Firstly, a massive thank you to our Patreon supporters. Your generosity touches me deeply. These supporters have become the single biggest contributing factor to the survival of DVDBeaver. Your assistance has become essential.
What do Patrons receive, that you don't?
1)
Our
weekly
Newsletter
sent to your Inbox every
Monday morning!
Please consider keeping us in existence with a couple of dollars or more each month (your pocket change!) so we can continue to do our best in giving you timely, thorough reviews, calendar updates and detailed comparisons. Thank you very much. |
Search DVDBeaver |
S E A R C H D V D B e a v e r |
(aka "Bu san" or "Bu jian bu san")
Good Bye, Dragon Inn
marks a milestone in Tsai Ming-liang’s new frontier of filmmaking: it is both a
devoted homage to director King Hu (who passed away in 1997) and a melancholic
yet humorous look at the sometimes forsaken state of cinema – and cinemas –
today. Tsai begins with Hu’s 1966 masterpiece, Dragon Inn, projecting it
as a backdrop for his own story and borrowing much of its dialogue: the film’s
words resound, distorted, inside a large theatre in Taipei where it is screened
in front of a gradually thinning audience. We seldom see the images from Hu’s
action movie, but its sounds fall from the screen – a sort of cinephile’s rap –
as a disjointed commentary on the “action” going on in the near-empty theatre.
Excerpt taklen from Giovanni Fulvi's review HER ***
In Taipei City, a cavernous old picture palace is about to close its doors
forever. A meagre audience, the remaining few staff, and perhaps even a ghost or
two, watch King Hu's wuxia classic Dragon
Inn - each haunted by memories and
desires evoked by cinema itself. |
Posters
Theatrical Release: August 23rd, 2003 (Venice Film Festival)
Reviews More Reviews DVD Reviews
Comparison:
Wellspring - Region 0 - NTSC vs. Second Run - Region FREE - Blu-ray vs. Metrograph Pictures - Region 'A' - Blu-ray
Box Cover |
|
Bonus Captures: |
Bonus Captures: |
Distribution | Wellspring - Region 0 - NTSC | Second Run - Region FREE - Blu-ray | Metrograph Pictures - Region 'A' - Blu-ray |
Runtime | 1:21:39 | 1:21:59.958 | 1:22:06.000 |
Video |
1.70:1
Original Aspect Ratio Average Bitrate: 5.12 mb/s NTSC 720x480 29.97 f/s |
1.85 :1 1080P Dual-layered Blu-rayDisc Size: 40,170,550,971 bytesFeature: 22,469,425,152 bytes Video Bitrate: 29.96 MbpsCodec: MPEG-4 AVC Video |
1.85 :1 1080P Dual-layered Blu-rayDisc Size: 34,557,142,849 bytesFeature: 28,043,114,496 bytesVideo Bitrate: 38.92 MbpsCodec: MPEG-4 AVC Video |
NOTE: The Vertical axis represents the bits transferred per second. The Horizontal is the time in minutes. |
|||
Bitrate DVD: |
|
||
Bitrate Second Run Blu-ray: |
|
||
Bitrate Metrograph Blu-ray: |
|
||
Audio | Mandarin (Dolby Digital 2.0 Dolby), Mandarin (Dolby Digital 5.1) |
DTS-HD Master Audio Chinese 2269 kbps 5.1 / 48
kHz / 2269 kbps / 16-bit (DTS Core: 5.1 / 48 kHz / 1509 kbps / 16-bit) LPCM Audio Chinese 2304 kbps 2.0 / 48 kHz / 2304 kbps / 24-bit |
DTS-HD Master Audio Chinese 2386 kbps 5.1 / 48 kHz / 2386 kbps / 24-bit (DTS
Core: 5.1 / 48 kHz / 1509 kbps / 24-bit) Dolby Digital Audio English 192 kbps 2.0 / 48 kHz / 192 kbps / DN -31dBit |
Subtitles | English, None | English, None | English, None |
Features |
Release Information: Edition Details:
*
Short Tsai Featurette - 'The Skywalk is Gone' aka 'Tianqiao bu jianle'
(2002) - approx 22:00 (widescreen - non- anamorphic)
|
Release Information: Studio: Second Run
1.85 :1 1080P Dual-layered Blu-rayDisc Size: 40,170,550,971 bytesFeature: 22,469,425,152 bytes Video Bitrate: 29.96 MbpsCodec: MPEG-4 AVC Video
Edition Details: • A new and exclusive filmed interview with director Tsai Ming-Liang (35:37) • Madam Butterfly (2009, 36:40 mins): world home-video premiere of Tsai’s remarkable modern-day interpretation of the classic story • Booklet featuring new essays by curator and critic Tony Rayns, plus a personal appreciation by filmmaker Apichatpong Weerasethakul World premiere on Blu-ray
Transparent Blu-ray Case Chapters 12 |
Release Information: Studio: Metrograph Pictures
1.85 :1 1080P Dual-layered Blu-rayDisc Size: 34,557,142,849 bytesFeature: 28,043,114,496 bytesVideo Bitrate: 38.92 MbpsCodec: MPEG-4 AVC Video
Edition Details: • Audio commentary by film critic Phoebe Chen • Introduction by film critic Nick Pinkerton (6:37) • Light (2019, a short film by Tsai Ming-liang - 17:54) • Re-Release Trailer (1:53)
Standard Blu-ray Case Chapters 10 |
Comments: |
NOTE:
The below
Blu-ray
captures were taken directly from the
Blu-ray
disc.
