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S E A R C H    D V D B e a v e r

(aka "Dust In The Wind" or "Lianlian fengchen")

http://www.dvdbeaver.com/film/direct-chair/hou.htm

Determined Wan and his girlfriend, Huen, leave their employ in the minute mining village where they reside and move to the bustling city of Taipei to find careers. Wan becomes a delivery boy while Huen becomes a seamstress assistant. Touching, almost humorous, vignettes abound with the culture shock of the move. To tell of her families shoe sizes at the store Huen pulls out pieces of paper with the outlines of her family's feet traced on them. Heartwarming and still dynamically real evidence of small town innocence fighting for survival in a large metropolis.

Hou again collaborated very successfully with writer Chu T'ien-wen. With 'less being more' Hou almost ignores any hint of sentimentality or dramatization. It just 'is'. Bresson would be smiling in his grave. Dust in the Wind may have the most strikingly memorable cinematography I have seen in a Hou film, yet it refreshingly maintains its minimalist qualities. Another Hou masterpiece.

Theatrical Release: 13 September 1987 (Toronto Film Festival)

Reviews                                                        More Reviews

 

Comparison:

Sino Movie (Taiwan)  Collector's Set -  Region 0 - NTSC vs. Central Pictures / Sony Music - Region FREE - Blu-ray

Sino Movie (Taiwan)  Collector's Set -  Region 0 - NTSC LEFT vs. Central Pictures / Sony Music - Region FREE - Blu-ray RIGHT

Box Cover

NOTE: A different cover, but it is the exact same as the sold out first printing Boxset!

Only available as part of a double feature with A Time to Live and a Time to Die

North Americans:

 

Rest of World:

Distribution Sino Movie (Taiwan) Collector's Set - Region 0 - NTSC Central Pictures / Sony Music - Region FREE - Blu-ray
Runtime 1:49:36  1:49:59.993
Video 1.33:1 Aspect Ratio
Average Bitrate: 8.12 mb/s
NTSC 720x480 29.97 f/s

1080i Single-layered Blu-ray

Disc Size: 24,652,348,224 bytes

Feature: 19,646,287,872 bytes

Video Bitrate: 20.849 Mbps

Codec: MPEG-4 AVC Video

NOTE: The Vertical axis represents the bits transferred per second. The Horizontal is the time in minutes.

Bitrate:  DVD

Bitrate: Blu-ray

Audio Mandarin (Dolby Digital 2.0 Dolby)  LPCM Audio Chinese 1536 kbps 2.0 / 48 kHz / 1536 kbps / 16-bit
Subtitles English, Chinese, Japanese, None English, French, Japanese, Chinese
Features

Release Information:
Studio:
Sino Movie [A Taiwan-Based Distributor]

Aspect Ratio:
Original Aspect Ratio 1.33:1

Edition Details:

• 56-Page Color Booklet (text only in Chinese)
• Menus in Chinese only (except sub selection)


DVD Release Date: October 28, 2003
Fold-out Slip Case inside Boxset (DVDs are inside plastic sleeves tucked into slots - see photo above).

Release Information:
Studio: Central Picture / Sony Music

1080i Single-layered Blu-ray

Disc Size: 24,652,348,224 bytes

Feature: 19,646,287,872 bytes

Video Bitrate: 20.849 Mbps

Codec: MPEG-4 AVC Video

Edition Details:

• Behind the Scenes (24:00 in HD - optional English subs)

Blu-ray Release Date: July 2010
Standard
Blu-ray Case inside cardboard slipcase
Chapters: 7

 

 

 

Central Pictures Corporation has digitally remastered six classic films from the 80s and the 90s, producing brand-new digital prints that guarantee to overcome the test of time. After Dust in the Wind, four more of these films are arriving in high-definition on Blu-ray for fans to see these films the best way they have ever looked before.

Edward Yang's The Terrorizers

Chen Kuo Fu's The Personals Yu-Hsun Chen's Tropical Fish Ming-Liang Tsai's Vive L'Amour Hsiao-hsien Hou's Dust in the Wind

North Americans:

Rest of World:

North Americans:

Rest of World:

North Americans:

Rest of World:

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Rest of World:

  

 

 

Comments:

NOTE: The below Blu-ray captures were taken directly from the Blu-ray disc.

Firstly, the region free NTSC DVD is from the "HOU HSIAO-HSIEN ~ 4 DVD DELUXE BOX SET ~ 1983-1986" reviewed HERE that doesn't appear available anymore... anywhere? It was widescreen-letterboxed - roughly 1.72:1 (non-16X9 enhanced) and also pictureboxed (black bars on the side edges) further limiting the resolution. Considering all that it wasn't too poor if viewed on a smaller CRT - although, even then compression artifacts were present.

