World of Wong Kar Wai

[cowboydan]

2046

Tartan DVD (Left) vs. 2021 Restoration Stream (Right)

(please forgive the poor borders on the images due to my rushed cropping. it's late)

[tenia]

It's surprising how many of these are quite similar with each other, and suddenly, some are now all green or gone from sepia to pure B&W or from yellow-green to a more natural tone on from quite saturated to quite bleak. It really feels like WKW is fine-tuning his movie 16 years later.

[nostaljhia]

I'm not too familiar with DVD Beaver (although I have seen it treated as an authority on such matters on some forums), but I don't know how anybody can take it seriously after reading "the rich tones began to look refreshing making primary colors; notable reds, greens, blues etc. - look far richer" in the In the Mood for Love review. Looking at those screencaps... how could that possibly be true?

[Finch]

By and large, I like the look of the 2046 restoration. Hopefully there's going to be English-friendly stand alone releases of it in the rest of the world.

[Finch]

Beaver on Fallen Angels

[R0lf]

It's surprising how many of these are quite similar with each other, and suddenly, some are now all green or gone from sepia to pure B&W or from yellow-green to a more natural tone on from quite saturated to quite bleak. It really feels like WKW is fine-tuning his movie 16 years later.

Looks like the colour timing has been updated to correspond with the different parts of the narrative. The green is flashbacks, natural is the present story, and the saturated look is for the internal sci fi story.

[cowboydan]

2046 on Beaver
http://www.dvdbeaver.com/film9/blu-ray_ ... lu-ray.htm

[Michael Kerpan]

Looks like 2046 came through comparatively unscathed.

[soundchaser]

I dunno...it could be Criterion's (really Pixelogic's) fault, but this screenshot looks pretty awful.

[tenia]

It doesn't look like the usual Pixelogic LEGO-ish crappression, but rather some kind of noisy material

[cowboydan]

I dunno...it could be Criterion's (really Pixelogic's) fault, but this screenshot looks pretty awful.

This exact screenshot cause my eye too. I think the lighting is too dim and the black levels might be too high. But even still, it shouldn't look like that right?

[mhofmann]

There is a lot of posterization/banding, basically a huge loss of fine gradations, in many of the screencaps I have seen so far, across the films of the set. I'm not keeping my hopes high here.

[depp91]

Thanks a lot cowboydan for posting all the information, screenshots and obversations of the new restorations! As of right now I'm really looking forward to the new restorations of Happy Together and 2046, the others not so much. :-(

In order to be prepared once I get the Criterion set, I'm in the process of updating my blog on WKW which was mentioned upthread. I've already newly embedded the pictures in some of the mor important posts:
https://wong-kar-wais-love-odysseys.blo ... on-vs.html
https://wong-kar-wais-love-odysseys.blo ... -love.html
https://wong-kar-wais-love-odysseys.blo ... ut-vs.html

Inspired by cowboydan's careful comparison of the monologues in Happy Together, I've decided to take another look at the former remasters and wrote a summary of my observations:
https://wong-kar-wais-love-odysseys.blo ... art-i.html

[rapta]

Apparently the Region B set is still on its way, but has been put back to May rather than April. So us in the UK will have to wait a little longer...

[depp91]

Apparently the Region B set is still on its way, but has been put back to May rather than April. So us in the UK will have to wait a little longer...

Good to know, thanks! :-)
Where did you get that information? I've been looking for information on the Region B version but haven't found anything...

[cowboydan]

Thanks a lot cowboydan for posting all the information, screenshots and obversations of the new restorations! As of right now I'm really looking forward to the new restorations of Happy Together and 2046, the others not so much.

In order to be prepared once I get the Criterion set, I'm in the process of updating my blog on WKW which was mentioned upthread. I've already newly embedded the pictures in some of the mor important posts:
https://wong-kar-wais-love-odysseys.blo ... on-vs.html
https://wong-kar-wais-love-odysseys.blo ... -love.html
https://wong-kar-wais-love-odysseys.blo ... ut-vs.html

Inspired by cowboydan's careful comparison of the monologues in Happy Together, I've decided to take another look at the former remasters and wrote a summary of my observations:
https://wong-kar-wais-love-odysseys.blo ... art-i.html

You're welcome. I'm glad to see that other people have an interest in these small details.

The information that you've compiled on your blog is unique and invaluable! I know some of it exists in books and elsewhere on the web, but it's neatly and cohesively compiled on your blog posts. It's a wonderful resource.

[rapta]

Apparently the Region B set is still on its way, but has been put back to May rather than April. So us in the UK will have to wait a little longer...

Good to know, thanks!
Where did you get that information? I've been looking for information on the Region B version but haven't found anything...

Someone at BR.com just emailed the Mulvaney contact asking about April announcements and whether the Wong set was still coming that month (that's what the previous information was) and they replied that it was delayed slightly to May.

[Boosmahn]

Two months later, my Amazon UK order of the Artificial Eye Fallen Angels Blu-ray has miraculously shipped!

[DandyDancing]

Two months later, my Amazon UK order of the Artificial Eye Fallen Angels Blu-ray has miraculously shipped!

Me too! Sometimes emergency impulse buying along with the masses works out.

[Drucker]

Me three. This was an order placed in November on my end!

[allyouzombies]

Mondo is releasing a remastered ITMFL soundtrack this week, as well as a poster: https://theplaylist.net/in-the-mood-for ... -20210208/

[Fortisquince]

I’ve actually read quite a bit of this thread, but is the TL/DR version that WKW not only tinkered with the films, but in some cases made radical changes to them? Color timing, added dialogue, different music cues, etc? Thanks!

[MichaelB]

I’ve actually read quite a bit of this thread, but is the TL/DR version that WKW not only tinkered with the films, but in some cases made radical changes to them? Color timing, added dialogue, different music cues, etc? Thanks!

Yes, and the major controversy is that these are the only versions being included.

(Compare and contrast with, say, Arrow's Thief, which includes - or included in the initial two-disc version, anyway - both Michael Mann's notorious blue-tinted "upgrade" and something much closer to the original theatrical release.)

[Fortisquince]

Ah, okay, I understand. I first noticed this kind of directorial “adjustment” about 10 years ago with new releases of The French Connection and The Godfather Trilogy. The color timing had clearly been changed, imo, just to make the films look like they had been shot in the 21st century, not the early 70s.

It’s fine with me if WKW wants to radically alter his films, but restored versions of the original films that were true to their original appearance should have been done as well.
Oh well...

[MichaelB]

The problem is that when you work directly with the filmmaker, as Criterion did, you basically have to go along with what s/he wants. Similarly, because Criterion worked directly with Michael Mann, they were only able to include the revisionist Thief, whereas Arrow (deliberately) chose not to involve him, licensed the revisionist version from Criterion *and* included the rightsholder-supplied master, as they were contractually entitled to do.

Indicator usually tries to include multiple versions where available (Eve being a particularly good recent example, with no fewer than four cuts), but their hands occasionally get tied too - at Ken Loach's request, their version of Carla's Song is the revamped version from 2005, although at least all the deleted footage from the 1996 theatrical release is also included (and it's arguably all too clear why it was deleted) and there's no reframing or regrading.

As for The French Connection, one of the most vocal opponents of William Friedkin's revamp was cinematographer Owen Roizman, who (reasonably) believed that he should have been consulted. So that was ultimately reissued in something far closer to the 1971 version.