Video:
The Twilight Samurai is presented in a widescreen aspect ratio of 1.85:1, and has not been anamorphically enhanced for your widescreen-viewing appreciation. Subtitles are burnt into the print and are not optional.

I can sum up the video presentation in two words: dis-mal. This is a severely lacking transfer. The image is overly compressed, resulting in noticeable amounts of compression noise and blocking. Image detail is very soft, often fuzzy, while contrasts and shadow delineation both suffer. Most of the dark-lit scenes are almost unwatchable; a critical scene during the film's climax often blurs into nothingness, the picture lost in flat brown shadows. Colors vary from the muted to the acceptable, but this is the best aspect of an overall weak video presentation. The fact that the transfer itself is not anamorphic is just the stale icing on a pretty revolting cake.

Audio:
The audio is presented in Dolby Digital 2.0, and provides for a reasonably engaging presentation of the soundtrack. Dynamic range is excellent, with richness prevalent throughout the score as well as reasonable clarity contained within dialog levels. There is some active use of surrounds to highlight background and ambient activity. While not a raucous and engaging 5.1 soundtrack, the mix provided here is dynamic and engaging enough to present a fairly worthwhile soundstage.

Extras:
Special features include interviews with director Yoji Yamada and star Hiroyuki Sanada, which together run about 28 minutes in length. Both interviews are dubbed into English, as both Yamada and Sanada share their thoughts on the production. Also included are trailers for The Twilight Samurai, Almost Peaceful, and The Three Marias.

Final Thoughts:
A solemn but engaging piece of work, The Twilight Samurai presents a compelling drama set within the dying embers of the Shogunate era. The film is definitely worth your time. This DVD, unfortunately, is not. The horrible transfer and lack of real special features make for a disappointing release. We can hope that this title gets licensed out so that the film gets a proper release on DVD (Mr. Becker, I'm looking at you!). Based on the film alone, the DVD merits a rental. But only a rental, and nothing more. Disappointing.