Legendary director Jerzy Skolimowski created one of his freest and most visually inventive films yet with this story of a gray donkey named EO. After being removed from an itinerant circus, EO begins a trek across the countryside, experiencing cruelty and kindness from a cast of characters including an Italian countess (Isabelle Huppert) and a Polish soccer team. Nominated for the Academy Award for Best International Feature, and featuring stunning cinematography by Michał Dymek coupled with Paweł Mykietyn’s resonant score, EO presents the follies and triumphs of humankind from the perspective of its four-legged protagonist on a quest for freedom.

For in-depth thoughts on EO, please see my colleague Larry Fried’s review from its original theatrical release here.

Video Quality

EO comes to Blu-Ray in an AVC encoded transfer in 1.33:1 courtesy of Janus Contemporaries which provides a gorgeous presentation that presents this film exactly as intended. This rich presentation offers a stable image quality throughout without any visual hiccups. This digital production was presented theatrically from a 4K digital intermediate, so it would have been nice to have a 4K UHD Blu-Ray, but one cannot argue with the quilty of what we have.

Cinematographer Michael Dymek captures some striking scenery along this journey that wows in high definition. Skin tones look natural from character to character throughout the runtime. Not only do the textural details such as EO’s coat render cleanly, but colors are suffused in a way that matches the intention of the film. Colors especially pop when it comes to some bold lighting choices you will not soon forget. There is no trace of compression artifacts or other digital nuisances even in the most dimly lit locations. I do not see how this disc could have been improved significantly without a 4K UHD Blu-Ray disc. Fans will be thrilled by how good this looks.

Audio Quality

The Blu-Ray disc comes with a DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 track in the original Polish (along with a mixture of other languages) which gets surprisingly active. The movie is very sparse on dialogue, leaving the track to really come alive with the environmental sounds mostly outdoor along with the ambiance of certain interiors like a bar or a factory. The environmental effects create a natural soundscape filled with little nuances that do an admirable job of sweeping you into the unsettling world in which EO finds himself lost. Activity in the low end aids in providing additional texture to the world which creeps up on you in certain moments.

The score is showcased impeccably here with an enveloping use of the surround speakers that maintain precise fidelity. The small amount of dialogue comes through clearly without ever being overshadowed by the environmental effects or the music. The sound design is just as precisely thought-out as the on-screen visuals with all of the sounds positioned just right in the mix. This is a tremendous audio presentation that brings the movie to life in an immensely satisfying manner. There are optional English subtitles provided.

Special Features

The Janus Contemporaries Blu-Ray of EO includes a leaflet featuring the essay “EO: A Donkey’s Life” by Michael Joshua Rowin in which she provides some good insight into and analysis of the film that helps highlight the deeper themes on display. The on-disc special features are as follows:

The Making Of EO: A great 24-minute conversation between director Jerzy Skolimowski and writer/producer Ewa Piaskowska in which the pair discuss the development of the project, deciding on which animal to focus on for this story, real-life situations that inspired them, how they landed on this being a road movie, instinctive ideas that emerged during the writing process, the themes of the picture, and much more that is well worth watching.

All The Donkeys: A nearly five-minute look at the six Sardinian donkeys who play EO, the qualities that they bring to the narrative, which scenes each of them perform, and more with great insights from Skolimowski and Piaskowska.

Trailer: The nearly two-minute trailer is provided.

Final Thoughts

EO is a knockout effort from Jerzy Skolimowski, who proves some of his best work may be ahead of him yet. The story is straightforward, but the way in which the filmmaker uses the titular animal to explore the good and (mostly) bad of society is downright masterful. While it is true that there were multiple donkeys used to execute this story, each one of them is a star as you project so much onto the facade of this creature which emotionally wrecks you. Janus Contemporaries has released a fantastic new Blu-Ray with a top-notch A/V presentation and some fun special features The story is not necessarily a happy one, but it buoys you just by knowing you are witnessing top-notch filmmaking. Highly Recommended

The Janus Contemporaries edition of EO will be available to purchase on October 17, 2023 on Blu-Ray and DVD.

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

Disclaimer: Janus Contemporaries and The Criterion Collection 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.