Giuseppe Tornatore, director of the beloved CINEMA PARADISO, turns his camera on his longtime collaborator Ennio Morricone (1928 – 2020) in a moving and comprehensive profile of the indefatigable composer. Tornatore’s documentary portrait explores the breadth of the maestro’s career, from his early Italian pop songs to the fistful of unforgettable film scores that he wrote, including THE GOOD, THE BAD, AND THE UGLY, THE THING, DAYS OF HEAVEN, and hundreds of others. This examination thoughtfully captures insightful commentary from Morricone’s closest collaborators and contemporaries, featuring testimonies from artists and directors such as Bernardo Bertolucci, Marco Bellocchio, Giuliano Montaldo, Dario Argento, Clint Eastwood, Joan Baez, Quentin Tarantino, and more. ENNIO affords the master one last chance to recount his career and deconstruct the artistic process that led him to win two Academy Awards and author over 500 unforgettable soundtracks.

For in-depth thoughts on Ennio, please see my colleague Phoenix Cloude’s review from its original theatrical release here.

Video Quality

Ennio comes to Blu-Ray from Music Box Films with a gorgeous HD master which presents this documentary to the full extent of its limitations. This feature consists of a mixture of newer interviews along with a plethora of older clips, archival interviews, and pictures to help round out the history of the legend. The new footage of Morricone talking and working around his studio is terrifically detailed, and the talking head interview segments look just as sharp and clear with natural skin tones and some highly detailed facial features.

Clips are used effectively to underscore the beauty of the composer’s music and how it marries the cinematic image. The glimpses at the projects are typically crisp with only a small amount of variance to account for the original source. Any footage seems to be derived from the most stable origins available when the film was completed. Some footage is a bit lacking due to the source, but most looks quite nice. The colors featured in the footage have a delightful sense of vibrancy to them. The encoding does not feature anything in the way of compression artifacts or digital nuisances of the sort. While not all the footage benefits from an HD presentation, this documentary is a stunner on the format.

Audio Quality

This Blu-Ray disc comes with an excellent DTS-HD 5.1 Master Audio track in the original mixture of languages that delivers all of the sonic information quite capably. When looking at the life of one of the most famous composers of all time, you want the music to be front and center. The non-diegetic music and clips of performances both come through with an unforgettable fidelity that comes alive the material deserves.

The interview portion of the material presents a sizable number of talking heads to complement the candid and archival footage. Dialogue takes center stage up front in the center channel as you get these anecdotes relayed in a controlled environment. The surround sound presentation allows for a decent amount of immersion, mostly when it comes to the music. There were no unwanted digital anomalies or other hindrances spotted. This track is a pleasant listening experience. Optional English and English SDH subtitles are provided.

Special Features

Interview with Giuseppe Tornatore: A 33-minute conversation with the filmmaker in which he discusses the development of the project, his condition for telling the story of Ennio Morricone, how the film evolved along the way, his need to be able to show the movie clips in the film, the lengthy editing proceed, and more.

The Democracy of Sound – Deleted Scene: A two-minute unused scene in which Morricone discusses his approach to writing music and the unthinkable way he plays with tonality.

Behind the Scenes – Ennio’s Office Concert: A seven-minute look at the lead-up to the filming of a key sequence between Morricone and director Giuseppe Tornatore.

Theatrical Trailer: The two-minute trailer is provided.

Final Thoughts

Ennio is a truly rewarding look at one of the most important figures in cinematic history. Music is one of the most effective tools in unlocking the splendor that is immersing yourself in a movie, and Ennio Morricone was one of the best to ever do it. For a man as prolific as the late composer, you need a documentary that captures his complexities. This film offers a versatile look at the icon that satisfies audiences looking for answers from numerous different perspectives. The film is very long, but this is one documentary that you will find yourself hoping will never end. Music Box Films has released a Blu-Ray featuring a terrific A/V presentation and some welcome special features. Any self-respecting cinephile should spend some time reflecting on the master. Highly Recommended

Ennio is currently available to purchase on Standard Edition Blu-Ray or with a Limited Edition Slipcover exclusively through Vinegar Syndrome.

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

Disclaimer: Music Box Films and OCN Distribution have supplied a copy of this disc free of charge for review purposes. All opinions in this review are the honest reactions of the author.