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Blu-Ray : Highly Recommended
Ranking:
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Release Date: February 16th, 2010 Movie Release Year: 2008

Revanche

Overview -

A gripping thriller and a tragic drama of nearly Greek proportions, Revanche is the stunning, Oscar-nominated international breakthrough of Austrian filmmaker Götz Spielmann. In a ragged section of Vienna, hardened ex-con Alex (the mesmerizing Johannes Krisch) works as an assistant in a brothel, where he falls for Ukrainian hooker Tamara. Their desperate plans for escape unexpectedly intersect with the lives of a rural cop and his seemingly content wife. With meticulous, elegant direction, Spielmann creates a tense, existential, and surprising portrait of vengeance and redemption, and a journey into the darkest forest of human nature, in which violence and beauty exist side by side.

OVERALL:
Highly Recommended
Rating Breakdown
STORY
VIDEO
AUDIO
SPECIAL FEATURES
Tech Specs & Release Details
Technical Specs:
BD-50
Video Resolution/Codec:
1080p/AVC MPEG 4
Length:
0
Aspect Ratio(s):
1.85:1
Audio Formats:
German/Russian: DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1
Subtitles/Captions:
English
Special Features:
"Revival of the Fittest" Essay by Armond White
Release Date:
February 16th, 2010

Storyline: Our Reviewer's Take

Ranking:

Alex (Johannes Krisch) is a loser. He's middle-aged, paunchy, and working as some kind of handyman in an Austrian brothel (he's the dude who stocks the towels and whatnot). He's in love with one of the prostitutes, a Ukrainian girl named Tamara (Irina Potapenko), who he also supplies with meager amounts of cocaine. Together, they talk about running away from it all, from the seedy and dangerous red light district where they both find themselves trapped. This talk of escapism intensifies after her pimp Konecny (Hanno Pöschl) wants her to move into a high-rise hotel that he controls, away from Alex.

Then Alex, the loser, has an idea: he'll rob a bank. Tamara protests. But Alex is bullheaded and his love for the young prostitute far outweighs common sense or moral responsibility. The robbery goes horribly wrong, and Alex is forced to hide out in the dusty country home of his grandfather Hausner (Hannes Thanheiser), whose wife recently died. I'm trying to tread lightly as to avoid spoilers, so bear with me, but in a twist of fate, the man Alex holds responsible for ruining his life (a young, idealistic police officer played by Andrea Lust) is living in the same town as his grandfather. Alex the loser wants revenge. I'm really hesitant to give any more away, and I think the description above can give you plenty to go on in terms of what the movie is ultimately about.

Given the recent spate of trashy, juvenile splatter-ific revenge fantasies unleashed in cinemas ('Law Abiding Citizen,' I'm looking in your direction), it's nice to see a deeply meditative film that is not, as the movie advertisements (and Beatrix Kiddo) call a 'roaring rampage of revenge.' Instead, unreasonably talented director Götz Spielmann is more interested in the transformation that goes on in the wake of loss, and the connection that can be made in the face of tragedy. Themes of guilt and redemption are wonderfully, thoughtfully explored. In other words, if you're looking for fiery bursts of arterial sprays, you might want to look elsewhere.

There are a number of striking things about 'Revanche,' an Academy Award nominee last year for Best Foreign Language Film. Watching the film, you get drawn into its world, one of rich characterization, deep introspection, and visual nuance. If I'm making the movie out to seem slow or boring, it's not. It's 100% gripping. I started the movie really late, saying to myself, "I'll finish it in the morning," except I couldn't. It was that great. I was riveted.

All of the performances in 'Revanche' are terrific, particularly Johannes Krisch in an electrifying lead. Just looking at the lines on Krisch's face you can understand the inner turmoil that simmers underneath. And I haven't even mentioned Usula Struass as the cop's troubled wife (who carries her own loss, having recently suffered a miscarriage) who gets involved with Alex in some deeply unexpected (but organic ways).

Writer-director Götz Spielmann directs the movie beautifully. It's not often that you find a film with a screenplay this tight that has the gorgeous visuals to match. The contrast between the city and the country works really well, with neon lights giving way to great green trees. The camera moves fluidly and naturally. It's just a sight to behold, like if Terrence Malick took over for Park Chan-wook for one of his "vengeance" movies.

If you're looking for blood-splattered savagery with the bare minimum of human emotion, then you should probably go elsewhere. If you're looking for a gorgeous, thoughtful, deeply meditative look at guilt, revenge, and redemption (not necessarily in that order), then you have come to the right place. 'Revanche' is a deeply affecting and wonderful little film. One of the best I've seen in a long while.

