY ON BUSINESS
This DVD has letterboxed non-anamorphic video, Yugoslavian stereo & Dolby Digital 5.1, and only English subtitles.
I rarely buy non-anamorphic dvds anymore and I was worried that the video quality would be worse on this dvd, but surprisingly the letterboxed non-anamorphic video is better than I expected. If you just zoom in a bit and up a bit (to get the subtitles in), the image still matches DOLLY BELL's anamorphic image. But it still has it's fair share of graininess, lines, spots all over the place just as with the DOLLY BELL DVD. 10 times better than a VHS copy at least.
The audio has the same situation as with DOLLY BELL.
The subtitles are excellent and easy to read, and are not huge or blocking the image if you zoom the image in to fill your HDTV.
The extras are an interview with Emir (a different one) with the sound impossible to hear. Ya gotta crank it to hear this one. And a bunch of the same foreign movie trailers as on DOLLY BELL dvd, and photo gallery.
Video: 7
Audio: 6
Extras: 3
OVERALL: Im glad these movies are finally on DVD. It would have been nice if the quality control did a better job with the different audio problems on both dvds. But overall, it's a good enough DVD video presentation for two old Yugoslavian flicks. Im probably biased because it's a pain in the ass to get Emir Kusturica movies on DVD. (Arizona Dream imported from France, Black Cat White Cat imported from Australia, my first DVD copy of Underground was imported from Australia)
Last edited by toddly6666; 04-28-05 at 10:08 AM.
04-30-05, 12:54 AM
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Thank you for the mini-reviews. Rather sad news...yet again.
Life is a miracle...is coming later this Fall in the UK (to be released by Artificial Eye)
Pro-B
Life is a miracle...is coming later this Fall in the UK (to be released by Artificial Eye)
Pro-B
05-02-05, 03:33 PM
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That's good news about the LIFE IS A MIRACLE DVD coming out in the UK. His movies are just so bizarre when it comes to DVD companies getting rights to his flicks - they just seem to randomly pop up in different countries...
