Wong Kar-Wai on DVD

[che-etienne]

and 2046 best version is the French (no English subs) with the R4 and R1 a close second.

DVDbeaver has the Tartan listed as the best version available w/ english subs. With the R1 slightly behind it.

[Mise En Scene]

For those that own the Kino Wong Kar-Wai boxset, do your DVDs of "As Tears Go By" and "Days of Being Wild" have DVD cover inserts - one side has a commentary/article/review and the other has the chapter titles - like the ones for the other 3 DVDs in the boxset?

Mine do not. I can't return it because I only recently opened them after a good year after purchase. I want to know if I'm missing them so I can replace them.

Thanks.

[leo goldsmith]

For those that own the Kino Wong Kar-Wai boxset, do your DVDs of "As Tears Go By" and "Days of Being Wild" have DVD cover inserts - one side has a commentary/article/review and the other has the chapter titles - like the ones for the other 3 DVDs in the boxset?

Mine do not.

Mine don't either.

[The Fanciful Norwegian]

An R2 French release of Ashes of Time is due on May 4 from TF1. English subs are uncertain, but I doubt it (TF1's As Tears Go By didn't have them either). In light of Grimfarrow's comments on page one I assume this will be the recut version.

[Grimfarrow]

It isn't.

[The Fanciful Norwegian]

Oh.

...so what happened to that? Will it still happen someday or did he just change his mind?

[Grimfarrow]

Good things come to those who wait

[che-etienne]

Just curious, Grimfarrow. How do you know Tony Rayns and Wong Kar Wai? It makes me jealous

[Grimfarrow]

Just curious, Grimfarrow. How do you know Tony Rayns and Wong Kar Wai? It makes me jealous

Through http://www.hkiff.org.hk

[Anonymous]

I'm looking for the best version of In The Mood For Love.

Apparently the French version is the best and the UK Tartan double disc version has the same transfer (according to DVDBeaver).

Does the Tartan single disc and 2046 / In The Mood For Love combo have the same transfer?

[Rich Malloy]

I don't know if the following release is part of the wave of "restored" Wong Kar Wai titles about which there have been many intimations in this thread, but apparently we've got a doozy of a just-released, HD-sourced DVD 2-pack from Korea featuring "Chungking Express" and "Fallen Angels".

I became aware of it earlier this week with the following post on DVD TALK forum:

And throw out whatever version of Chungking Express & Fallen Angels you may have. This new NTSC region3 2-pack edition has an amazing new transfer (these films didn't even look this good in the theater) AND, they both have DTS along with really good English subs and great menus. If you know Chinese, they both have commentaries - but apart from that the only extras are trailers. But still, this is the best dvd of these movies ever, and outside of HD, I don't know how they can look or sound better.

http://www.dvdasian.com/cgi-bin/dvdasian/22206.html

You can find it a lot cheaper than in the above link - I only posted it because it has nice shots of the package.

I found it for the $29.99 shipped at Yesasia, and ordered it immediately. I see that it is temporarily out-of-stock.

And to top it all off, DVD TIMES posted a glowing review last night:

The video quality on both films is striking. I've seen both films before on a number of DVD and VCD editions – this would be the fourth edition of Chungking Express I've owned on DVD – and I've never seen either film look as good as they do here. I wouldn't have believed they could look this good, since even the previous best editions of the films still showed numerous tiny marks and scratches that I thought must have been inherent in the rough and ready nature of the making of the films. Not so. On these editions of Chungking Express and Fallen Angels there are no marks or scratches on the films at all. If you have seen any other edition of the film on DVD, you can imagine exactly how big a difference that makes. What might not be evident from the screenshots accompanying this review however is just how fluid and stable the films now look, with not a single flicker or digital artefact, perfectly detailing even the most blurred motion and time-lapse sequences of the films. Doubtlessly restored, the quality of the prints here reveals Chungking Express and Fallen Angels to be as clear and colourful as we have become accustomed to expect from Wong Kar-Wai in films like In The Mood For Love and 2046. Only blacks are relatively less well defined, not showing a great amount of shadow detail, and Fallen Angels is slightly softer than Chungking Express, but with the use of various filters, that may well be intentional. Fallen Angels also occasionally displays some digital noise at the bottom left of the screen, but as this is about one-pixil in height, it will only be visible on displays with no overscan whatsoever. Some might find the 1.78:1 aspect ratio of both transfers an issue, but in practice it appears to make very little difference to the compositions of the films. Otherwise, the films here look outstanding and it is hard to conceive of them looking any better than they do here.