The Blu-ray: Vital Disc Stats

The 50GB disc plays automatically but halts at the main menu. It is Region "A" locked. As part of the Criterion collection, it's housed in the slightly chunkier plastic box and is spine #502.

Video Review

Ranking:

The MPEG-4 AVC 1080p transfer (upholding its original theatrical aspect ratio of 1.85:1) is nothing short of stunning. I think my eyes might have popped out of my head once or twice, even.

To quote from the accompanying booklet: "Approved by director Götz Spielmann, this new high-definition digital transfer was created from the Super 16mm color negative, which was scanned at 2K on a Northlight scanner and color graded on a Baselight EIGHT system."

If you're not really sure what that means, I can sum it up in one made-up word: Yowza. I mean that: Yowza. The picture looks gorgeous, without any detectable grain, scratches, pops, or anything else. Additionally, there are no buggy technical issues either, which means no alias, halos, crush, or noticeable DNR.

Where it counts it really excels: flesh tones look exceptional, colors are rendered vividly and realistically (with the colorful garishness of the city giving way to natural greens and browns of the countryside), and there are a couple of scenes where Alex is tromping through the woods in the middle of the night, in pitch blackness, with only his flashlight for illumination, that really stunned me. It appears that the flashlight alone illuminates the entire scene, and the blackness that surrounds him is so deep and bottomless that I could not believe my eyes. If you want to test out how well your television handles black levels, pop this baby in and watch those scenes. It's the new gold standard.

Audio Review

Ranking:

While not as gobsmacking, the German/Russian DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 is still quite a feat.

Again, according to the booklet: "The audio for this release was mastered at 24-bit from the original digital audio master files using Pro Tools HD." What this means is the track sounds really, really great. Dialogue and sound effects are both beautifully reproduced here.

This isn't an incredibly muscular track, with car chases and giant robot hordes, but it's a decidedly nuanced track, one that is gorgeously rendered. Dialogue is crisp, clean and well prioritized, sound effects are real and naturalistic (again, the differences between the city and country environments are wonderful), and the track has nice depth and density, with some nicely ambient atmospherics.

There's not a whole lot to talk about in regards to this track besides it being really great. I also just wanted to note that as the film begins, Tamara is speaking Russian (she's Ukrainian). Subtitles do not appear on this scene, or in any other scene where there's Russian being spoken. Your disc isn't defective or anything. This is a stylistic/narrative decision. Do not fret.

The only audio option is the German/Russian DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 with optional English subtitles. But when the lone track is this good, you don't need anything else.

Special Features

Ranking:

The abundance of extras on this disc are also available on the two-disc DVD set. The only Blu-ray-exclusive is the 'Timeline' that's now a mainstay on Criterion's high definition titles.

  • Götz Spielmann Interview This interview, newly conducted by the Criterion Collection last year, is a monologue with Spielmann, who talks open and honestly (and self-deprecatingly). You get the impression that, even though he says he's not an intellectual director, that this guy is wickedly smart. This is the kind of introspective, thoughtful monologue that perfectly fits the director of a movie as gorgeous and affecting as 'Revanche.' This is highly recommended.
  • Making of 'Revanche' (HD, 36:13) This is a great behind-the-scenes look at the making of the film that differs highly from the kind of slick, sound bite-y EPK you find in these United States. You get the impression this was a labor of love and Spielmann seems like an incredibly Zen director. This was a really wonderful little making-of doc, and again, highly recommended.
  • "Foreign Land" (HD, 44:43) This is Spielmann's debut "short" (is 45 minutes really a "short?"), which you can watch with or without an introduction by the director (HD, 3:31) in which he talks about re-watching the short again for the first time in years, what the production was like and how the film relates to 'Revanche.' To be honest with you, I was more interested in the introduction than the movie, in which Spielmann's 'deliberate' pacing is stretched out to almost unbearable lengths. Still, if you're curious about the director's previous work, this is well worth a watch.
  • U.S. Theatrical Trailer (HD, 1:37) This trailer gives far too much of the movie away and is generally clumsy, pretentious, and unimpressive. Skip, especially if you want to watch it before you watch the actual film.
  • "Revival of the Fittest" This is a disappointingly ho-hum essay by film ogre Armond White (really can't stand that guy). They couldn't get Nathan Lee to write an awe piece about 'Revanche' and the history of revenge films? Guess not.

Final Thoughts

I loved Götz Spielmann's mesmerizing, beautiful, deeply complex 'Revanche.' It's a revenge movie like you've never seen before, whose introspective themes of guilt and redemption don't overwhelm what is essentially a really well done genre picture. (Yes, it's plenty entertaining.) With a gorgeous video presentation, superb audio, and a handsome collection of extras, this is Highly Recommended, with a bent towards Must Own. Get ready to get caught up in 'Revanche.'