Tanna
(2015/Lightyear Blu-ray)
Picture:
B+ Sound: B Extras: C+ Film: C+
Essentially
a Romeo and Juliet style love story, Tanna
(2015) is an Academy Award nominated Best Foreign Language Film (a
first for Australia) with breathtaking cinematography and
performances. I found the film from a filmmaking perspective to be
pretty top notch but from a story angle, nothing quite new. How many
times has a story of forbidden love of this kind been told? Still,
the film cleaned up in film festivals and won several awards, showing
a bright future for director Martin Butler.
I'm
sure this film wasn't easy to make and does show off Vanuatu - where
it was shot in grand scale. If you're a fan of love stories and
foreign films, then you'll want to check it out, it just didn't blow
this viewer away like it apparently did others. Based on an actual
marriage dispute in the county, a young woman must run away from her
tribe to be with the man she loves to avoid an arranged marriage.
This doesn't go over to well with her family and the other villagers
in her tribe, who wrestle with preserving their traditional culture
of arranged marriage and struggle with bending the rules to cater to
individual choices.
Tanna
is presented in 1080p high definition with a widescreen aspect ratio
of 1.78:1 and a great sounding, of lossy 5.1 Dolby Digital Stereo
surround track in Nauvhal with English Subtitles. The transfer is
lush and consistent throughout with breathtaking colors and detail on
the characters and location. This is definitely a disc that benefits
from being on Blu-ray disc and would definitely be a good candidate
for a future 4K UHD release. No digital copy.
Special
Features only include Behind the Scenes Clips and Interviews.
While
not necessarily my type of film, I can appreciate the artistry behind
Tanna
and would suggest it to those who are interested in foreign language
films. Though based on a true story, I didn't find the story
captivated or different enough from other films of the like.
-
James Lockhart
https://www.facebook.com/jamesharlandlockhartv/
