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Mamma Roma (1962)
Mamma Roma (1962) poster

Mamma Roma (1962)

Drama • 1h 50m

Director: Pier Paolo Pasolini

Criterion Blu-ray

Best English-friendly release · updated 1 year ago

Overview

After years spent working as a prostitute in her Italian village, middle-aged Mamma Roma has saved enough money to buy herself a fruit stand so that she can have a respectable middle-class life and reestablish contact with the 16-year-old son she abandoned when he was an infant. But her former pimp threatens to expose her sordid past, and her troubled son seems destined to fall into a life of crime and violence.

Release details

Best Video Release

Carlotta Blu-ray

Carlotta Blu-ray better encoding than Criterion

TSPDT
2026: #797
2025: #780
2024: #787
2023: #787
2022: #787
Criterion Forum
Review

Picture: 7, Audio: 6, Extras: 7

Length
110 mins
Type
Movie

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Director: Pier Paolo Pasolini

Video format: 1080p Blu-ray

Best English-Friendly:

Criterion boxset

Sources: Blu-ray.com (opens in a new tab)

English-Friendly Notes:

Criterion boxset but awful compression

Best Video:

Carlotta FR Blu-ray

Video Notes:

FiM encode w/o English subtitles; Criterion boxset one has awful compression. review

Director: Pier Paolo Pasolini

4K · Excellent
Best English-Friendly:

Wicked Vision 4K Blu-ray

Sources: Blu-ray.com (opens in a new tab)

Upcoming Release:

BFI 4K Blu-ray scheduled for October 2026 release

Best Video:

Wicked Vision 4K Blu-ray see caps

Additional Info:

2019 BFI Blu-ray is the older master but better encode + extra footage than Criterion Blu-ray

Italy CG Entertainment Blu-ray is 4K resto, but horrible colours.

Directors: Luchino Visconti & Mauro Bolognini & Pier Paolo Pasolini & Franco Rossi & Vittorio De Sica

Best English-Friendly & Video:

Arrow Blu-ray

Director: Pier Paolo Pasolini

Best English-Friendly & Video:

Criterion Blu-ray

Sources: DVDBeaver (opens in a new tab)

Video Notes:

Criterion Blu-ray is vastly superior to the old BFI Blu-ray see caps

Director: Pier Paolo Pasolini

Video format: UHD Blu-ray

Best English-Friendly & Audio:

Criterion Blu-ray

Director: Pier Paolo Pasolini

Best English-Friendly:

Criterion Blu-ray

Best Video:

Criterion Passolini 101 box

Director: Pier Paolo Pasolini

Best English-Friendly & Video:

2019 BFI Blu-ray

Video Notes:

> Criterion > 2009/2011 BFI. Unsure on Carlotta

Director: Pier Paolo Pasolini

Best English-Friendly:

Criterion Blu-ray

Best Video:

Carlotta Passolini set

Director: Pier Paolo Pasolini

Best English-Friendly:

Criterion Blu-ray

Best Video:

Criterion passolini set

More from Criterion

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Director: Leos Carax

Best English-Friendly & Video:

Criterion Blu-ray

Director: Leos Carax

4K · Excellent
Best English-Friendly & Video:

Criterion 4K Blu-ray

Director: Leos Carax

4K · Excellent
Best English-Friendly & Video:

Criterion 4K Blu-ray

Director: Leos Carax

4K · Excellent
Best English-Friendly & Video:

Criterion 4K Blu-ray

Director: Joachim Trier

4K · Excellent
Best English-Friendly & Video:

Criterion 4K Blu-ray

Additional Info:

MUBI 4K Blu-ray has zero extras

Directors: Benny Safdie & Josh Safdie

4K · Solid
Best English-Friendly & Video:

Criterion 4K Blu-ray

Additional Info:

4K encode is low-pass filtered and noticeably so, which was unfortunately par for the course with Criterion 4Ks until sometime in 2024, and the encode is still less than ideal even despite that. Still better than the Criterion and Lionsgate Blu-Ray discs for the Dolby Vision grading alone.

Director: Peter Bogdanovich

4K · Solid
Best English-Friendly & Video:

Criterion 4K Blu-ray

Sources: Blu-ray.com (opens in a new tab)

Upcoming Release:

Eureka UK is considering doing a 4K https://forum.blu-ray.com/showpost.php?p=24363810&postcount=264

Video Notes:

Wonderful underlying remaster by Criterion and Resillion, but NexSpec encode has clipped highlights with the occasional blockiness. The Criterion Blu-Ray, sourced from their 4K remaster, ironically makes for a more consistent and overall pleasing experience.

