Johnnie To

[feihong]

Looks like a 4k restoration of PTU has been completed. I'll be keen to see it.

I never heard what happened to the restoration of The Mission. Somebody on Letterboxd who went to a screening of the film about 11 months ago said Johnnie To claimed the restoration wasn't happening after all, because the original negative was lost. Which seems weird. The viewer claims the screening was of a 35mm print, don't know why there aren't other elements that could make for an okay restoration. I'd certainly take that over nothing, jeez. After being extremely available on disc around the year 2000, This film is missing on two generations of home video at this point.

[andyli]

Looks like a 4k restoration of PTU has been completed. I'll be keen to see it.

I never heard what happened to the restoration of The Mission. Somebody on Letterboxd who went to a screening of the film about 11 months ago said Johnnie To claimed the restoration wasn't happening after all, because the original negative was lost. Which seems weird. The viewer claims the screening was of a 35mm print, don't know why there aren't other elements that could make for an okay restoration. I'd certainly take that over nothing, jeez. After being extremely available on disc around the year 2000, This film is missing on two generations of home video at this point.

I saw it at this year’s HKIFF where the 4K restoration premiered. Quality is mediocre at best. But at least there’s no major fuck-up. I’d expect it to hit the physical media market sooner than later.

As for The Mission, that’s indeed the status quo. Searching for usable material won’t continue forever. I’d expect them to cave in and release a blu-ray based off a subbed-print scan soon.

I recently re-watched the French DVD. Despite format limitations I found it holding up rather well. The image is clean and grainy and, most important of all, without burnt-in subs. I wonder if the rights holder has made duly inquiries into overseas distributors. I mean, a clean release print is still better than nothing.

[Forrest Taft]

I've seen about a quarter of To's output, but few of the earlier films. Last night I saw The Story of My Son, and it's very different from what I'm accustomed to from To. A father has to raise his two sons by himself, after the mother passess, but gambles away his money, and ends up also unsuccesfully trying to evade the Triads, seemingly without any means of repaying his debts. A very grim film, and one I'm sure will stay with me for some time. I was suprised to see on Letterboxd the majority seems to think it as a dud. It is melodramatic, and To sure keeps piling on misery upon misery, but I was hooked early on, spending much of the time with a knot in my stomach. It's a relief that it's only 78 minutes long. A particarly moving scene, for me, was

Spoiler

when the youngest son was watching a VHS with the only video footage they have of the late mother, accidenditaly managing to delete it when intending to rewind the tape. The scene itself was affective, and the aftermath, with his older brother trying in vain to get the tape fixed, and their father's horrible reaction, is probably a good example of the places To is willing to go, that rubs some viewers the wrong way.

This is a part of Shout Factory's Hong Kong Cinmea Classics line, in the New Wave Essentials boxset only sold through their website. I was suprises when the film opened with the Shaw brothers-logo. All the films in the box are from Shaw brothers, none from the Golden Princess catalogue. According to the lone extra on the disc, Johnnie To is known as the Hong Kong Jerry Bruckheimer (!), because of how many movies he has produced and directed (yet Bruckheimer never directed a single one!!). You learn something new every day. The cover also, confusingly, describes it as an early collaboration between To an Wei Chia-hui. I assume this is an alternate way to spell Wai Ka-Fai's name?