"After Life" New Yorker R1 NTSC vs Bandai R2 NTSC

(aka 'Wandafuru raifu' or 'After Life' or 'Afterlife' or 'Wonderful Life')

directed by Hirokazu Koreeda
Japan 1998

Posters (Click far right poster to enlarge)

Theatrical Release: September 11th, 1998 - Toronto Film Festival

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DVD Comparison:

New Yorker - Region 1 - NTSC vs. Bandai - Region 2 - NTSC

Big thanks to Trond Trondsen of Masters of Cinema.org for the Bandai Screen Caps!

(New Yorker - Region 1 - NTSC - LEFT vs. Bandai - Region 2 - NTSC - RIGHT)

DVD Box Covers		CLICK TO ENLARGE
Distribution	New Yorker Region 1 - NTSC	Bandai (Japan) Region 2 - NTSC
Runtime	1:58:28	1:58:40
Video	1.53:1 Cropped Average Bitrate:4.68 mb/s NTSC 704x480 29.97 f/s	1.66:1 Original Aspect Ratio 16X9 enhanced Average Bitrate: 6.63 PAL 720x576 25.00 f/s
Bitrate: New Yorker NOTE: The Vertical axis represents the bits transferred per second. The Horizontal is the time in minutes.
Bitrate: Bandai
Audio	Japanese (Dolby Digital 2.0)	Japanese (Dolby Digital 2.0)
Subtitles	Yellow - English (non-removable)	English, Japanese and none
Features	Release Information: Studio: New Yorker Films Aspect Ratio: Widescreen letterbox 1.53:1 Edition Details: • Color • Production notes • Theatrical trailer (Japanese and American) • Widescreen letterbox format DVD Release Date: August 29, 2000 Keep Case Chapters 8	Release Information: Studio: Bandai (Japan) Aspect Ratio: Widescreen anamorphic - 1.66:1 Edition Details: • Theatrical Trailer • Deleted Scenes • Photo Gallery DVD Release Date: March 28th, 2003 Keep Case Chapters 8
Comments:	The New Yorker disc is quite cropped on the left edge and is not as sharp as the Bandai release. I also see some contrast boosting in the Region 1 and quite a lot of film grain the anamorphic Region 2. The New Yorker disc has burned in yellow subtitles. DVDBeaver recommends the Region 2 Bandai release which is an easy winner over the New Yorker. - Gary W. Tooze The film was shot on 16 mm(), and it shows (and it should show). In an attempt to clean up the associated graininess, New Yorker has apparently run the film through a digital low-pass (smoothing) filter, causing a general blurring of the image and a lower required bitrate. To compensate for this decrease in sharpness, New Yorker then applied edge enhancement, which only serves to cause further ugliness (see for example the "halo" around the back of the chair in the first screenshot below). - Trond Trondsen* (*) The final sequence of the film, when the memories are projected, are presented in vivid 35 mm, in contrast to the intentional "cinema verite" feel of the 16 mm used for the bulk of the film.