Perhaps more controversially, the original Dolby Digital 2.0 tracks of both films have been dropped in favour of new Dolby Digital 5.1 and DTS 5.1 remixes. Considering the rights to the films belong to the filmmakers themselves and that the films have doubtlessly been restored by Jet Tone/Block 2 Pictures, I would expect that these would be official restorations and remixes of the original soundtracks. The surround mixes here are fabulous. There is a fair amount of hiss still audible on the dialogue track – evidently a consequence of the improvisational nature of the original analogue recording, but the dialogue is clear with none of the roughness, crackle and sibilance found on previous editions of the films. [T]he overall effect of the new mixes is powerful and enveloping, as these films ought to be, with no noticeable re-recording or addition of new sounds or music cues. It's hard to hold any grudge against the non-inclusion of the original 2.0 mixes...

[The Fanciful Norwegian]

The Chungking Express comparison has me eager to replace my Artificial Eye copy (even though I only bought it a few months ago), but I still want to see how the new Fallen Angels release compares with the Accent edition -- AE's Chungking needed a lot of work and the Korean edition is clearly superior, but Accent did a phenomenal job with Fallen Angels and I'm not sure there's as much room for improvement. Unless there's a clear difference I'll probably just wait to see if these "restored" editions get released separately (in Korea or elsewhere) and get Chungking Express by itself.

[soma]

Agreed. Based on the info in this thread I recently upgraded my Kino R1 of Fallen Angels with the Accent R4 release. Couldn't be more impressed with the new transfer =D>

[Rich Malloy]

I agree. Chungking on its own. The Accent Angels is frankly unbeatable. Indeed Iv'e posted a comment on the Times review site which I had hoped might elicit some advice on the R3 Angels source.

Yes, I've had my eye on that Accent disc, and I wonder if that's one of the discs that the DVD TIMES reviewer alludes to in this comment: "I've seen both films before on a number of DVD and VCD editions – this would be the fourth edition of Chungking Express I've owned on DVD – and I've never seen either film look as good as they do here".

Given that I don't have the Accent (and, everything else being equal, my system is better at native NTSC), I went ahead and ordered the dual-pack. However, I think these may also be available separately. Not sure, but absolutely worth checking into if you only need a "Chungking Express" upgrade.

[yoshimori]

CE is available separately. Got it from dvdasian. Looks a bit better - less dirt - than the r2uk pal, which was a lot better than the r1us. Didn't get the FA disc, because I have the r4au. Waiting to see some comparison.

[The Fanciful Norwegian]

You're right, they are available separately -- Yesasia has it too, although it's not available for immediate shipping (7 days). I'll wait for a Fallen Angels comparison to see if it's worth dropping an extra $11 for the two-pack, but I doubt it will be.

[Rich Malloy]

I received the "Chungking Express" and "Fallen Angels" R3-Korea 2-pack on Saturday, and viewed all of "FA" and the first story of "CE". Having only seen the Kino discs previously, both of the new transfers represent exceptional improvements, as noted in the DVD TIMES review. Unfortunately, I don't have the Accent R4 to compare. The screen-grabs from the Accent disc on the Beaver do not appear superior to the new Korean release, but that's hardly a worthwhile comparison. The Korean release is not PAL-sourced and runs longer than even the other NTSC version (1:38:33, as I recall). Both transfers appear to be straight NTSC masters, without PAL speedup or any ghosting effect from improper conversion.

The audio is a complete and total "WOW!". Even given DVD TIMES' positive assessment, I was as skeptical as I generally am regarding remixed HK/Korean tracks, which often represent the very worst tendencies in sound mixing with overactive and overloud effects, volume-boosting that reduces dynamic range and introduces distortion, and that typical hollow "echoey" effect like a bad DSP (think "HALL" or "STADIUM"). None of that is present here. I have no idea if these are "approved" remixes from the 2.0 surround tracks, but they are impressively done, without any fake-sounding matrixing, hollowness, or echo-ey effects. Just lush, rich, gorgeousness. I'm not merely impressed; I'm blown away.

