4K Ultra HD – US Edition – Lionsgate Films – 100 min – 27 April 2021
Video format
• Intermediate Master: 4K
• Standard HDR: Dolby Vision
• Ratio: 1.85
Soundtrack
• English Dolby Atmos
• English DTS-HD MA 5.1
• English Dolby Digital 2.0
Subtitles
• English
It is brought to the attention of our dear readers as well as the viewing equipment specified and used by each tester of the MaG team, the rendering may differ from one installation to another, whether or not it is calibrated, as well as personal preferences and expectations may influence the rating. Moreover, the images in the article are not representative of the edition tested.
WORK – 50 dance nuances
In the 1960s, Baby spent a monotonous family holiday until she discovered that a group of summer village leaders formed a dance group. For the wise girl, this is the beginning of emancipation thanks to the « dirty dancing », this ultra-sensuous dance, and the encounter with Johnny Castel, the dance teacher.
Pioneer of the genre films and worn by a mythical duo (Swayze and Grey), this Romeo and Juliet of the 80s is a romantic comedy on the background of dance and class struggle that runs its summer program (a story of love and desire interspersed with « cabrioles ») on a fun tempo. An iconic work that has marked several generations!
IMAGE – As for autumn is the summer...
From a 4K scan of the original negative, this UHD Dolby Vision transfer whose color calibration has been approved by Ops Chef Jeffrey Jur is a consistent upgrade from the previous Blu-ray (from the disastrous 2007 record to the very average 2017 edition).
From the opening logo Vestron, the improvement is noticeable throughout. The brightness is now incredible (while the plans were previously very dark), the natural silver grain (despite some passages where it blooms too much), the healthy details (bye bye edge enhancement), the otherwise better saturated colors (they were unwashed until then) and the drastically corrected contrasts (the crushed blacks and the burned whites are ancient history).
And if she keeps, fortunately, her appearance « inde » (a budget of 5 million dollars) with its naturalistic lighting, its texture of character and its rather soft pique, the image is now much clearer and alive thanks to a more refined definition (face features, costumes, decors), a fantastic colorimetric palette (blues, reds, yellows), darker, deeper and legible scenes (cf. the separation of shadows), and bold light sources (the luxuriance of lanterns, the brightness of dance tracks).
SON – The Time of My Life
Let's forget the past (the previous mix DTS-HD MA 7.1 of exasperating platitude) and make room for the present (a soundtrack Dolby Atmos more alive than ever)!
With a large frontal opening (the exterior/indoor atmospheres of the Kellerman family pension) and feverish dynamics, this soundtrack increases in clarity and punch « sembrase » (back and height channels) as soon as the inevitable BO, at full bass, enters the dance. Never artificially stretched to the surrounds, she respects her original tempo (an exceptional fidelity in short) while adding a power that she could not hope for until now.
CONCLUSION – We don't leave Baby in a Corner!
Overpassing all previous editions of this cult film designed to make hearts dance, this 4K Ultra HD puts under the spotlight Frédérique « Baby » Houseman!
Artistic note
8
Video quality
8
Audio quality
9
0
[...] Keanu Reeves (Speed, Matrix, John Wick), then parachuted alongside a Patrick Swayze (Dirty Dancing, Road House) at the climax of his career, would follow an initiatory course among the [...]