Yuri, 16, has lived all his life in Gagarine Towers, a vast red brick housing project on the outskirts of Paris. From the heights of his apartment, he dreams of becoming an astronaut. But when plans to demolish his community’s home are leaked, Yuri joins the resistance. With his friends Diana and Houssam, he embarks on a mission to save Gagarine, transforming the estate into his own “starship.”

For in-depth thoughts on Gagarine, please see my colleague Devin McGrath-Conwell’s review from its original theatrical release here.

Video Quality

Gagarine comes to Blu-Ray in a 1080p presentation that is truly a beauty. While the apartments may be falling apart, this is a visually rich film with gorgeous shots of the surrounding city throughout where you can see an incredible amount of detail. As Yuri goes from room to room, you feel as if you can almost reach out and feel the texture of the peeling paint. The colors really pop off the screen including the splendid hues of clothing and elements of the production design. The white levels are handled beautifully along with the intensely deep blacks that do not appear to suffer from any compression artifacts. There are no instances of intrusive digital noise in the presentation. The skin tones look very detailed and natural all around. This presentation is definitely a winner from Cohen Media Group.

Audio Quality

The film comes to Blu-Ray with an immersive DTS-HD 5.1 Master Audio track in the original French. The movie does not feature much in the way of action, but there is a constant stream of environmental activity which comes through particularly well. The score aids a lot in the magical tone the film strikes as it flows through with flawless fidelity. The low end of the track is not very active, as subtle environmental sounds make more of a showing in the surrounds. The dialogue and sound effects are appropriately balanced with the soundtrack where nothing gets lost in the track. Surround channels get some nice activity during the finale and any gathering of the tenants with their chatter. There are no issues whatsoever with this track.

Special Features

Trailer: The two-minute trailer is provided here.

Final Thoughts

Gagarine is a really thoughtful and inventive look at the larger emotional importance of home, and how it affects you when those ties are severed. The performances from these young performers are very strong, deftly conveying the deep emotions they have inside of them. There is a magic to the film that directors Fanny Liatard and Jérémy Trouilh nail perfectly. Cohen Media Group and Kino Lorber have released a Blu-Ray featuring a stellar A/V presentation but next to nothing in the way of special features. If you are open to exploring more international cinema, this is worth a look. Recommended

Gagarine is currently available to purchase on Blu-Ray, DVD and Digital.

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

Disclaimer: Cohen Media Group and Kino Lorber 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.