The DTS track is superior to the DD-5.1 (which is also quite good), ang again without any volume- or bass-boosting. Sounds emerge from a dark quiet background that's even blacker on the DTS track, with an impressively immersive soundtrack. Even given all the background noise and music, dialog comes through very clearly without any crackle or sibilance, as do discrete sound effects.

As noted in the DVD Times review, the subtitles are far from perfect. On the plus side, however, they are white and non-obtrusive, without any jarring syntactical errors. I counted at least 4 typos/misspellings in "Fallen Angels" ("diffiicult", "frinds"). The biggest error I found on "FA" - unless this part is not generally translated (and it may not be for any of the usual reasons) - is that the lyrics to the song "no. 1818" (I think) on the jukebox ("my lucky number") are not translated. I'm not sure if these are translated on the Kino disc (it's been awhile since my Netflix rental), but I seem to recall that they are. It's still clear from the tone of the music and the reaction (and, of course, the setup) what's meant by the song, but I suspect the lyrics should have been translated.

The subtitles in the first half of "CE" (haven't viewed the second story yet) also sport a few errors, including the frickin' title page ("Chunking Express"!). After that extraordinary lapse, the worst I can recall is a typo for "sacrifce" and the lack of an apostrophe in "chef s salad" -- in fact, everytime "chef s salad" is mentioned. There's also one "syntactical" error that appears to be of the sloppy editing variety ("I Knowing someone is not the same as...").

There's also an authoring glitch that effects both discs - if, while watching, you return to the menu page, when you return to the film, it will default to the DD-5.1 track (the no. 1 track) instead of either the DTS or commentary track. It will also default to the Korean subtitles instead of English or none. So, if you stop the disc or return to the menu, and you're not viewing with the DD-5.1 track engaged and Korean subs, you'll have to change it back. Both audio and subs can be changed on-the-fly.

Lastly, there's an unusual effect on the subtitles that I guess may be related to my player as these are player generated subs, but I doubt it. On both discs, whenever there is a very light background, one can see a faint red "shadow" on the edge of the letters, sorta like red fringing on a poorly focused/calibrated RPTV. It is only occasionally distracting, and not visible at all on my set in the darker scenes. But, along with the possible error of not translating the song lyrics in "FA", I considered this to be the most notable defect of these discs.

I've made a good many criticisms of these discs, but I should also point out that I had nothing short of a Kar-Wai-Wonderful weekend. I simply could not stop watching "Fallen Angels", even after watching nearly every scene twice that first time through, and wondering how I could ever have considered it to be a lesser film than "Chungking Express". I think now it's my favorite WKW. Tonight, I'll be watching the second half of "Chungking Express" (up till now, my favorite WKW)... and then I suspect that "Fallen Angels" disc will be queued up again!

[Rich Malloy]

Review up at Twitchfilm.net comparing the Korean "Fallen Angels" with the Accent disc, and "Chungking Express" with both Miramax and AE here: http://twitchfilm.net/forum/index.php?t ... 0#msg11370

I'm a bit surprised by the reviewer's opinion that the video quality of the Korean "Fallen Angels" 'puts the Accent to shame'. The still shots of the Accent disc on the Beaver appear quite good to me, and even if the Korean disc is better I can't imagine any "putting to shame" going on here. The reviewer lists his equipment - which is native NTSC - and I suspect the PAL>NTSC conversion done by his hardware may be causing some of the discrepancy. I would await further comparisons if you already have the Accent, and especially if your system favors PAL.

No mention of any "red fringing" on the subs, but the reviewer confirms what I suspected: the lyrics to "song 1818" should have been translated. This may not be quite the cock-up that is the Kieslowski "Three Colors" non-translation - after all, it's not hard to understand what's going on - but now I'd really like to know what those lyrics are, so much that I may have to Netflix the Kino disc just to remind myself what I'm missing.

The reviewer also comments very positively on the audio remixes and notes that: "Alto has done something incredible. They actually aquired the music directly from BLK2 and reintergrated it into the movie in it's clearest, untouched form. No longer does it sound like it's coming from the bottom of a well". I have no idea where he got this information, but I'm certainly not questioning it. It certainly sounds to me like Alto went back to all of the original sound elements, and tastefully remixed a couple of exquisite soundtracks.

