Canadian acrobatic troupe Cirque du Soleil performs Corteo in this extravagant stage show that will leave viewers visually arrested by the spectacle. The main character is a clown (Mozzani) who imagines his own funeral taking place in a carnival atmosphere while being watched over by caring angels. Juxtaposing the large with the small, the ridiculous with the tragic, and the perfect with the imperfect, the show brings to life the clown's strength and fragility. The production was intended to convey a visual message to the audience that they, like the clown, should recognize all these traits within themselves. (Stacey Pendry)
Special features include four featurettes—Through The Curtain (45 minutes); A Day In The Life Of Corteo Artists (11 minutes); Filming Corteo (eight minutes); and Teatro Intimo (eight minutes)—and a photo gallery. BD-Live™ functionality on this disc is limited to up-coming previews.
The H.264 AVC-encoded Blu-ray Disc has elevated black levels, which give the picture a flat appearance. Resolution is not as good as in the best high-definition releases. The darker scenes are covered with noise that isn't visible in the brighter scenes. Colors are naturally vibrant, but they aren't as sharply defined as they could be. The stage lighting makes it difficult to say how natural the fleshtones look, but the color scheme is dependent on browns and golds. Shimmering artifacts can be recognized from time to time. (Danny Richelieu)
The lossless Dolby® TrueHD 5.1-channel soundtrack features a nicely mixed front stage with adequate surround envelopment, although the surrounds are often masked by the much higher-level front stage. The LFE channel is used quite frequently throughout the presentation, but the bass is poorly defined with a boomy, pounding response that is distracting. Fidelity, though, is generally good, and music is mixed well across the front stage. The soundtrack is rather limited, though, in its
engagement. (Danny Richelieu)