Happy Together: US BluRay by Kino International

I had this BD in the mail today, although it won't be released until Tuesday next week. In March we already got Fallen Angels on BD from Kino International, three months later, they give us Happy Together. Judging from the quality of the trailer for Happy Together on the Fallen Angels BD, I anticipated a great disc.
As expected, the HD transfer contains the remastered version that was published on DVD in 2009 (I blogged about the differences between the versions here). Fortunately, the disc is region-free and it is also double-layered (BD-50).

PACKAGING AND MENU
Many aspects of this release mimick the Fallen Angels BD. That's why it's no surprise that the amaray case is once again stored in a cardboard slipcase. It basically looks just like the DVD release from 2009, but this time, they managed to make the back cover look fine instead of cheap. It's no revelation, though. One thing I absolutely disliked about 2009's DVD release was the ugly menu. Whereas they managed to get it right on the BD of Fallen Angels, they fail this time. You can see the ugly background below. The Java animations are fine as always, Kino International actually put the same animations on all of their releases. They're simple and they work. Unfortunately, I can't take screencaps of these.

Turqouis? Why???
(Blu-Ray.com provides a better screenshot with the menu animations)

IMAGE AND SOUND

We get more detail here than on the Fallen Angels BluRay. Although Happy Together is also rather soft, it doesn't have that "nebulous" look that Fallen Angels has. Well, everything looks pretty well here, there are no damages and the new colors are nice. The only thing one could complain about is the fact that blacks sometimes appear rather greenish due to the new color palette. Still, the new color palette gives the movie more plasticity - therefore it was a good choice to change the movie in that way. Doyle's marvellous cinematography shines even more! The movie is presented in its original aspect ratio of 1,85:1, of course.

The sound is a pleasure too. The soundtrack of the remastered edition gives the impression that WKW recompiled it, that's also what he did with the soundtracks for Chungking Express and Fallen Angels. This time, WKW didn't change much. I have to confess that I didn't notice any changes (new sound effects for example) - except for the new 5.1 mix, of course.
Additionally, here are some technical aspects about image and sound:
Feature Size: 25,573,797,888 bytes
Length: 1:35:56.792

Video: MPEG-4 AVC Video / 29841 kbps / 1080p / 23,976 fps / 16:9 / High Profile 4.1
Audio: Chinese / DTS-HD Master Audio / 5.1 / 48 kHz / 3831 kbps / 16-bit (DTS Core: 5.1 / 48 kHz / 1509 kbps / 16-bit)
Subtitle: English / 20,158 kbps

BONUS FEATURES
First of all, there are 2 HD trailers for Fallen Angels and Happy Together (AVC, 1080p). We've already got those on the Fallen Angels BD and at first I thought the new HD trailer for Happy Together was recompiled from the remastered movie, but it actually wasn't. The trailer's color palette was definitely adjusted, but in comparison with the main feature, it looks inferior (higher contrast, more grain):

trailer vs. main feature

Just like on the Fallen Angels BD, there's also a collection of stills. You can't see the Java menu animations on this screencap, but this is one of the stills - they're not too interesting:

Additionally, we also get the documentary Buenos Aires Zero Degree (AVC, 1080i). It's kind of a making of and contains lots of deleted scenes. Unfortunately, the quality still sucks as it sucked on previous releases. I really hope to see a remastered version someday... And Kino International certainly don't improve the image by upscaling it to HD. Then again, they did a good job by inserting chapter marks here.

There's also an interview with WKW (AVC, 1080i): "In April 2008, Wong Kar-Wai sat down with David Schwartz at New York's Museum of the Moving Image to discuss his career. Director Ang Lee introduced the evening." The interview looks upscaled as well.

CONCLUSION
Great release for WKW fans! The main feature is presented in better quality than ever before and the selection of bonus features is pleasing. All that's left to hope is that we will get "Buenos Aires Zero Degree" in better quality one day...

More reviews:
Blu-ray.com
DVD Beaver
DVD Talk
Fulvue Drive-In

Happy Together: HK 10th Anniversary Edition

 

This is the 10th Anniversary Edition of Happy Together, which was released in Hong Kong in 2006. In my opinion it's the biggest collection of WKW goodies ever released. It contains 2 DVDs (main feature and the documentary Buenos Aires Zero Degree), 1 CD (soundtrack), the Iguazu Waterfall lamp (as seen in the movie), boxershorts, 2 posters, some postcards and a certificate wich guarantees you the limitation of this edition. Well, I'll start off with a negativ aspect: This edition doesn't seem limited at all. I bought it four years after it was released. Officially, this edition is limited to 2046 copies... and each certificate should contain the number of the copy you got. Mine says "0000". And no, I'm not the only one! Nevertheless, this edition is a beautiful thing to own.

