bkev said:
generalfrevious said:
I don't care. I have suffered more than any other human being in history. Pathe international has personally attacked me by this transfer. This is the end all be all of everything.
Wait. You're saying this and you have never seen this movie? The actual fuck is wrong with you?
I have no friends, no money, no future, and no help.
Plus, I don't have to see the movie to know if the picture will be bad. There is such a thing as "word of mouth" and online reviews.
Unfortunately the digital transfer itself has been processed within an inch of its life. It looks awful, and is easily one of the worst looking transfers Criterion has yet delivered on Blu-ray. Long shots are “acceptable” at best, but close-ups look horrendous. Films grain has been scrubbed out, losing just about all details in the process. Close-ups on Lacenaire are particularly laughable, the character now looking like a porcelain doll with tight curls, and its almost as though there’s a glare coming off his forehead at all times. Clothing lacks details and every costume comes off as though they're made from vinyl. There are no textures, fine patterns are almost scrubbed to oblivion, and things look like they’re consistently out of focus (though in fairness this could be a condition of the source material or how the film was shot.) Worst of the all the entire image looks severely flat, without any depth what-so-ever. There’s a note in the booklet which states that soft focus was used a lot throughout the film, and I’m sure this is the case, but the digital manipulation certainly didn’t help and makes the film look far softer than I’m sure was intended and the restoration demonstration included as a supplement further suggests this.
Contrast is different from the DVD, looking a little brighter, more silvery, so blacks come off grayer, but reading some items seem to suggest this is the intended look. But mixed in with the scrub-job that was done it creates an incredibly odd look where everything looks artificial and unnatural. Some sequences even look computer generated.