Over the past 30 years “cinematic sorceress” Nina Menkes has produced a visually stunning and uncompromising body of work that stands alone in the landscape of American Independent cinema. Beginning with a quartet of films — The Great Sadness of Zohara (1983), Magdalena Viraga (1986), Queen of Diamonds (1991) and The Bloody Child (1996) — that Menkes produced, wrote, directed, and shot, all of which star her sister and early muse Tinka Menkes, and concluding with a pair of surreal black and white psychodramas — Phantom Love (2007) and Dissolution (2010) — “Cinematic Sorceress: The Films of Nina Menkes” is a comprehensive survey of one of the most essential filmmakers working today.

Fearlessly confronting violence, female subjectivity and isolation in iconically lensed locales ranging from the American Southwest to Israel and North Africa, Menkes work only becomes more vital and relevant with the passage of time.

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Video Quality

The six films in Cinematic Sorceress: The Films of Nina Menkes debut on Blu-Ray courtesy of Arbelos with a digital AVC encoded 1080p transfer with new restorations and remasters. The six films are split across two discs, which mostly avoid compression issues since the films are relatively short (and since Fidelity In Motion handled the encode). The Great Sadness of Zohara and Magdalena Viraga are presented with new 2K restorations, Queen of Diamonds and The Bloody Child are supplied with new 4K restorations courtesy of the The Academy Film Archive and The Film Foundation, and Phantom Love is provided a newly remastered version.

These films have long been a more under-the-radar collection that have existed in the darkness of arthouse theaters, and it is something special to have them handled with such care in high definition. These presentations thankfully maintain the gritty natural (mostly 16mm) film aesthetic throughout with image stability and delineation being incredibly strong. The transfers retain the natural film grain of the presentation which can be quite thick but with a refined look rather than a clumpy or frozen mess. Instances of print damage such as nicks and scratches have been all but eradicated with overall clarity and detail looking jaw dropping. There may be the most minor of blemishes that have made it through the restoration gauntlet, but there is no doubt the utmost care was taken with each source.

The filmmaking style remains pretty consistent in its rawness throughout, but it does vary in some instances such as some of the work in Dissolution. The films that feature color are perfectly saturated to the intended level with the natural hues coming through in contrast with some of the thematic situations. Skin tones are natural and consistent with subtle features such as makeup effects easily noticeable in closeup. Black levels hold up well with no major instances of crush or banding that we observed. The picture can run a touch soft in a handful of sequences, but this is likely due to the nature of how it was originally captured by Menkes. This is a deluxe presentation for a catalog that needs a special level of care and consideration.

Audio Quality

The Blu-Ray set comes with a variety of different audio tracks for these films that serve each of them to their fullest extent:

The Great Sadness Of Zohara – LPCM 1.0 mono

Magdalena Viraga – LPCM 1.0 mono

Queen of Diamonds – LPCM 2.0 and DTS-HD 5.1 Master Audio

The Bloody Child – DTS-HD 2.0 Master Audio and DTS-HD 5.1 Master Audio

Phantom Love – DTS-HD 2.0 Master Audio

Dissolution – DTS-HD 2.0 Master Audio and DTS-HD 5.1 Master Audio

The sparse dialogue and background noises are balanced appropriately with all tertiary competing elements. Every element remains stable even with the mixture of different environments from the desert to a casino floor. This disc maintains a formidable sense of fidelity that is very welcome. These tracks show no discernible age related wear and tear such as hissing or popping, but there are a few signs of limitations in the original recordings.

All of the sound effects appear to be faithful to the original intent. Menkes rarely uses any music in her narratives outside of songs sung by the characters themselves. Nothing ever overpowers the dialogue or other important information, but some of the dialogue can sound purposefully distant as a stylistic choice. Arbelos has delivered really great work all around. There are optional English (SDH) subtitles included for these feature films.

Special Features

Audio Commentaries: Filmmaker Nina Menkes provides some really engaging commentary tracks for select films in this set which truly help to better understand what she was trying to evoke with certain artistic choices, gain context for the conditions of the production, and more that is not to be missed if you want to get more from the work.

- The Great Sadness Of Zohara

- Magdalena Viraga

- Phantom Love

- Dissolution

Nina Menkes In Conversation with Mike Plante: A 26-minute conversation focused largely on Queen of Diamonds in which these two discuss her work as a singular filmmaking force, the difficulty of trusting other people with her process, how her idea of Las Vegas majorly clashed with reality, securing a shooting location, compromises to authenticity she had to make for her vision, the realities of shooting with real-world people, literally playing with fire and more.

Video Essay – Cards On The Table: A unique 12-minute “tarot-guided journey” through the cinema of Nina Menkes with a text-based analysis of some of the themes and imagery that appears throughout her work presented alongside clips.

Nina Menkes In Conversation with Ann Hornaday: A nearly 32-minute conversation following a screening of The Bloody Child in which Menkes discusses learning about the story that inspired this narrative, the themes she wanted to explore, the shooting locations, working with the communities in the area, how she settled on a structure, deliberate stylistic choices and more.

Nina Menkes In Conversation with K.J. Relth-Miller: Another 28-minute conversation following a screening of The Bloody Child in which Menkes delves into the complexities of the movie, the mystical qualities of the desert, her intentions for the film and more.

The Lioness (2022): A two-minute short film by Menkes commissioned by the Viennale that appears to take place at a circus.

Trailers: There are trailers provided for Queen Of Diamonds (1:44), The Bloody Child (1:13) and Cinematic Sorceress Retrospective (1:57)

Booklet: A multi-page booklet featuring the essay “Nina Menkes’ Nocturnes: Dead Times, Sororal Dreams” by author and film historian Elena Gorfinkel which helps give even more context to the work of this filmmaker.

Final Thoughts

Cinematic Sorceress: The Films of Nina Menkes is not a set the average person should enter into lightly, just as one would not enter into David Lynch or Béla Tarr without doing a bit of reflection to know if you are prepared as a proper cinephile. Menkes makes work that is purposefully challenging with subject matter that might feel alienating to certain viewers. These narratives are not strictly A-to-B endeavors, and there is a lot you will need to work out in your mind if you are going to start to get something from them. As it stands from only a short time with her work, we can say that there are some interesting themes being explored, but there is a mixed bag in terms of reward. If you are primed for challenging, feminist-leaning cinema that values artistry over clarity, you should check it out for yourself. Arbelos has provided a new Blu-Ray with a terrific A/V presentation and a really expansive selection of special features. Recommended

Cinematic Sorceress: The Films of Nina Menkes is currently available to purchase on Blu-Ray.

Note: Images presented in this review are not reflective of the image quality of the Blu-Ray.

Disclaimer: Arbelos has supplied a copy of this disc free of charge for review purposes. All opinions in this review are the honest reactions of the author.