It comes in a very robust, thick cardboard box... Which is really big. And it looks so good! When you open it, this is what you get:

 

The insides of the box show great collages of pictures from the movie

 

Let's discuss the discs first, as they are probably the most important thing about this edition. Well, the main feature looks almost exactly the same as on the Kino International Special Edition DVD from 2004. It's the same remaster - unfortunately, a new remastered version was released in 2009 - and it looks so much better. I wrote a blog about the differences in April, so check that out if you want to.
The second disc contains the documentary about the movie and it contains lots of deleted scenes, interview clips and so on. It's a pity that this is presented in letterboxed format only and the image quality isn't the best either. But then again, today, we still haven't got a better version.
The soundtrack on the third disc is remastered and also has a slight tracklist alteration compared to the original one. On the original soundtrack, we got 2 tracks which feature the song "3 Amigos" (7min). This new one contains one track only (1,5min) and it also sounds very different. I guess it was taken from the actual movie soundtrack - we can even hear the protagonists speaking! And there is lots of echo on this track... It creates a nice atmosphere, but I miss the original versions. Generally, the remastered tracks seem to have more base than on the original versions.
I should point out that the cover design of all the discs is extremely beautiful, these are the front covers:

The Iguazu Waterfall lamp looks exactly like the one in the movie and it might look a bit cheesy, but actually, I don't care. Just turn it on and listen to the soundtrack... Creates a great atmosphere.

Then there are the postcards and the posters. These are postcards for Buenos Aires Zero Degree actually. I guess they could have looked better, but they're okay. The posters are folded, which is sad, but they couldn't have stored it in a different way. Therefore, this is fine. One poster is a reprint of the Cannes poster from 1997 and the red one is the 10th Anniversary one.

Last but not least: The boxershorts. I wore them once and they were pretty comfortable. Although they're too multicolored for my taste, I really like them.

This 10th Anniversary Edition is worth the money, given that you are a fan of the movie. The only thing that's missing is a little photobook, I would have really enjoyed that. And despite the transfer of the movie being dated (the bonus features make up for it) I higly recommend this set. (Get a newer DVD / BD of the main feature afterwards, of course.)

Ashes Of Time Redux: HK DVD by Sony (Limited Deluxe Gift Edition)

Yes, this will be my first review of a DVD. And I'm only doing this because the edition we talk about is a collectors' item. The DVD itself contains nothing special, therefore I won't go into detail here. It's simply the movie and the bonus features we all know from other international releases. Common stuff! The physical bonus products we get are definitely more interesting: Beautiful packaging, a 3-frame film cell and an A4-size 36-page photo booklet.

PACKAGING
The DVD and the film cell are housed in a thick cardboard box. I suppose there is also little magnet in it to ensure that the box stays closed when you want it to. Although it's certainly not that special, it's the nicest packaging of AOTR I have seen yet.

PHOTO BOOKLET
The thing I was looking forward to the most was the photobook. Unfortunately, it's not as good as expected. Being A4-sized, it's rather large. Big plus! BUT: The paper used is clearly not the best for a photobook. Black always looks like dark grey... Can be pretty annoying, as it makes contrast suffer on many pictures. I would have also liked to see some pictures I had never seen before... Well yes, there are some, but not too many. The booklet itself is parted into the 4 seasons, just like the movie. There are also some excerpts from the movie, but I can't read Chinese so I don't know what they mean. And a note for Western people: Remember that you have to read the book from behind! Otherwise you'll start with the last picture.
So all in all it's a welcomed bonus feature whose quality could have been better.

FILM CELL
Film cells are nice bonus features... Well, this one has only 3 frames, but nevertheless, it's a nice addition to the set. As you can see from the picture below, the frames are even anamorphic. The 3 frames I got aren't the best but it certainly could have been worse.

CONCLUSION
Although every single part of this set could have certainly been a bit more exciting, this set isn't bad at all. It's actually a welcomed edition and an interesting alternative to the international bare-bone releases of this movie. But why can't this contain a BluRay disc...