A Ron Fricke Film
Originally presented in IMAX
Studio: RB Films/Koch Entertainment RB16019
Video: Cropped/Enhanced for 16:9, color, 1080p HD
Audio: 96/24 DTS HD Master Audio 5.1, 48/24 DD 5.1, PCM stereo
Music: Michael Stearns
Extras: Commentary track by Director, also Composer & Production Manager; Locations (globe image pop-ups during feature); Annotations (pop-ups), Blu-ray ROM features
Length: 45 minutes
Rating: ****
Cinematographer Fricke learned the craft of shooting wordless concept films of beautiful and amazing widescreen imagery around the globe by working with Godfrey Reggio on his first visual arts extravaganza, Koyannisqatsi. He then branched off with his own films in the same genre, of which Chronos was the first, and Baraka a later and even better effort. The location shooting was done in such places as the deserts of the American Southwest, Egyptian pyramids and temples, Greek temples, Stonehenge, St. Peters in Rome, The Louvre, Mont Saint-Michel Abbey, and busy cities including Paris, New York and Venice. The techniques include not just stop-motion photography – the advent of time being the main theme of this film – but also scenes filmed normally, in slow motion, and the use of single frames from time-lapse filming, giving a very artistic and abstract appearance.
Chronos moves at a rather deliberate pace most of the time, with loose New Age-type electronic sounds. The original scores by Philip Glass are clearly a boon to the various -Qatsi films of Reggio, and that synchronicity of image and music is not achieved in Chronos. At one point near the end an artificial attempt is made at a sort of audiovisual climax as images of increasingly speedy movement thru canyons and tunnels culminate in a trippy release into the clouds, together with a loud and threatening crescendo in the audio. It reminded me of the stargate in 2001 but didn’t seem appropriate.
However, since none of the other similar films have been issued yet in hi-def format, Chronos provides a fine example of how 1080p display can provide unprecedented image quality on a larger screen with the ability to handle it. All of the IMAX films which have been reduced to standard DVDs have higher resolution than most DVDs because even if the original IMAX image is cropped, it is 65mm film run sideways thru the cameras, and has more resolution than any other format in existence. When a careful transfer such as this one is done to Blu-ray, the results with Fricke’s stirring imagery can be really breathtaking. (By the way, an HD DVD version was also released at the same time.)
The textures of the stone in the Egyptian monuments is so sharp you feel you could reach out and touch it. There are a couple spots of dirt on the image that distract slightly, but they quickly dissipate. I couldn’t find anything in the main menu display for selecting the audio setup (they call it “Seamless Navigation”), but later discovered it only appears while the film plays, when you pull up the interactive pop-up menu. I wouldn’t want to put any menus over these amazing images, so that was a disappointment. The same goes for the pop-up info on the different locations (it just shows the locations on a globe); I preferred to wait until the closing credits when all the locations are listed. The original Michael Stearns soundtrack for Chronos was created in B-format Ambisonics and I believe is still available in UHJ Ambisonics on an AtmoSpheres CD. It was remixed for this DVD. The DTS 5.1 audio track seemed to have the best fidelity in surround, but there was a very low bassy sound during much of the score which was too low to contribute much musically – almost like a rumble. The audio commentary track is very loose and informal, chatting about the various locations and how the time-lapse filming – with moving camera – was carried out (no computerized control was used!).
I’m looking forward to RB Films’ release of Baraka!
– John Sunier
