Source France | Publisher : The Jokers | Release date : 1 December 2021
Video format
2160p24 – Ratio 1.66
HDR10 / BT.2020 – HEVC encoding
Master intermediate 4K
Soundtrack
Cantonese Dolby Atmos
Cantonese DTS-HD MA 2.0
French DTS-HD MA 2.0
Subtitles
French
Rated 2.5 out of 5
Artistic : 9 | Video : 3 | 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 (Expert HDR)
Sources : Oppo UDP-203 Audiocom Reference | Zappiti Reference
Pregnant : Sennheiser Ambeo Soundbar (Dolby Atmos | DTS Neural:X), SVS SB-4000
WORK - Angkor's Secret
In Hong Kong in 1962, two couples moved into a small boarding house on the same day. Mr. Chow and his step-by-step neighbour Ms. Chan soon discovered that their respective spouses were having an affair. Shocked by this discovery, the deceived spouses approach each other and try to understand. But as they meet, Mr. Chow feels his feelings change towards his confidant...
While a man and a woman dare to love (unforgetable main duo composed of Maggie Cheung and Tony Leung Chiu-wai), the painful memories of their platonic relationship and the sad resurgence of their outbursts form a feeling (not a story with eternal theme) where everything is only elegance, sweetness and nostalgia. A sensory journey to sensual staging and suspended moments for pure-state romanticism that shivers with subtle emotions.
IMAGE - His beauty is only a memory
Supervised and approved by Wong Kar-wai, this UHD HDR10 transfer created from a 4K scan of the original 35 mm negative (the restoration was conducted by L-Immagine Ritrovata Bologna from 2017 to 2020 and calibration by One Cool Production) hardly sat on the subject and ruined the modesty as much as the refinement of the signed photograph Christopher Doyle and Mark Li-ping.
Falling in a misguided revisionism (the red of passion turned off to give way to the malaising green) and using boundless digital tripatoulages (cf. the excessive use of DNR), the Hong Kong filmmaker who bewitched Cannes in the year 2000 could escape his demons like James Cameron (Terminator 2 and soon Avatar, which I will come back to at length on in my future test) and Peter Jackson (with The Lord of the Rings and above all The Hobbit) before him. In these conditions, how to appreciate the fetishist pictorial care of its frames?
The silver texture has disappeared with the fine details (difficult to distinguish the inlaid motifs from the carpeted corridors or the fibres of the qipao worn by Mrs Chan), the colorimetric palette has been contaminated by the green hues (including carnation and whites) for more dull reds on rare occasions (where saturation has been increased), and while the contrasts generally draw well, the shadows are regularly squatted by compressive tingling. Definitely, except for the slightly amplified high lights (the reflections on Mr. Chow's gomina) that do not distort in any way the felt and poetic lighting of the places, it is a massacre!
About this brand new version restored in 4K, Wong Kar-wai wrote: « The window is no longer dusty ». So I will answer him: « Household is an art that is not given to everyone ».
SON - Confessing to the blind
Restored by Jet Tone Films at the Robert Mackenzie Sound studio under the supervision of the director, the soundtrack Dolby Atmos is on the contrary a great success, with the few additions (additional effects of that) only amplifying the intrinsic qualities of the original mixing.
The clarity of the dialogues (and of the unsaid) is never taken in default, the basses are of great accuracy, the dynamics are wonderfully nuanced, the high atmospheres (rainstorms) are naturally mixed with the rest of the acoustic environment (whose multi-directional proximity is striking), and the sublime sentimental ritournelle of Shigeru Umebayashi and Michael Galasso (special mention to the melancholy emanating from the theme of Yumeji) flies away with an unprecedented luxuriance... The violin solos were no longer anemic but rather round and full.
If the two VO impose on a purely artistic plane vis-à-vis the VF, the 3D track obviously replaces its stereophonic consoeurs by a spatialization which they cannot reasonably achieve.
CONCLUSION - Miss you?
If the enchantment aroused by this melancholic poem (haunted by beautiful ghost lovers) persists, it is difficult to forgive his penitent for the horrific modifications that he spread coarsely on his old impressionist painting with an evanescent style. And it's all the more annoying that the soundtrack is wonderful and the edition concocted by The Jokers Classics (formerly La Rabbia) meticulous. As he flees inexorably, can time erase such disappointment?
Sadly, this wave of abusive DNR releases. Is there possibly another Edition with a different master?
In 4K UHD no, but the previous Blu-ray Criterion is the version to own for who wants to find the original photograph. 😉
The one I own then. Thank you. 🙂
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