In the Mood For Love 4K UHD

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S E A R C H D V D B e a v e r

(aka "In the Mood For Love" or "Hua yang nian hua" or "Flower Like Years" or "Beijing Summer")

Hongkong / France 2000

Hong Kong, 1962: Chow Mo-Wan (Tony Leung Chiu Wai) and Su Li-Zhen (Maggie Cheung Man Yuk) move into neighboring apartments on the same day. Their encounters are formal and polite—until a discovery about their spouses creates an intimate bond between them. At once delicately mannered and visually extravagant, Wong Kar Wai’s In the Mood for Love is a masterful evocation of romantic longing and fleeting moments. With its aching soundtrack and exquisitely abstract cinematography by Christopher Doyle and Mark Lee Ping Bing, this film has been a major stylistic influence on the past two decades of cinema, and is a milestone in Wong’s redoubtable career.

***

Wong's paean to the agony'n ecstasy of buttoned-up emotions is a kind-of sequel to Days of Being Wild, shaped and scored as a valse triste. In Hong Kong, 1962, Mr Chow (Leung) and Mrs Chan (Cheung) are neighbours who discover that their spouses are having an affair. He finds excuses to spend time with her, apparently intending to jilt her. Then they fall in love, but (aside from one reckless moment in a hotel) repress their feelings. He runs away to work as a journalist in Singapore; in 1966, covering De Gaulle's state visit to Cambodia, he's in Angkor Wat trying to unburden himself of the secret which overwhelms his life... Every charged frame of the film pulses with the central contradiction between repression and emotional abandon; the formalism and sensuality are inextricable. Career-best performances from both leads, Leung having a Cannes 'Best Actor' prize to show for his.

Excerpt from TimeOut located HERE

Posters

Theatrical Release: October 21st, 1994

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Review: Criterion - Region FREE - 4K UHD

Box Cover		CLICK to order from: Bonus Captures:
Distribution	Criterion Spine #147 - Region FREE - 4K UHD
Runtime	1:39:02.394
Video	1.66:1 2160P 4K Ultra HD Disc Size: 59,652,402,567 bytes Feature: 59,256,311,808 bytes Video Bitrate: 72.43 Mbps Codec: HEVC Video
	NOTE: The Vertical axis represents the bits transferred per second. The Horizontal is the time in minutes.
Bitrate 4K Ultra HD:
Audio	DTS-HD Master Audio Cantonese and Shanghainese 3681 kbps 5.1 / 48 kHz / 3681 kbps / 24-bit (DTS Core: 5.1 / 48 kHz / 1509 kbps / 24-bit)
Subtitles	English, None
Features	Release Information: Studio: Criterion 1.66:1 2160P 4K Ultra HD Disc Size: 59,652,402,567 bytes Feature: 59,256,311,808 bytes Video Bitrate: 72.43 Mbps Codec: HEVC Video Edition Details: 4K Ultra HD disc • Feature film in 2160P Criterion - Region 'A' - Blu-ray • @ In the Mood for Love, a documentary about the making of the film (51:12) • Hua Yang de Nian Hua, a short film by Wong Kar-wai (1.33:1, DD 1.0 Mono, 2:31) • Tony Rayns on the music of In the Mood for Love (8:03) • 2 Interviews with Wong Kar-wai at the 2001 Cannes Film Festival (22:15 + 15:52) • Toronto International Film Festival press conference with stars Maggie Cheung Man-yuk & Tony Leung Chiu-wai (39:06) • Alternate Ending and Deleted scenes (Room 2046 -8:01, Postcards - 8:23, The Seventies - 8:56, The Last Encounter - 7:49) with director’s commentary • Music Video (4:19) • Restoration Trailer (1:56) 4K Ultra HD Release Date: November 1st, 2022 Black 4K Ultra HD Case Chapters 19

Comments:

NOTE: The below Blu-ray and 4K UHD captures were taken directly from the respective discs.

ADDITION: Criterion 4K UHD (November 2022): Criterion have released Wong Kar Wai’s "In the Mood For Love" to 4K UHD. Like their own Night of the Living Dead 4K UHD and Kino's 4K UHDs of The Apartment, For a Few Dollars More , A Fistful of Dollars, In the Heat of the Night, The Good, the Bad and the Ugly as well as Koch Media's Neon Demon + one of the 4K UHD transfers of Dario Argento's Suspiria, this does not have HDR applied (no HDR10, HDR10+, nor Dolby Vision.)

Criterion released "In the Mood For Love" on Blu-ray in 2021 as part of their Blu-ray package of World of Wong Kar Wai with As Tears Go By / Days of Being Wild / Chungking Express / Fallen Angels / Happy Together / In the Mood for Love / and 2046. This 4K UHD includes the 2021 Blu-ray of "In the Mood For Love", reviewed HERE.

This has the same "4K digital restoration approved by director Wong Kar Wai" with the 'new' yellow-jade-green hue. At the time, the Internet stood up on its hind legs with some having a fit about the color shift.