[marty]

Rich you'll se from my caps of the Accent Fallen Angels on page two of the Screencaps thread, the first cap from chapter 2 on the disc is in B & W - because Chris Doyle finally corrected this scene which had always been previously rendered in color. As far as I know Accent DVD is the ONLY version to show the scene correctly. If the Korean DVD also displays it then it's a PAL/NTSC transfer of the Accent. If not then it's a newer, other transfer.

I am sure Accent would like to know whether the Korean disc of Fallen Angels is a PAL/NTSC transfer since I have checked with them and they never sold or gave access to any distributor from Korea to their transfer of the film. Could have the Korean distributor ripped it off the Accent DVD as some overseas distributors have been prone to do?

[The Fanciful Norwegian]

Rich quite specifically said the Fallen Angels transfer isn't PAL-sourced. Besides, if they ripped off the Fallen Angels transfer from Accent, then where'd the Chungking Express transfer come from? And the 5.1 tracks, for that matter? (From the reviews it seems clear they're honest-to-god remixes, not just the old 2.0 tracks matrixed across 5.1 channels.)

[Rich Malloy]

Rich you'll se from my caps of the Accent Fallen Angels on page two of the Screencaps thread, the first cap from chapter 2 on the disc is in B & W - because Chris Doyle finally corrected this scene which had always been previously rendered in color. As far as I know Accent DVD is the ONLY version to show the scene correctly. If the Korean DVD also displays it then it's a PAL/NTSC transfer of the Accent. If not then it's a newer, other transfer.

There's no ghosting or evidence of an improperly converted PAL transfer, and the runtime is 1:38:33, which indicates no PAL speedup. For these reasons, I think it's a brand-new NTSC master.

Could you link to the "screencaps" thread? I'd like to check 'em out, but I think the second scene is still in color. As I recall - and I certainly wasn't looking for this at the time - the first scene (the "are you still my partner?" flash-fwd) is in black-and-white, and the following scene is in color (including the apartment cleaning, etc.). Again, I wasn't looking for a b&w/color transition, so my memory may be failing me here.

I wonder if anyone can confirm the "red fringing" on the subtitles? I'd like to know if this is for some reason peculiar to my equipment (I've got a chipped Panasonic S97 upscaling to 1080i via HDMI into a Panny 1080i/540p monitor). Also, can anyone provide a translation of "song 1818" so I don't have to Netflix that ugly Kino disc again?

[Titus]

Song 1818:

Forget him
And it's like forgetting everything
It's like losing all direction
Losing oneself
Forget him
And it's like forgetting the joy of life
It's like a knife in the heart
Bleeding in pain

Kino's subs for the song drop out when they cut to McDonald's.

[Rich Malloy]

Ah, quite a loss that those lyrics are not subbed. The scene remains comprehensible, although it could be that I was primed by my only other viewing, well over a year ago. Either way, I think this is the biggest defect of this set.

That and the red fringing on the player-generated subs... or am I the only who sees this? It's not something I've noticed before with other films.

[Rich Malloy]

There's a recently released Wong Kar Wai boxset that includes the new Tartan releases of "As Tears Go By" and "Days of Being Wild" (along with "In the Mood for Love" and - maybe? - "2046"). The former two titles now have the Cantonese tracks and appear to be the best available transfers:

As Tears Go By

Days of Being Wild

Anybody purchase this? Slim-line cases? Recommended, or do we expect better releases of these films in the (hopefully near) future?

[Rupert Pupkin]

Hi there,

I wanted to upgrade my versions of Chungking Express + Fallen Angels (I have the z1 Koch box set + the TF1 video French DVD zone 2; and both could have been better...)

I've read the dvdtimes.co.uk review about a new remastered transfer of Chungking Express / Fallen Angels (with DTS mix)

now it is out of stock now on yesasia I think that both releases (Fallen Angels and Chungking Express) are still available separately. But will I find on these 2 separates releases the same bonus than on the bi-pack release ?

while browsing through Yeasia, I also find that there are 2 Japanese remastered releases of Chungking Express and Fallen Angels

Who bought these Japanese DVD ? Both were released in summer 2006 just like the korean DTS remastered release... Is the video transfer better ? more accurate to Christopher Doyle photography in theatres ?
I can't find a test of these Japanese DVD releases...