SourceFrance |Publisher: The Jokers |Release date: 19 April 2023
Video format
2160p24 – Ratio 1.85
Dolby Vision/ BT.2020 – HEVC encoding
Master intermediate 4K
Soundtrack
JapaneseDTS-HD MA 5.1
Japanese DTS-HD MA 2.0
English DTS-HD MA 5.1
Subtitles
French
Rated 4.5 out of 5
Artistic : 8 | Video : 8.5 | Audio : 9
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-65A80J (Dolby Vision Luminous)
Sources: Oppo UDP-203 Audiocom Reference | Zappiti Reference
Pregnant: Sennheiser Ambeo Soundbar (DTS Neural:X), SVS SB-4000
WORK - Run back
In the process of divorce, Yoshimi and his six-year-old daughter Ikuko moved into an old building on the outskirts of Tokyo. As they try to acclimatize to their new life mysterious phenomena occur. Who is this yellow wax girl walking around the hallways? Why does a little bag for a red child always appear in the hands of Ikuko? What is the origin of these runoff that extends over the walls and ceiling of their apartment?
Against the current of modern horror, this real social drama from which the yuri-eiga (Japanese ghost film) flows takes its root in the terrible loneliness of a single mother gradually falling into the societal and family anxieties of our cold and demanding societies. And drop after drop, while the malaise slowly sucks on the walls of a family cell in full vaporization, remains of the fear only the tears of a devastated childhood! AfterRing, the master of J-HorrorNakatacontinued to drape the terrifying melodrama like no one.
She's infiltrating!
Resulting from a 4K restoration of the original 35 mm negative performed by Kadokawa at the Japanese laboratory IMAGICA Lab., this UHD Dolby Vision transfer to solid compression makes us forget the horrific HD presentation (digitally manipulated everywhere) appeared at Arrow in October 2016.
The overall softness of the frame (a variable pique of nature) thus regains its purity with very fine textures (the tired faces, the dilapidation of the concrete labyrinth), the silver grain is no longer filtered and can proudly expose, the blafarde colorimetry no longer tends towards the muddy brown but towards a very suitable cold calibration (the water is blue and the pale carnation) in which some shades (the yellow wax, the red bag) come out better, the contrasts finally respect the low lights of the frame.Jun的ichirō Hayashiwith firm blacks and lightless whites, and light sources with moderate intensity (inner lighting) reveal themselves with increased realism (such as reflections on aqueous surfaces and/or floating parquet).
SOUND - On the Water
Obsessed by the water that drips at regular intervals across all speakers, this immersive soundtrack shows a lot of nuance.
As soon as the spectrum desolates the place, the LFE channel suggests anxiety up to drowning, the effects around us plunge into the bath (rain outside), the ethereal music ofKenji Kawaifleet through the room and dialogues are well prioritised.
Even if treated and as open as his conœur, the VF cannot fight against the expressiveness of Japanese intonations.
CONCLUSION - Solitude of Lives
As it happens to us in limited collector edition 4K Ultra HD (from A/V performances to the water test and exciting bonuses such as the interview-river with the director) for its 20th anniversary, this intimate drama where everything is a suggestion continues to see the tide progress in the daily life of a woman far too devoted to a patriarchal society (which is asphyxiated) before she sacrifices herself to save children abandoned by modernity. The torments and lively emotions of these ghosts were already strong in 2002, they are even more so today!
[...] Hideo Nakata, godfather of Japanese horror cinema to whom one owes the memorable Ring and Dark Water, the film betrays a rickety budget and an ambition that friezes the je-m A [...]