HD DVD Review: The Pianist

THE MOVIE: 5 stars out of 5

There are those of you out there who have inquired as to whether I would continue with reviews of HD DVD content in light of the recent developments in the format war. The answer is yes. As long as I still have an HD-DVD player and as long as the studios continue to send me content in that format, I will continue with HD DVD reviews. As I have written before, despite the differences in the technical specs of the two formats, they both can deliver outstanding video and audio results and both are a joy to experience.

The Pianist arrives as an HD-DVD release in the US this month. It has been available in the UK for quite awhile. The Pianist is an inspiring and very moving film about the true life story of Wladyslaw Szpilman, a brilliant Polish Jewish pianist and composer whose career was interrupted by the invasion of Poland at the beginning of World War II. Based on his book, The Pianist finds Mr. Szpilman and his family in Warsaw at the outbreak of the war and chronicles the story of his survival in the Warsaw ghetto in one of the darkest periods of human history. At times this can be a difficult movie to watch and yet has a very powerful and inspiring story to tell about the dignity and resilience of the human spirit. Adrien Brody stars as Mr. Szpilman in the role that won him the Academy Award for Best Actor. The film itself was nominated for 7 Academy Awards including Best Picture. Highly Recommended.

THE VIDEO: 4 7/8 stars out of 5

Encoded with VC-1 and presented in its original aspect ratio of 1:85:1, this is an excellent looking transfer from Universal. Most of the film has a rather muted color palette and this transfer captures the look of the film beautifully. Color reproduction is quite good with excellent black level, giving the film a nice three dimensional look. The film has excellent detail and a rather sharp looking picture with only tiny bit of softness in a couple scenes. Shadow detail is excellent as well. This is an excellent transfer from the folks at Universal and will thrill fans of the film.

THE AUDIO: 4 1/4 stars out of 5

The high rez audio on this release is presented in Dolby True HD. As one would expect, this is essentially a dialogue driven film and therefore, most of the audio emanates from the front three channels, with some exceptions such as the very beginning of the film. Therefore, don’t expect a reference sounding track. However, what is presented is presented very well with the dialogue being well recorded and well placed in the mix. The rest of the audio is well presented as well with a nice open and smooth sound with the sound of the piano captured very faithfully. Overall, this is a very solid if not spectacular effort on the audio side from the folks at Universal.

IN CONCLUSION

This is a very powerful and moving film with wonderful performances by the entire cast. This release boasts an excellent transfer and is well worth a look. HIghly recommended.

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