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To Be Twenty - Raro Video (Blu-ray)

Theatrical Release Date: Italy, 1978
Director: Fernando Di Leo
Writer: Fernando Di Leo
Cast: Gloria Guida, Lilli Carati, Ray Lovelock, Vincenzo Crocitti, Giorgio Bracardi, Leopoldo Mastelloni, Carmelo Reale, Serena Bennato, Vittorio Caprioli, Licinia Lentini, Daniela Doria

Release Date: November 19th, 2019
Approximate running times: 97 Minutes 41 Seconds (Director’s Cut), 83 Minutes 48 Seconds (Theatrical Cut)
Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1 Widescreen / 1080 Progressive / MPEG-4 AVC (Theatrical Cut)
Rating: NR
Sound: DTS-HD Mono English, DTS-HD Mono Italian (Theatrical Cut), Dolby Digital Mono Italian (Director’s Cut)
Subtitles: English (Both Versions)
Region Coding: Region Free
Retail Price: OOP

"Twenty, beautiful, sexy and liberated, and fed up with their provincial lives, Lia and Tina decide to hitchhike their way to Rome to find a commune where they can stay and live the life of free love… or so they think. Things don’t go as they have planned though, and soon they become involved in prostitution, the police and an aggressive gang which all culminates with a brutal and unexpected violent end." - synopsis provided by the distributor

Video: 3.5/5 (Theatrical Cut), 2/5 (Director’s Cut)

Here’s the information provided about the theatrical version's transfer, "New Digital Transfer from Original 35mm Negative Print".

To Be Twenty comes on a 25 GB single layer Blu-ray.

Disc Size: 24.6 GB

Feature: 17.5 GB (Theatrical Cut), 5.3 GB (Director’s Cut)

The source that’s used for the theatrical cut is in good shape; any source debris is minimal. Colors generally look good, black levels are adequate, compression is good, and though there is digital filtering, is it not as intrusive as most of Raro’s transfers.

The director’s cut comes from a dated master that is most likely an analog source. And though the overall quality pales in comparison to the theatrical cut’s transfer, The director’s cut is essentially an extra.

Audio: 4/5 (DTS-HD Mono English - Theatrical Cut, DTS-HD Mono Italian - Theatrical Cut), 3/5 (Dolby Digital Mono Italian - Director’s Cut)

The theatrical version comes with two audio options, a DTS-HD mono mix in English and a DTS-HD mono mix in Italian. Both audio mixes are in very good shape; dialog comes through clearly, and everything sounds balanced. Included with this version are removable English subtitles for the Italian-language track.

The director’s cut comes with one audio option, a Dolby Digital mono mix in Italian with removable English subtitles. The audio is in good shape, the background noise is minimal, the dialog comes through clearly, and everything sounds balanced.

Extras:

Extras for this release include a documentary titled Twenty Years for a Massacre (29 minutes 49 minutes, Dolby Digital stereo Italian with removable English subtitles), a director’s cut version of To Be Twenty (97 minutes 41 Seconds, 1.85:1 aspect ratio, Dolby Digital mono Italian with removable English subtitles), a slipcover and a 10-page booklet with cast & crew information, an essay titled Young, beautiful, and pissed off: The Legacy of Avere Venti’Anni written by Nathaniel Thompson, author of DVD Delirium, a bio and filmography for Fernando Di Leo.

Summary:

Directed by Fernando Di Leo, a filmmaker who is most known for his work in the Poliziotteschi genre. Notable films he directed are Naked Violence, Slaughter Hotel, and Caliber 9.

The narrative revolves around two free-spirited young women who hitchhike to Rome and find refuge at a commune, where they are able to indulge in all their vices. Unfortunately, their new-found nirvana is short-lived when they’re arrested by the police for prostitution and deported. Not ready to give up just yet, on their way home, they decide to stop over at a diner, and what should have been another fun-filled adventure quickly turns bleak when they rub the men in the wrong direction.

When To Be Twenty was originally released, the film was severely censored, with the most notable cuts being the opening sequence on a beach, Gloria Guida's (Monika) and Lilli Carati’s (The Alcove) lesbian tryst, and To Be Twenty’s notorious ending. For this release, Raro Video has included this shorter version as well as Fernando Di Leo's preferred cut of To Be Twenty.

In the latter half of the 1970s, sexually themed comedies were among the most successful films emerging out of Italy. Two of the more prominent stars in this genre were Gloria Guida and Lilli Carati, the stars of To Be Twenty. And while To Be Twenty’s opening set-up leads one to believe that what is about to unfold is just more of what we have come to expect from the types of films these two actresses are most known for, the result is something so far removed from where they had been or have returned to as actresses.

And while Italian cinema is known for often pushing the boundaries, when it comes to violence or even taboo subjects. It is safe to say that there are not too many films that go for the jugular in the way To Be Twenty does. In fact one would be hard pressed to find another film, not just in Italian cinema or even cinema from anywhere in the world that shifts as drastically in tone as To Be Twenty does in its last moments. The closest comparison to this shift that I can think of would be the way Takashi Miike concludes of Audition.

When discussing To Be Twenty, one must not overlook or underappreciate the performances of its two leading ladies, Gloria Guida and Lilli Carati, who are not given that much to work with beneath the surface. The bulk of their performances rely on their physical appearances, and yet they somehow manage to make what should have been characters that are easy to dismiss sympathetic. So when their demise finally arrives, it is arguably one of the most grueling sequences to ever grace the silver screen.

To Be Twenty gets a serviceable release from Raro Video that leaves plenty of room for improvement.