The Blu-ray release is stated as being from 'Central Pictures / Sony Music' and is 1080i (interlaced) but obviously the image quality is a huge improvement in every area possible. It is 1.78:1, single-layered and colors and detail look significantly superior. The HD image is imperfect but is such a huge advancement that I'm not complaining. I purchased mine from the JSDVD.MALL site and it has English-friendly options for buying. (Thanks to George for alerting me!)

Audio too advances with a linear PCM track - also in 2.0 channel. I haven't rechecked the Sino subtitle translation but it seems that this Blu-ray is more advanced in this area as well - less précising/correct spelling etc. There are the same options for English, French, Japanese and Chinese subtitles. The menus are also English friendly.

There is an excellent 24-minute piece ('Behind the Scenes'), in HD, that also has optional English subtitles - it has Hou and others involved in the production giving input. It is not overly revealing but the tidbits of detail are interesting. 

Fans of the director can see this masterpiece in a digital version that is much closer to theatrical than every before offered. The Blu-ray communicates the experience and original intent, both audio and video, much more personally than the DVD and for that reason alone it is worth it - even beyond the superior subtitles and the featurette. This is an easy purchase and a disc I'm very happy to have in my collection. Let's hope for more Hou (like Millennium Mambo) in the new format!

Gary W. Tooze

 


Menus

 

Sino Movie (Taiwan)  Collector's Set -  Region 0 - NTSC LEFT vs. Central Pictures / Sony Music - Region FREE - Blu-ray RIGHT


 
 

 


CLICK EACH BLU-RAY CAPTURE TO SEE ALL IMAGES IN FULL 1920X1080 RESOLUTION

 

Subtitle Sample

 

Sino Movie (Taiwan)  Collector's Set -  Region 0 - NTSC TOP vs. Central Pictures / Sony Music - Region FREE - Blu-ray BOTTOM

 


 

Screen Captures

 

Sino Movie (Taiwan)  Collector's Set -  Region 0 - NTSC TOP vs. Central Pictures / Sony Music - Region FREE - Blu-ray BOTTOM

 


Sino Movie (Taiwan)  Collector's Set -  Region 0 - NTSC TOP vs. Central Pictures / Sony Music - Region FREE - Blu-ray BOTTOM

 


Sino Movie (Taiwan)  Collector's Set -  Region 0 - NTSC TOP vs. Central Pictures / Sony Music - Region FREE - Blu-ray BOTTOM

 


Sino Movie (Taiwan)  Collector's Set -  Region 0 - NTSC TOP vs. Central Pictures / Sony Music - Region FREE - Blu-ray BOTTOM

 


Sino Movie (Taiwan)  Collector's Set -  Region 0 - NTSC TOP vs. Central Pictures / Sony Music - Region FREE - Blu-ray BOTTOM
 

Sino Movie (Taiwan)  Collector's Set -  Region 0 - NTSC TOP vs. Central Pictures / Sony Music - Region FREE - Blu-ray BOTTOM

 


Sino Movie (Taiwan)  Collector's Set -  Region 0 - NTSC TOP vs. Central Pictures / Sony Music - Region FREE - Blu-ray BOTTOM
 

Sino Movie (Taiwan)  Collector's Set -  Region 0 - NTSC TOP vs. Central Pictures / Sony Music - Region FREE - Blu-ray BOTTOM

 


Box Cover

NOTE: A different cover, but it is the exact same as the sold out first printing Boxset!

Only available as part of a double feature with A Time to Live and a Time to Die

North Americans:

 

Rest of World:

Distribution Sino Movie (Taiwan) Collector's Set - Region 0 - NTSC Central Pictures / Sony Music - Region FREE - Blu-ray
Central Pictures Corporation has digitally remastered six classic films from the 80s and the 90s, producing brand-new digital prints that guarantee to overcome the test of time. After Dust in the Wind, four more of these films are arriving in high-definition on Blu-ray for fans to see these films the best way they have ever looked before.

Edward Yang's The Terrorizers

Chen Kuo Fu's The Personals Yu-Hsun Chen's Tropical Fish Ming-Liang Tsai's Vive L'Amour Hsiao-hsien Hou's Dust in the Wind

North Americans:

Rest of World:

North Americans:

Rest of World:

North Americans:

Rest of World:

North Americans:

Rest of World:

North Americans:

Rest of World:

  




 

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Gary Tooze

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