Source United States | Publisher : Sony Pictures | Release date : 1 December 2020
Video format
2160p24 – Ratio 2.39
HDR10 / BT.2020 – HEVC encoding
Master intermediate 4K
Soundtrack
Mandarin Dolby Atmos
English DTS-HD MA 5.1
French (Parisian) Dolby Digital 5.1
Subtitles
English
French
Rated 4 out of 5
Artistic : 9 | Video : 8 | Audio : 9
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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 (Dolby Atmos | Dolby Surround | DTS Neural:X), SVS SB-4000
WORK - Yin and Yang
In 19th-century China, Li Mu Bai, a virtuoso martial arts man, has a light, fast and magical sword called ‘Destination'. It is the object of many lusts. Weary of fighting, Li Mu Bai decides to entrust her to an excellent warrior, Yu Shu Lien, to whom he dares not confess his love. This one must hand over the famous sword to Lord Te, but once the night falls, a clever thief manages to steal it from him...
Poetic, elegant and melancholic, Tiger and Dragon is a tribute just as much as a modern rereading of the Chinese sword movie (the wu xia pian), which manages to make it more accessible to a Western public not accustomed to this admirable genre. Visually splendid, crossed by ballets of swords (sometimes aerial) with inventive choreography, rhythmic by the magnificent music of Tan Dun, carried by the grace of its actors (Chow Yun-Fat, Michelle Yeoh, Zhang Ziyi) and dictated by pleasantly literary dialogues, Tiger and Dragon as one of the reference films of Chinese cinema. A great classic!
IMAGE - The Air Masters
A neat UHD transfer was needed to do justice to the visual art work that is Tiger and Dragon, and this is fortunately the case even if, shooting super 35 mm requires, many planes (about 25%) have an ultra-visible grain (other less). It's not a defect, but it's always better to warn.
The master is clean, the compression is simply infallible (there is no artifact), the definition and the piqué are improved with a rise of obvious details (intimacy of close-ups) and richer textures (clothing fabrics, wooden structures), the depth of field is greater to make the most of the splendid natural scenery with which the film overflows (deserts and forests), and the improvements due to the HDR are made discreetly but remain manifest throughout.
The colours are therefore always natural but are now fabulously balanced with better saturated hues (green foliage) and/or deep (earthy atmospheres), whites gain in intensity, artistically not very pronounced contrasts are more marked, light sources are displayed with more force (light on metals like steel swords) and blacks are now of rejoicing purity.
SOUND - Purity of Feelings
Precise and realistic sound tracks (the atmospheres of nature) which, apart from the action scenes where the burst of white weapons and the drums of music are felt with power, are deliberately laid. A pleasure of every moment where...
The Atmos mix is nevertheless one hundred cubits above the others (English DTS-HD MA 5.1 and French Dolby Digital 5.1) thanks to a feeling of increased immersion (better precision and positioning of all sounds), incredible instrumental clarity and an unprecedented superior scene (the kiss, the rain, the echoes of voices, the « singing » of Destiny, score, etc.).
CONCLUSION - Wò H的 Cáng Lóng
It was once, in modern China, the virtuoso adaptation of a chivalrous narrative of From Lu Wang (published in five volumes in the 1940s) by Ang Lee, having successfully exported the wu xia pian in west. And while she lets herself be carried in the wind, it is indeed on 4K Ultra HD (gracious A/V services) that she touches the tops!
[...] generated by the magical majesty of the photograph signed Peter Pau (future oscarized for Tiger and Dragon), the true increase in the intensity of the colors (the primary ones are inflamed and no more [...]