Wong Kar Wai on his Restorations: "During the process of restoring the pictures that you are about to watch, we were caught in a dilemma between restoring these films to the form in which the audience had remembered them and how I had originally envisioned them. There was so much that we could change, and I decided to take the second path as it would represent my most vivid vision of these films.

As the saying goes: “no man ever steps in the same river twice, for it’s not the same river and he’s not the same man.”

Since the beginning of this process, these words have reminded me to treat this as an opportunity to present these restorations as a new work from a different vantage point in my career.

Having arrived at the end of this process, these words still hold true.

I invite the audience to join me on starting afresh, as these are not the same films, and we are no longer the same audience."

So, we don't have a lot to say. The image is now transferred in 2160P with double the bitrate of the Blu-ray. It exports the grain more efficiently and, depending on your system, the sharpness marginally elevates. It looks flawless in-motion. Brilliant. Now that I've lived with the yellow-jade-green hue for a year, I not only appreciate it more, but I can't see it any other way. Stunning.

NOTE: 94 more more full resolution (3840 X 2160) 4K UHD captures, in lossless PNG format, for Patrons are available HERE

We have reviewed the following 4K UHD packages to date: In the Mood For Love (NO HDR applied to disc), The Werewolf vs. the Vampire Woman (software uniformly simulated HDR), Blow Out (software uniformly simulated HDR), Night of the Living Dead (NO HDR applied to disc), Lost Highway (software uniformly simulated HDR), Videodrome (software uniformly simulated HDR), The Last Picture Show (software uniformly simulated HDR), It Happened One Night (software uniformly simulated HDR), The Mummy (1932)(software uniformly simulated HDR), Creature From the Black Lagoon (software uniformly simulated HDR), Bride of Frankenstein (software uniformly simulated HDR), The Amityville Horror (software uniformly simulated HDR), The War of the Worlds (1953) (software uniformly simulated HDR), The Incredible Melting Man (software uniformly simulated HDR), Event Horizon (software uniformly simulated HDR), Get Carter (software uniformly simulated HDR), The Killing (software uniformly simulated HDR), Killer's Kiss (software uniformly simulated HDR), Out of Sight (software uniformly simulated HDR), Raging Bull (software uniformly simulated HDR), Shaft (1971), (software uniformly simulated HDR), Double Indemnity (software uniformly simulated HDR), The Untouchables (software uniformly simulated HDR), For a Few Dollars More (no HDR), Saboteur (software uniformly simulated HDR), Marnie (software uniformly simulated HDR), Shadow of a Doubt (software uniformly simulated HDR), The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance (software uniformly simulated HDR), A Fistful of Dollars (no HDR), In the Heat of the Night (no HDR), Jack Reacher (software uniformly simulated HDR), Death Wish II (software uniformly simulated HDR), The Apartment (no HDR), The Proposition (software uniformly simulated HDR), Nightmare Alley (2021) (software uniformly simulated HDR), Mary Shelley's Frankenstein (software uniformly simulated HDR), The Godfather (software uniformly simulated HDR), Le Crecle Rouge (software uniformly simulated HDR), An American Werewolf in London (software uniformly simulated HDR), A Hard Day's Night (software uniformly simulated HDR), The Piano (software uniformly simulated HDR), The Great Escape (software uniformly simulated HDR), The Red Shoes (software uniformly simulated HDR), Citizen Kane (software uniformly simulated HDR), Unbreakable (software uniformly simulated HDR), Mulholland Dr. (software uniformly simulated HDR), Invasion of the Body Snatchers (software uniformly simulated HDR), The Hills Have Eyes (software uniformly simulated HDR), The Servant (software uniformly simulated HDR), Anatomy of a Murder (software uniformly simulated HDR), Taxi Driver (software uniformly simulated HDR), The Wolf Man (1941) (software uniformly simulated HDR), Frankenstein (1931) (software uniformly simulated HDR), Deep Red (software uniformly simulated HDR), Misery (software uniformly simulated HDR), The Silence of the Lambs (software uniformly simulated HDR), John Carpenter's "The Thing" (software uniformly simulated HDR), The Cat' o'Nine Tails (software uniformly simulated HDR), The Bird With the Crystal Plumage (software uniformly simulated HDR), Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb (software uniformly simulated HDR), Perdita Durango (software uniformly simulated HDR), Django (software uniformly simulated HDR), Fanny Lye Deliver'd (software uniformly simulated HDR), The Good, the Bad and the Ugly, (NO HDR applied to disc), Rollerball (software uniformly simulated HDR), Chernobyl (software uniformly simulated HDR), Daughters of Darkness (software uniformly simulated HDR), Vigilante (software uniformly simulated HDR), Tremors (software uniformly simulated HDR), Cinema Paradiso (software uniformly simulated HDR), The Bourne Legacy (software uniformly simulated HDR), Full Metal Jacket (software uniformly simulated HDR), Psycho (software uniformly simulated HDR), The Birds (software uniformly simulated HDR), Rear Window (software uniformly simulated HDR), Vertigo (software uniformly simulated HDR), Spartacus (software uniformly simulated HDR), Jaws (software uniformly simulated HDR), The Invisible Man, (software uniformly simulated HDR), Steven Spielberg's War of the Worlds (software uniformly simulated HDR), Lucio Fulci's 1979 Zombie (software uniformly simulated HDR),, 2004's Van Helsing (software uniformly simulated HDR), The Shallows (software uniformly simulated HDR), The Bridge on the River Kwai (software uniformly simulated HDR), The Deer Hunter (software uniformly simulated HDR), The Elephant Man (software uniformly simulated HDR), A Quiet Place (software uniformly simulated HDR), Easy Rider (software uniformly simulated HDR), Suspiria (software uniformly simulated HDR), Pan's Labyrinth (software uniformly simulated HDR), The Wizard of Oz, (software uniformly simulated HDR), The Shining, (software uniformly simulated HDR), Batman Returns (software uniformly simulated HDR), Don't Look Now (software uniformly simulated HDR), The Man Who Killed Killed and then The Bigfoot (software uniformly simulated HDR),, Bram Stoker's Dracula (software uniformly simulated HDR), Lucy (software uniformly simulated HDR), They Live (software uniformly simulated HDR), Shutter Island (software uniformly simulated HDR), The Matrix (software uniformly simulated HDR), Alien (software uniformly simulated HDR), Toy Story (software uniformly simulated HDR), A Few Good Men (software uniformly simulated HDR), 2001: A Space Odyssey (HDR caps udated), Schindler's List (simulated HDR), The Neon Demon (No HDR), Dawn of the Dead (No HDR), Saving Private Ryan (simulated HDR and 'raw' captures), Suspiria (No HDR), The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (No HDR), The Big Lebowski, and I Am Legend (simulated and 'raw' HDR captures).

