Review by Leonard Norwitz
Studio:
Theatrical: Creative Formula Ltd.
Blu-ray: Mei Ah
Disc:
Region: A-locked!
(as verified by the
Momitsu region FREE Blu-ray player)
Runtime: 1:25:19.041
Disc Size: 21,191,632,814 bytes
Feature Size: 19,650,551,808 bytes
Video Bitrate: 21.98 Mbps
Chapters: 10
Case: Standard Blu-ray case
Release date:
September 10th, 2009
Video:
Aspect ratio: 2.35:1
Resolution: 1080p / 24 fps
Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC Video
Audio:
DTS-HD Master Audio Chinese 2389 kbps 7.1 / 48 kHz / 2389
kbps / 16-bit (DTS Core: 5.1 / 48 kHz / 1509 kbps / 16-bit)
Dolby TrueHD Audio Chinese 1956 kbps 7.1 / 48 kHz / 1956
kbps / 16-bit (AC3 Core: 5.1 / 48 kHz / 640 kbps)
Dolby Digital Audio Chinese 640 kbps 5.1 / 48 kHz / 640 kbps
Subtitles:
English, Chinese (traditional and simplified), none
Extras:
• Making of – in SD (16:45)
• Trailer in HD
• Photo Gallery
The Film:
8
Written by is a fanciful, yet anguished study of the
interminable, complex problem of grief and letting go. It is
now ten years since Melody's family was devastated in an
automobile accident that left her father dead and herself
blind. Melody was a child of 12, just old enough to know
what death is, but young enough to hang on to an imaginary
world where things might be different. Her mother and
younger brother survived relatively unscathed, but her
family still grieves. Mother sits at the piano, unable to
get through her husband's favorite piece. Melody (Mia Yan)
has been unable to accept his death or move on, and even
contemplates suicide - her blindness making it that much
easier for her to retain the image of her family, and
especially her father, as they once were.
As in those stories where the dead hang around as ghosts,
refusing to accept their fate, Melody and her mother (Kelly
Lin) likewise cannot permit the father/husband to die.
Melody hits upon an idea that she feels will resolve the
matter, one that she hopes will heal the family’s unending
sorrow: She begins to write a story – her Braille typewriter
becoming the transmitting vessel between the living and the
dead - in which her father (Lau Ching-wan) survives the
accident, but is blind, and her mother, her brother and
herself had all died. Into this fictitious world, she brings
back the dead as ghosts to keep her father company.
Director Wai Ka Fai weaves a relentlessly entangled and
spellbinding web of parallel stories: the one in the present
universe where Melody and her mother and brother live, and
the one in her novel. Events in both worlds get out of
control as nature and the fates insist on having their way,
the one universe inserting itself upon the other, requiring
rewrite upon rewrite, where grief compounds grief unti only
two choices remain.
Image:
8/9
NOTE:
The below
Blu-ray
captures were ripped directly from the
Blu-ray
disc.
The first number indicates a relative level of excellence
compared to other Blu-ray video discs on a ten-point scale.
The second number places this image along the full range of
DVD and Blu-ray discs.
Mei Ah's AVC encode sports a moderately high bit rate on a
single layer disc. Colors are bright, yet realistic and
natural. Skin tones are superb, yet it's all so smooth I
suspect some modest DNR. Hair never quite sorts itself out
and remains indistinct; edges of shirts are a bit fuzzy. CG
effects are fascinating but take their toll on image
resolution. Still, the overall impression is so engaging
that it takes our mind off any anomalies and supports the
idea of fantasy rather than acute pain. I trust this is
deliberate and not mere carelessness.
CLICK EACH
BLU-RAY
CAPTURE TO SEE ALL IMAGES IN FULL 1920X1080 RESOLUTION
Audio & Music:
9/8
The DTS HD-MA 7.1 mix is a thing of beauty: blending
delicately scored music, effects, ambiance and dialogue into
a coherent whole. Surrounds are nicely localized; dialogue
is crisp and correctly placed, sized and differentiated for
location and voiceover. There are a few sudden, powerful
crashes that will give the full range of your playback
equipment a wakeup call. These feel more realistic than the
exaggerated frequency response we often get with action or
fantasy thrillers, which Written by is not, after all. The
splatter of crashing glass pulls in one direction, deep bass
in the other, while all the while Mia Yan's affecting
voiceover and an enveloping piano hold everything together.
Surrounds come into play nicely for death's trolley car, the
chirping of birds at the cemetery and whirling fantasy bits
in the graveyard of ghosts.
Operations:
2
Typical of many Asian videos, particularly Chinese, is the
tendency to loud previews, logos and feature film. But
Written by goes one better, by having the Making of volume
louder still in comparison to the feature - you will want to
keep your remote handy. The very short Photo Gallery is a
bear trap that you might find very difficult to get out of
once in. Feature film subtitles, on the other hand, are
clear and unobtrusive, in idiomatic English.
Extras:
3
The 16-minute Making-of segment looks promising – largely a
series of interviews interspersed with scenes from the film
– but there are no subtitles. (Actually, there are
subtitles, they're just not in English and are not
removable.) The trailer is in full HD and looks great. The
Photo Gallery should be given a miss if you know what's good
for you (you've been warned.)
Bottom line:
8
Written by is directed by and stars the same men who gave us
Mad Detective: Wai Ka Kai and Lau Ching Wan, but don't let
that influence you one way or the other except that both
films are quirky and imaginative for their respective
genres. The new movie is not especially profound even though
it's subject invites a deeper or, at least, less fanciful
examination – but, then, this would be asking the movie to
be something it isn't. I liked it and expect to watch it
again before very long.
The Blu-ray image is a delight, if not perfectly resolved,
but the audio is very good indeed. Despite its awkward
operations and lack of extra features, I give Written by a
Thumbs Up.
Leonard Norwitz
December 8th, 2009