Source France | Publisher : The Jokers | Release date : 12 July 2023
Video format
2160p24 – Ratio 1.77
HDR10 / BT.2020 – HEVC encoding
Master intermediate 4K
Soundtrack
Cantonese DTS-HD MA 2.0
Subtitles
French
Rated 3.5 out of 5
Artistic : 10 | Video : 7 | Audio : 7.5
It is brought to the attention of our dear readers that, in addition to the specified and used viewing equipment, the rendering may differ from one installation to another, whether or not it is calibrated, as well as personal preferences and expectations may influence notation. Moreover, the images in the article are not representative of the edition tested.
Test equipment and condition (Config. HP: 5.1.4)
Video broadcaster : Sony Bravia XR-65A95L (Professional HDR)
Sources : Oppo UDP-203 Audiocom Reference | Zappiti Reference
Pregnant : Sennheiser Ambeo Soundbar Max (DTS Neural:X), SVS SB-4000
WORK - Unable Loves
A small gangster in Hong Kong neighbourhoods wants to lead a better life alongside the one he loves / In the Hong Kong of the 1960s, a young man who collects conquests fled life together.
Long before In the Mood for Love, the sensitive Tarantino of Asia Wong Kar-wai already filmed the love disorder as no one... First in a pure gangster polar (inspired from the Mean Streets of Scorsese) where extreme violence eludes the time of a melancholic romance in weightlessness, then in a contemplative sentimental drama where the innocence of adolescence flies away during small « minutes » that change life. The stylistic singularity of the Master is revealed, the themes which he cherent hatch, the love sentiment is magnified and the popular actors of Hong Kong (Andy Lau, Maggie Cheung, Leslie Cheung, Carina Lau, Jackie Cheung), with sublimated silhouettes, reach grace. First essays, first masterpieces!
« There is a bird that never stops flying and falls asleep in the wind. He only lands once in his life... to die. »
IMAGE - From one land to another
The result of several years of collaboration with The Criterion Collection, these 4K restorations Immagine Ritrovata) taken from the original negatives 35 mm and calibrated by One Cool Production (under the supervision of WKW in person), we arrive in solid UHD HDR10 transfers (a higher HEVC compression) that transcribe to the letter the new aspect (rather dissimilar from previous releases) desired by its director: « I invite the spectators to start from scratch. These are no longer the same movies and we are no longer the same audience ». Strangely, the editor has done an image cropping from 1.85 to 1.77 full frame. In fact, a light zoom was applied. Was that really necessary?
The copies have been carefully cleaned (the marks of deterioration of the time have all been erased) and stabilized, the definition has an impressive firming (cf. the backgrounds in the background) and the piqué, although uneven (the use of a variable DNR reducing the textures in low light), nevertheless remains regularly excellent (the close-ups on the bodies and faces, textile fibres). Heterogeneous filtering of the silver grain obliges, the emulsion of the film loses its charm in places. Nevertheless, his trace is still sufficiently glaring... So far away from the carnage operated on In the Mood for Love.
Revisionist but no less coherent (except for the episodicly creamy carnation in the Hong Kong of 60s), the colorimetric palette with more modern tones better highlights the places of action in the As Tears Go By (more heat on the outside and cold metallised inside) by attenuating the blues (now tinted with cyan) and more saturating the reds. As regards Our wild years, a (big) green jade filter has been generously applied (while it has been used sparingly in the past), so the primary, neutralized to the point of stop in the Philippines, have only (too) rare opportunities to shine. It is a questionable choice, but finally it is a good choice about duration.
With regard to contrasts and light sources, they also behave differently from one film to another... Blacks are thus more sustained (a little too often) and neon luminescence minimized in gangsters, where the brightness makes a (small) leap forward in the faller of these ladies thanks to evanescent lighting beautifully embellished.
SOUND - Love stories end badly 🎶
Two mono-balanced dual soundtracks (dialogues, effects, music, etc.) that are neither breathless (or so tiny that it is forgotten) nor distortion or saturation. Since mixing is recorded at a curiously very high level, I can only advise you to test the volume before switching to your reference level.
The voices are intelligible despite a slightly stifled stamp here and there (net less on Our wild years Because more detached), the dynamics of the ambient sounds and the soundtrack strike by its resumption, and the frontal intentions of the mixing continue with precision.
CONCLUSION - Once upon a time...
With his first two films where a poetry of melancholy emerged at the same time as an existential questioning, the man who captured time and love better than anyone revealed the specifics of his unique style... Nevertheless, as beautiful as they are, these 4K restorations will not fail to make a debate because of questionable choices about the fluctuating preservation of silver photography and the modern overhaul of the chromatic range.
But as he said in an interview conducted by the magazine FIRST at the end of 2020: « One of the dilemmas that I had to overcome with my team was whether I was trying to find the original form (...), the one that the public had discovered (...), or whether I was working on it again so that it was in line with the one I wanted at the beginning. There were so many things I wanted to change that I chose the second option, considering that it would represent the most penetrating vision (...), a way to improve my work ».
[...] (Loves Tony Leung and Leslie Cheung) imbued with a sweet bitter melancholy, Wong Kar-wai (As Tears Go By, Our Wild Years, In the Mood for Love) weaves a poetic and visceral fresco [...]