BLU-RAY
REVIEW: TALES OF THE NIGHT
1/27/13
TALES OF THE NIGHT, a stunning new feature film by French filmmaker Michel Ocelot (“Kirikou and the Sorceress;” “Azur & Asmar”), will now be available to audiences of all ages at home. Through an agreement with the film’s theatrical distributor, GKIDS, Cinedigm Entertainment Group (CEG) will release the English-language version of TALES OF THE NIGHT on January 29 on DVD/Blu-ray, preceded by an early cable VOD and digital release on January
8.
TALES OF THE NIGHT extends the shadow puppet style of Ocelot’s earliest works, with black silhouetted characters set off against exquisitely detailed Day-Glo backgrounds bursting with color and kaleidoscopic patterns. The film weaves together six exotic fables each unfolding in a unique locale, from Tibet, to medieval Europe, to the Land of the
Dead:
• The Werewolf – Two sisters are in love with the same dashing young man. The older girl wins the young man’s heart through deceit, leaving her younger sister in despair. But this perfect man has a terrible secret.
• Ti Jean and the Belle-Sans-Connaître – In the Antilles, a carefree boy breezes along whistling. He enters a cave and goes down, down, down, deeper than he could ever imagine. Will nothing strike fear into his heart or break his stride?
• The Chosen One And The City Of Gold – Amidst grand ceremony, a girl is given in sacrifice to a strange beast, and in exchange her people will receive much gold. The girl has a sweetheart who opposes the arrangement – but the creature is invincible!
• Boy Tam-Tam - A boy taps away all day long, on anything he can find, driving everyone crazy. He’d love to own a real drum, or better still, the magic tam-tam, which can make anyone dance.
• The Boy Who Never Lied – A horse that can speak is a rarity, but not so rare as a boy who never lies. The King of Tibet makes a bet that no one can make his stable boy tell a lie. His cousin accepts the bet – but he has a formidable secret weapon.
• The Doe-Girl And The Architect’s Son – A young man sees his beloved transformed into a doe before his own eyes by a jealous sorcerer. The elusive Caress Fairy is the only one able to help him, but she’s so very hard to
find.
“Storytelling is my language. When I do it, I’m in my element,” says Ocelot, who has won several major awards for his animated films. “I’ve always made little things in relief, cut-outs, collages, and so on. Technological advancements enabled me to return to a certain enchantment in my early work.” TALES OF THE NIGHT was nominated for a Golden Berlin Bear at the 2011 Berlin International Film Festival before opening theatrically in 3D in the U.S. in September 2012.
VIDEO:
Anamorphic Widescreen 1080P
AUDIO:
French
5.1 DTS-HD Master
Audio Dolby Digital
Subtitles - English
SPECIAL FEATURES:
An interview with Michel Ocelot
A featurette with Ocelot titled “The Festival of Color: Storytelling through
Animation”
U.S. theatrical trailer