The audio is the same lossless 5.1 surround as the 2021 Blu-ray edition and Wong Kar Wai says "...we also remixed In the Mood for Love, and Robert Mackenzie did a great job as we collaborated remotely during the pandemic." It has the same beautiful lone-violin of Yumeji's Theme and Nat 'King' Cole's Aquellos Ojos Verdes, Te Quiero Dijiste and Quizas, Quizas, Quizas - Michael Galasso's Finale - Angkor Wat Theme. It sounds flawless - notable rain separations and silent pauses - and Criterion, obviously, add optional English subtitles (see sample below) The disc offers optional English subtitles - and is, like all 4K UHD, region FREE, playable worldwide. The second disc Blu-ray remains Region 'A'-locked.

As it has become standard practice for many 4K UHD packages - the feature disc has only the film - no extras. And like many sets we've seen - the previously released second disc Blu-ray is included, housing the film in 1080P and supplements.

Nothing new supplement-wise for this particular Blu-ray disc as compared to the 2012 release aside from a music video (Tony Chiu-Wai Leung singing) - NOTE: We've been told this was an Easter Egg on the previous BD - and a restoration trailer. A few, more superfluous, extras are not retained (ex. French trailers and TV Spots etc.) from the Blu-ray edition that is a10 years old now. Kept are the 51-minute @ In the Mood for Love documentary about the making of the film, the Hua Yang de Nian Hua short film by Wong Kar-wai ("Hua yang de nian hua is a montage of images created from old nitrate films. All of the wonderful faces and images from the past lead us back to the beautiful memory of a bygone era. This short film is a tribute to all of the memorable people in the Chinese cinema who have faded away in our memory." —Wong Kar Wai, 2000), Tony Rayns on the music of In the Mood for Love, the 2 Interviews with Wong Kar-wai at the 2001 Cannes Film Festival and Toronto International Film Festival press conference with stars Maggie Cheung Man-yuk and Tony Leung Chiu-wai. Included again are the same four alternate ending and deleted scenes (Room 2046 -8:01, Postcards - 8:23, The Seventies - 8:56, The Last Encounter - 7:49) with optional director’s commentary. There is a liner notes booklet with an essay by novelist Charles Yu.

As we stated last year: "For most cinephiles its easy to see that Wong Kar Wai is a restless genius never wanting to stagnate. He added to In the Mood For Love endlessly before it even screened at Cannes - re-shooting and editing. This new 4K-restored image is another evolution of his artistry. I urge fans not to quickly dismiss the new appearance simply on the basis of loving the film on Blu-ray in 2012. I was, again, stunned by the film's beauty and fully appreciate the director's fearless choices." This 4K UHD offers the best image of many a fan's favorite film. In the Mood For Love is the second part of the director's informal trilogy, including Days of Being Wild and 2046. It is frequently listed as a major work of Asian cinema and one of the greatest films of modern world cinema. "Never before has a film spoken so fluently in the universal language of loss and desire." It always has our highest recommendation.