Re: International Blu-ray discs
Posted: Sat Feb 15, 2014 5:43 am
Some more discs arrived in the mail the other day:
The Taiwanese DVD release of Lou Ye's latest, "Mystery." –– One of the worst discs I've ever seen, it makes a contemporary movie look like some kind of mistreated 50s cast-off. The disc is interlaced and ghosts both crazily and constantly, making the viewing experience almost impossible. There are English subtitles, but a disc is also available from Artificial Eye in the UK, and is undoubtedly authored with more competence. I watched the movie, as well, and found it admirable but not very likable. I think Summer Palace was a kind of a turning point for Lou (most of the main cast members of Summer Palace return for this film), when he became the kind of filmmaker that no longer altogether interests me.
The Taiwanese disc of Escorts Over Tiger Hill. -- Quality is oddly decent for this release, and the film looks beautiful and engrossing. Unfortunately, but not unsurprisingly, there are no English subtitles. Picture quality looks very nice; while the print is quite high-contrast, you can actually see grain structure and the print looks very crisp. However, the picture is pan-and-scanned into a 4:3 shape. In an agonizing irony, the opening credits and several introductory shots, as well as all shots sporting title cards, are presented in something that looks close to 2.00:1 ratio. The opening shots, boasting that the film is shot in "Cathayscope," are presented in this lovely-looking aspect ratio, but once the film gets underway, it's back to the horrible cramped, unnatural 4:3.
The HK disc of Kiyoshi Kurosawa's "Real," released by Panorama. -- I don't know how this film was shot, but the picture looks suspiciously smooth. I don't see any artifacts one would associate with horrid DNR, but the smoothness creeps me out. I haven't had time to look at this properly, or watch the movie, but it looks like a return to good form and the engrossing interest of Kurosawa films of years past.
The Korean blu-ray set of Yasuhiro Imagawa's operatic anime OAV, "Giant Robo. -- Shot on film, Giant Robo benefits quite a bit from the blu-ray transfer. The art and the color achieve unprecedented, crisp clarity, and the uncompressed audio lets the huge orchestral score, thunderous explosion sounds, and hysterical voice acting rip voluminously. There is improved depth of field, although the animation was not conceived with the intention of extensive, multiplanar camera effects. Freed from the compression constraints of DVD, however, the highly stylized background paintings and the extensive animated shadow detail come through with new fervor.
There are two audio options, which I can't precisely discern. There is a Japanese language track, accompanied by forced Korean subtitles, or another audio track with no subtitles attached. I assume this second track is a Korean dub, but it doesn't sound like Korean to me. I'm not an expert; I'm probably wrong, and it most likely is Korean.
Aside from the lack of English language options, the box is incredible, packing three blu-rays in a handsome steelbook, along with a booklet full of production sketches and storyboards, and a DVD set that includes all 3 Gin-rei specials. All of this is house in an elegantly-printed cardboard slipcase, with red foiling for the titling and rhyming paintings on either side of the box--one of the Experts of Justice, the other of Big Fire.
For fans who can handle the subtitling themselves--I'm hoping to be one of those--this is a very worthwhile upgrade. The transfer is much cleaner than previous DVD transfers (even the best DVD editions had a lot of dirt and grit in the backgrounds of shots, and nearly all of that is gone). The biggest jump is in audio, but second might be color, which seems exceptional true and vivid. It may be silly, but I always cry my way through this series, whether I understand the text or not--and how can you not? I mean, they're practically begging you every other scene to start bawling. Every character has some passionate speech--or two, or three--about how whatever heroic thing they're about to do is in some way the culmination of their life's validating beliefs, and how their own troubled childhood, and perhaps the endemic strife that plagues the world at large, might in some way be mitigated by their upcoming sacrifice, and if what they do can make one young boy and with a giant robot's life a little bit better, then sometime in the future it will all have been worth it. Just a quick perusal of about an hour of material reveals maybe 5 or 6 big chances to sob: Giant Robo's arm cracking against the side of the Eye of Volger; Daisaku pleading for Giant Robo to stand up; Ginrei using her power, even though it will kill her; Taiso fighting Mr. Alberto to the death; Youshi sacrificing her life to uncouple the Great Garbo's ejection pod from the main body of the burning ship; Giant Robo grabbing Genya to defend Daisaku. It helps that practically every event is punctuated by the Warsaw Philharmonic and choir that sings their hearts out.
Eh, whatever. It's a great box, totally worth it. The stuff from Taiwan sucks. The HK disc is suspicious. The Japan product is solid gold. Very little of it all is English-language-friendly. And there it is.