Director: Ernst Lubitsch

Best English-Friendly & Video:

Criterion Blu-ray

Sources: caps-a-holic (opens in a new tab) · blah-ray.blogspot.com (opens in a new tab)

Upcoming Release:

StudioCanal 4K

Best Audio:

2005 WB DVD

Audio Notes:

> Criterion Blu-ray > StudioCanal Blu-ray. Maybe 1998 LaserDisc better? See Blah-Ray

Director: Michelangelo Antonioni

Video format: HD Streaming

Best English-Friendly & Video:

Criterion HD Streaming

Video Notes:

Criterion HD Streaming is a new restoration

Director: Anatole Litvak

Best English-Friendly & Video:

Criterion OOP DVD

More Drama on Blu-ray

Director: Neil Jordan

4K · Excellent
Best English-Friendly, Video & Audio:

WB 4K Blu-ray

Director: Ron Shelton

4K · Worse Than BD
Best English-Friendly & Video:

UK Arrow Blu-ray

Video Notes:

Australia Imprint 4K Blu-ray disappointing, nice new master, but poor encode, grain completely crippled in some scenes, artifacts abound, etc, makes Kino Lorber look like FiM.

Director: Sian Heder

Best English-Friendly & Video:

Italy Eagle Pictures 4K Blu-ray

Sources: slow.pics (opens in a new tab)

English-Friendly Notes:

Has full and forced English subtitles

Video Notes:

See caps comparing Italy vs US release

Best Audio:

Apple TV 4K Blu-ray with Atmos

Audio Notes:

(Eagle Pictures is 5.1)

Director: Celine Song

4K · Disappointing
Best English-Friendly & Video:

UK StudioCanal Blu-ray

Sources: Blu-ray.com (opens in a new tab)

Video Notes:

UK StudioCanal Blu-ray is the better release. Plaion Italy 4K Blu-ray has macroblocking and chroma noise issues, and the US Lionsgate Blu-ray has elevated gamma levels and macroblocking https://forum.blu-ray.com/showpost.php?p=22310555&postcount=31

Director: Dennis Hopper

4K · Disappointing
Best English-Friendly & Video:

BFI Blu-ray

Video Notes:

BFI Blu-ray renders grain structure better than Severin 4K Blu-ray’s disappointing encode, although Severin does feature an HDR grading with Dolby Vision. Furthermore, Severin’s soundtrack is worse due to the noise reduction applied.

Additional Info:

Severin 4K Blu-ray has very good extras that are more relevant to the film

Director: Andreas Prochaska

Best English-Friendly:

Kino Lorber Blu-ray

Video Notes:

Kino Lorber Blu-ray or Germany Blu-ray but no comparison available 

Germany Blu-ray doesn’t have good encoding, with visible blocking and banding etc.

Additional Info:

Germany Blu-ray lacks English subtitles. Kino Lorber Blu-ray has English subtitles but is OOP 

Kino Lorber Blu-ray retains both the French and German dialogue in their native languages.

Germany Blu-ray dubs over the French dialogue in German.

Director: Phil Joanou

4K · Disappointing
Best English-Friendly & Video:

UK Second Sight Blu-ray?

Video Notes:

UK Second Sight Blu-ray maybe better than all the other Blu-rays?

Australia Imprint 4K Blu-ray is disappointing with DNR and poor compression

Additional Info:

US Twilight Time and Germany NSM Blu-rays have exclusive extras

Director: Frank Capra

Best English-Friendly & Video:

Sony Frank Capra Boxset Blu-ray

Director: Roman Polanski

4K · Solid
Best English-Friendly & Video:

Carlotta France 4K Blu-ray

Video Notes:

> Vinegar Syndrome 4K Blu-ray (better encode on Carlotta without any low-pass filtering, more extras and English subtitles on Vinegar Syndrome)

Director: Hou Hsiao-hsien

Best English-Friendly:

Taiwan Sony Blu-ray

Best Video:

Carlotta Blu-ray, HD transfer, also available in a set

Best Audio:

2006 Japan Kinokuniya DVD

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· last reviewed 1 year ago

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