Hana to Alice Shunji Iwai

(aka 'Hana to Alice')

directed by Shunji Iwai

Japan 2004

Another modern masterpiece from director Shunji Iwai (Love Letter, All About Lily Chou-Chou, April Story, Fireworks, Should we See It From the Side or the Bottom) comes this tale of two life long friends. Flirting with a disinterested boy on a train Hana follows him to witness him reading and walking and inadvertently knock himself out while walking into an overhang. When he comes to, Hana convinces him that she is his girlfriend whom he has professed love, and that he must have amnesia. In order to continue her charade, she must continually lie. She acquires Alice's assistance and he inadvertently falls for her.

The beauty of Iwai's films are all the things that are not said. We gather so much subtle information about the characters (especially Alice) that, in a typical non-verbal, passive, Asian way - we are deeply drawn to her life growth and struggle. The friendship aspect of the film is more in regards to one friends outgoing nature persuading the other to pursue her dreams. This is a beautiful film, filled with brilliant camera work of obtuse angles and capturing emotionally clandestine moments. It is modestly paced, but it seems this is the only way to express this films narrative. It has Iwai's marketed female understanding signature written all over it. What a gorgeous viewing experience. out of

Gary W. Tooze

Posters

Theatrical Release: March 13th, 2004

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DVD Comparison:

Enter One - Region 3 - NTSC vs. Panorama Entertainment (2 disc Box) - Region 3 - NTSC vs. Home Vision - Region 1 - NTSC

Big thanks to Rob Smith for the Enter One screen captures!

(Enter One (2 disc Box) - Region 3 - NTSC LEFT vs. Panorama Entertainment (2 disc Box) - Region 3 - NTSC MIDDLE vs. Home Vision - Region 1 - NTSC RIGHT)

DVD Box Cover
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Distribution	Enter One - Region 3 - NTSC	Panorama Entertainment - Region 3 - NTSC	Home Vision / Image Ent. - Region 1 - NTSC
Runtime	2:14:52	2:14:52	2:14:52
Video	1.78:1 Original Aspect Ratio Average Bitrate: ? mb/s NTSC 720x480 29.97 f/s	1.78:1 Original Aspect Ratio Average Bitrate: 5.22 mb/s NTSC 720x480 29.97 f/s	1.78:1 Original Aspect Ratio Average Bitrate: 5.7 mb/s NTSC 720x480 29.97 f/s
	NOTE: The Vertical axis represents the bits transferred per second. The Horizontal is the time in minutes.
Bitrate: Enter One	Not available at this time
Bitrate: Panorama
Bitrate: HVE
Audio	Japanese (Dolby Digital 2.0 Dolby)	Japanese (Dolby Digital 2.0 Dolby) , Japanese (Dolby Digital 5.1) , Japanese (DTS)	Japanese (Dolby Digital 2.0 Dolby)
Subtitles	English, Korean, Japanese, None	English, Chinese, None	English, None
Features	Release Information: Studio: Enter One Aspect Ratio: Original aspect Ratio 1.78:1 Edition Details: • 2nd disc with "Filming of H&A" (1:20:00) - NO ENGLISH SUBS • 4 Shorts Films of Hana and Alice - NO ENGLISH SUBS • Music Videos DVD Release Date: Feb 2005 Boxset with 2 Keep Cases Chapters: 12	Release Information: Studio: Panorama Entertainment Aspect Ratio: Original aspect Ratio 1.78:1 Edition Details: • 2nd disc with "Filming of H&A" (1:20:00) - NO ENGLISH SUBS • 4 Shorts Films of Hana and Alice - NO ENGLISH SUBS • Trailers DVD Release Date: Dec 2004 Boxset with 2 Keep Cases Chapters: 12	Release Information: Studio: Home Vision Aspect Ratio: Original aspect Ratio 1.78:1 Edition Details: • "Behind the Scenes" (1:04:28) - WITH ENGLISH SUBS • TV Spot DVD Release Date: July 10th, 2007 Keep Cases Chapters: 12

Comments:

ADDITION - Enter One - Region 3 - NTSC - July 07': Big thank you to Rob Smith for the Enter One captures. As I didn't obtain them I can now say with certainty that it is the only issue progressively transferred (and it does have English subs). The image looks to have the same richness as the HomeVision - slightly tweaked black levels. Only Japanese 2.0 is offered. It has the same unsubtitled extras as the Panorama. Out-of-print in many locations it appears to be the best English friendly version to get.

****

ADDITION - Home Vision - Region 1 - July 07': Although this is a marginal improvement over the Panorama image (and subtitle translation) I am still very disappointed that the transfer is still interlaced. Home Vision (now an arm of Image Entertainment) have processed the DVD onto a dual-layered disc and it is a bit sharper with brighter colors than its Hong Kong counterpart. I'm grateful to have the improved, more detailed subtitle translation but the gaudy yellow color is very intrusive. HVE have a 2.0 audio track unlike the 5.1 offered by the 2-disc package in region 3.

Home Vision appears to have cut off about 15 minutes from the 'Filming H&A" featurette and called it a 'Behind the Scenes", but unlike the Panorama edition this is subtitled in English. There is also a short TV spot (amounts to a trailer) included on the North American DVD, but we don't get the Iwai shorts.

BOTTOM LINE: I still can't get my hands on it - but the Korean - Enter One- release is the one I want to get. No, strike that, I'll be ambitious and say that I want this on HD (or Blu-ray) one day as I'll wager it looks glorious. If you are region-one-locked with CRT (tube TV) viewing then you may as well get the Home Vision edition - the price is high but the film is a joy. Otherwise track down the Enter One and then tell me where you got it!

****

On the Panorama: I'm afraid this Chinese DVD does not live up to the quality of the film. Non-HD sourced and very poor frame shifts - hazy and a lot of ghosting can be seen. TV tube owners won't be upset, but this is a far cry from the beautiful film-transferred (usually Japanese) DVDs of Iwai's other films. I'll assume there will be a Japanese DVD out (probably sans English subtitles), but we can hope. It comes in a great well-done packaged box with two keep cases - the film and the "Filming H&A" supplement (approx. and hour and twenty minutes), but it has no English subtitles (although the film titles are in English? ex. "A Film By Shunji Iwai... starring etc."). Also were some Shorts that looked like polished outtakes or deleted scenes from the film (also no English subs). Audio on the main feature is exceptional with 2.0, 5.1 and DTS tracks made optional, although aside for the beautiful classical music they are never tested. Only 5.33 gig of the feature disc filled so I would consider this a sloppy transfer. I'm so high on the film, I'll recommend the DVD - it filled the horizontal resolution, but I'll be keeping my eyes open for another version. out of

Gary W. Tooze

Enter One Package

DVD Menus

Enter One - Region 3 - NTSC

Enter One - Region 3 - NTSC Disc 2

(Panorama Entertainment (2 disc Box) - Region 3 - NTSC LEFT vs. Home Vision - Region 1 - NTSC RIGHT)

Disc 2 pf Panorama ("Filming H & A")

Subtitle Sample

(Panorama Entertainment (2 disc Box) - Region 3 - NTSC TOP vs. Home Vision - Region 1 - NTSC BOTTOM)

(Panorama Entertainment (2 disc Box) - Region 3 - NTSC TOP vs. Home Vision - Region 1 - NTSC BOTTOM)