The Taiwanese DVD release of Lou Ye's latest, "Mystery." –– One of the worst discs I've ever seen, it makes a contemporary movie look like some kind of mistreated 50s cast-off. The disc is interlaced and ghosts both crazily and constantly, making the viewing experience almost impossible. There are English subtitles, but a disc is also available from Artificial Eye in the UK, and is undoubtedly authored with more competence. I watched the movie, as well, and found it admirable but not very likable. I think Summer Palace was a kind of a turning point for Lou (most of the main cast members of Summer Palace return for this film), when he became the kind of filmmaker that no longer altogether interests me.
The Taiwanese disc of Escorts Over Tiger Hill. -- Quality is oddly decent for this release, and the film looks beautiful and engrossing. Unfortunately, but not unsurprisingly, there are no English subtitles. Picture quality looks very nice; while the print is quite high-contrast, you can actually see grain structure and the print looks very crisp. However, the picture is pan-and-scanned into a 4:3 shape. In an agonizing irony, the opening credits and several introductory shots, as well as all shots sporting title cards, are presented in something that looks close to 2.00:1 ratio. The opening shots, boasting that the film is shot in "Cathayscope," are presented in this lovely-looking aspect ratio, but once the film gets underway, it's back to the horrible cramped, unnatural 4:3.
The HK disc of Kiyoshi Kurosawa's "Real," released by Panorama. -- I don't know how this film was shot, but the picture looks suspiciously smooth. I don't see any artifacts one would associate with horrid DNR, but the smoothness creeps me out. I haven't had time to look at this properly, or watch the movie, but it looks like a return to good form and the engrossing interest of Kurosawa films of years past.
The Korean blu-ray set of Yasuhiro Imagawa's operatic anime OAV, "Giant Robo. -- Shot on film, Giant Robo benefits quite a bit from the blu-ray transfer. The art and the color achieve unprecedented, crisp clarity, and the uncompressed audio lets the huge orchestral score, thunderous explosion sounds, and hysterical voice acting rip voluminously. There is improved depth of field, although the animation was not conceived with the intention of extensive, multiplanar camera effects. Freed from the compression constraints of DVD, however, the highly stylized background paintings and the extensive animated shadow detail come through with new fervor.
There are two audio options, which I can't precisely discern. There is a Japanese language track, accompanied by forced Korean subtitles, or another audio track with no subtitles attached. I assume this second track is a Korean dub, but it doesn't sound like Korean to me. I'm not an expert; I'm probably wrong, and it most likely is Korean.
Aside from the lack of English language options, the box is incredible, packing three blu-rays in a handsome steelbook, along with a booklet full of production sketches and storyboards, and a DVD set that includes all 3 Gin-rei specials. All of this is house in an elegantly-printed cardboard slipcase, with red foiling for the titling and rhyming paintings on either side of the box--one of the Experts of Justice, the other of Big Fire.
For fans who can handle the subtitling themselves--I'm hoping to be one of those--this is a very worthwhile upgrade. The transfer is much cleaner than previous DVD transfers (even the best DVD editions had a lot of dirt and grit in the backgrounds of shots, and nearly all of that is gone). The biggest jump is in audio, but second might be color, which seems exceptional true and vivid. It may be silly, but I always cry my way through this series, whether I understand the text or not--and how can you not? I mean, they're practically begging you every other scene to start bawling. Every character has some passionate speech--or two, or three--about how whatever heroic thing they're about to do is in some way the culmination of their life's validating beliefs, and how their own troubled childhood, and perhaps the endemic strife that plagues the world at large, might in some way be mitigated by their upcoming sacrifice, and if what they do can make one young boy and with a giant robot's life a little bit better, then sometime in the future it will all have been worth it. Just a quick perusal of about an hour of material reveals maybe 5 or 6 big chances to sob: Giant Robo's arm cracking against the side of the Eye of Volger; Daisaku pleading for Giant Robo to stand up; Ginrei using her power, even though it will kill her; Taiso fighting Mr. Alberto to the death; Youshi sacrificing her life to uncouple the Great Garbo's ejection pod from the main body of the burning ship; Giant Robo grabbing Genya to defend Daisaku. It helps that practically every event is punctuated by the Warsaw Philharmonic and choir that sings their hearts out.
Eh, whatever. It's a great box, totally worth it. The stuff from Taiwan sucks. The HK disc is suspicious. The Japan product is solid gold. Very little of it all is English-language-friendly. And there it is.
