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Footprints AKA Le orme AKA Footprints on the Moon AKA Primal Impulse (Blu-ray)
[Blu-ray]
Blu-ray B - United Kingdom - Shameless Screen Entertainment Review written by and copyright: Rick Curzon (16th April 2024). |
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The Film
 FOOTPRINTS ON THE MOON 4K-RESTORED BLU-RAY ALL REGION COLLECTORS LTD EDITION Director Luigi Bazzoni’s unique vision of ‘FOOTPRINTS ON THE MOON‘ is brought to life by the striking cinematography of Vittorio Storaro (three-time Oscar winner including ‘Apocalypse Now’). Florinda Bolkan (‘Flavia The Heretic‘) delivers a masterful, nuanced performance bringing captivating depth to the character of Alice – a young translator grappling with memory loss. Tormented by nightmare visions of a sinister scientist (Klaus Kinski) deliberately abandoning astronauts to die on the Moon, Alice is struggling to recall three missing days. A mysterious postcard beckons her to the enigmatic island of Garma. Once there, an unsettling revelation unfolds: the inhabitants recognise her presence during the unaccounted-for days, not as Alice, but as another person named Nicole. Confronting uncomfortable truths, Alice embarks on a quest to unravel the mystery shrouding her identity and the events of those missing days – a quest which culminates in murder and an extraordinarily surreal finale. Touching on mental health issues as well as on climate change, it resonates with today’s challenges while immersing viewers in an emotionally charged experience that transcends the ordinary. ‘FOOTPRINTS’ unfolds as a mesmerising exploration of identity and the boundaries of perceived reality, memory, dreams, and existential mysteries; it stands as the most haunting and visually stunning Giallo you will ever see, presented here restored from 4K scans of the original camera negative, finally doing justice to the exquisite unearthly visions of its creators.
Video
This superb, mesmerising and rather hypnotic thriller starring Brazillian actress Florinda Bolkan (Royal Flash, A Lizard in a Woman's Skin, Flavia the Heretic, The Damned, Investigation of a Citizen Above Suspicion) gets the deluxe treatment from Shameless Screen Entertainment and it's a doozy of a release! I suspect it uses the same excellent 4K restoration that was the source of Severin's disc. It's shot by Vittorio Storaro (Apocalypse Now, The Bird with the Crystal Plumage, The Conformist, Reds, One from the Heart) and consequently looks stunning and the new restoration does it justice. Footprints has been given a slightly pastel quality by Storaro with some vivid primaries kicking out when they need to. Flesh tones are naturalistic, blues and greens pop out against the films largely pale backdrops. Detail is very fine across all focal planes and textures in fabrics and flesh are well served despite some obvious filtering during production. Black levels are deep with shadows filled with detail. Contrast is supple allowing the aforementioned textures to lend the image a filmic quality. The encode is strong and I could see no signs of manipulation or any damage in the source, it's impeccable really. The film could've been shot yesterday. As strong a transfer of a film from this era and pedigree as I've seen ('A'). (The same excellent source is used for both edits) 1080p24 / AVC MPEG-4 / BD50 / 1.85:1 / 96:29, 93:32
Audio
English DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 Mono (48kHz, 16-bit) Italian DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 Mono (48kHz, 16-bit) Subtitles: English (optional for the Italian track), English HoH (for the English track) I watched the film with the English dub track. The film was most likely shot silent with the entire soundtrack created in post production as per the norm in Italy at the time. It's the language mostly spoken on set with all of the leads obviously speaking it. Bolkan and McErnery seem to have dubbed their own voices as well. The track lacks the range of modern tracks obviously but apart from some mild hiss, which is natural, this one has been polished up nicely with no signs of heavy handed noise reduction. The Italian track isn't as robust with a breathy, canned quality when listened to side by side. Both subtitle tracks are excellent and comprehensive ('B+').
Extras
Audio commentary on the integral cut by film historian Rachel Nisbet (has optional English subtitles) (2024) Nisbet opens by introducing herself as a specialist in Italian genre cinema and as with other commentaries and interviews she's done this is a wide-ranging track with an academic focus. She covers the film's complex ideas, the cast and key crew as well as ways in which the film can be read in its multilayered underlying themes. The artistic side also comes under scrutiny with passages on the production design and Bazzoni's influences. Presented in lossy English Dolby Digital 2.0 mono (48kHz, 224Kbps) with optional English subtitles that activate automatically when the commentary is selected. I suspect that Shameless is playing it safe due to Nisbet's gentle Scottish accident, which I had no problems understanding at all. "Master of Light" 2022 featurette using a 2016 interview with Vittorio Storaro (77:57) Chinky career-spanning interview with Storaro that has been on several releases including both the US and German editions of Footprints, albeit under different titles ("painting with Light", "Light of the Moon") and has here been retitled again. All use a 2016 interview with the man. He starts with how he became a cinematographer, how he initially noticed the images on the big screen as a viewer, various films are covered in this lengthy interview, mostly from the '70s including working with Bazzoni. Presented in 1080p24 1.78:1 with lossy Italian Dolby Digital 2.0 stereo (48kHz, 224Kbps) with optional English subtitles. "To the Moon" 2022 interview with Ida Galli (12:03) A port of the same interview, albeit with Shameless logo at the beginning, found on the Severin disc. Galli covers her career, Footprints with Florinda Bolkan and Vittorio Storaro. Also mentioned are working with the likes of Lucino Visconti, Silvano Agosti and Luigi Bazzoni. Presented in 1080p24 1.78:1 with lossy Italian Dolby Digital 2.0 stereo (48kHz, 224Kbps) with optional English subtitles. "Florinda Bolkan: Remembering the Moon" 2023 interview (7:11) Seemingly a new interview with Bolkan who discusses the film and how much she enjoyed making it; listed in the menu as an introduction. Presented in 1080p24 1.78:1 with lossy Italian Dolby Digital 2.0 stereo (48kHz, 224Kbps) with optional English subtitles. It's possible that this is older and from a standard source upscaled. Italian Trailer (3:03) Vintage trailer in 1080p24 1.85:1 with uncompressed Italian LPCM 2.0 mono sound (48kHz, 16-bit) with optional English subtitles.
Packaging
Limited Numbered Edition with premium slipcover wrap-around featuring newly commissioned artwork and reversible sleeve (with original release artwork) on the Shameless proprietary "Yell'O" Blu-ray case.
Overall
Luigi Bazzoni's Footprints looks better than ever on the new BD from Shameless Screen Entertainment, certainly better than their own 2009 DVD. Image and sound are as strong as one could expect shy of 4K and HDR. Extras are excellent with pride of place gojng to the length interview with Storaro and the fine commentary from Nisbet. Highly recommended ('A') and an essential for anyone who hasn't got the American or German releases.
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