There 1080P compares favorably with Second Run's 2020 1080P transfer.
It's slightly darker and tighter showing the same rounded corners. If
forced, I'd say that Metrograph Pictures
Blu-ray
image quality, with a max'ed out bitrate (30% higher), is superior.
NOTE: We have added 30 more large
resolution Blu-ray captures
(in lossless PNG format) for DVDBeaver Patrons HERE
The audio - also offering lossless 5.1 and stereo tracks, is marginally more
robust at 24-bits for the surround. As Colin stated in the below review: "As
Tsai Ming-Liang mentions in his 36-minute interview on (the Second Run)
Blu-ray
disc, the sound mixing was very key to the mood of "Goodbye, Dragon
Inn". And Du Tuu-Chih accomplishes the Herculean task of combining
the film's haunting and echoing sounds alongside the sounds of 1967's "Dragon
Inn". The closing song "Affection" was written by
Hattori Ryoichi (he wrote songs for many Hong Kong movies in the 60s).
"Metrograph Pictures
add optional English subtitle translations on this Region
'A'-locked
Blu-ray.
Metrograph add a new commentary by Phoebe Chen who talks about King Hu's
1967
Dragon Inn ("Long men kezhan") imbedded into Tsai Ming-liang’s
Goodbye, Dragon Inn with sequences of it playing throughout. This is
the first commentary I recall hearing from her. Phoebe is a New York-based
writer, teacher, and researcher from China and Australia who has written
about movies, books, etc. for publications like Artforum, The Nation, The
New York Review of Books, Aperture, Film Comment, Criterion, and she is
currently a PhD student at NYU. She talks about perspectives in Goodbye,
Dragon Inn - of different characters, and Tsai disinterest in
conventional point-of-view. Phoebe identifies the director's cameo in the
film as an audience member, discusses the director's common theme of rain
and water, framing devices and much more referencing his other films -
notably
What Time is It There? and it's connection to Goodbye, Dragon Inn.
It's a very good commentary - fairly dense - so you may require multiple
listens to digest all she is exporting. This really adds value to the
Metrograph . We also get a 7-minute introduction by film critic Nick
Pinkerton who wrote, in 2001,
Goodbye, Dragon Inn: 1
(Decadent Editions). He see Goodbye, Dragon Inn as a modern
classic - a film haunted by the ghosts and portents of a culture in flux.
Included is the 18-minute short Light made by Tsai Ming-liang in
2019. It follows the feature about the theater-going experience with static
shots around the venue, with music later that gives the theatre a human
quality.
So, both
Blu-ray
editions (Second Run and Metrograph) have immense value. The scales will tip
to the US release with slightly superior a/v, the edifying Phoebe Chen
commentary, Pinkerton introduction and the director's short. A pure 'slow
cinema' classic with long, deliberate, takes and elegant, conscious,
rhythms. Tsai considers it one of his best films. Me too. Strongly recommend
to own Goodbye, Dragon Inn in your, world cinema, digital library.
***
NOTE: We have added 10 more large
resolution Blu-ray captures
(in lossless PNG format) for DVDBeaver Patrons HERE |
Menus / Extras
WellSpring - Region 0 - NTSC
Second Run - Region FREE - Blu-ray
Metrograph Pictures - Region 'A' - Blu-ray
CLICK EACH BLU-RAY CAPTURE TO SEE ALL IMAGES IN FULL 1920X1080 RESOLUTION
Subtitle Sample -
1) Second Run - Region FREE - Blu-ray TOP 2) Metrograph Pictures - Region 'A' - Blu-ray BOTTOM
|
1) WellSpring - Region 0 - NTSC TOP 2) Second Run - Region FREE - Blu-ray MIDDLE 3) Metrograph Pictures - Region 'A' - Blu-ray BOTTOM
|
1) WellSpring - Region 0 - NTSC TOP 2) Second Run - Region FREE - Blu-ray MIDDLE 3) Metrograph Pictures - Region 'A' - Blu-ray BOTTOM
|
More full resolution (1920 X 1080) Metrograph Blu-ray Captures for DVDBeaver Patreon Supporters HERE
More full resolution (1920 X 1080) Second Run Blu-ray Captures for DVDBeaver Patreon Supporters HERE
Box Cover |
|
Bonus Captures: |
Bonus Captures: |
Distribution | Wellspring - Region 0 - NTSC | Second Run - Region FREE - Blu-ray | Metrograph Pictures - Region 'A' - Blu-ray |
Search DVDBeaver |
S E A R C H D V D B e a v e r |