Accident Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		4.0
Video		2.0
Audio		3.5
Extras		2.0
Overall		2.0

Accident Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Dr. Svet Atanasov June 11, 2012

Nominated for Golden Lion Award at the Venice Film Festival and winner of Hong Kong Film Award for Best Supporting Actress, Cheang Pou-Soi's "Yi ngoi" a.k.a "Accident" (2009) arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Shout Factory. The supplemental features on the disc include the film's original theatrical trailer and a standard making of featurette. In Cantonese, with imposed English subtitles for the main feature. Region-A "locked".

I can feel it...

There are four of them -- the Brain (Louis Koo, Election I & II), Fatty (Suet Lam, Exiled), Uncle (Fung Shui-Fan, The Gang Don't Shoot Straight) and Woman (Michelle Ye, Sparrow) -- and each is an expert in the art of killing. They have been staging 'accidents' for years and trying to save enough to retire.

The Brain is the master choreographer. He is the one who studies the target and designs the 'accident'. He is a perfectionist, and that is why everyone trusts him. However, the Brain does not trust anyone.

Fatty is the assistant. When the time is right, he ensures that the target stays on course until the 'accident' happens. If there are complications, he would intervene. Then, he would disappear as quickly as possible.

Woman is the decoy. She would lure the target to the location where the 'accident' must occur. Occasionally, she would assist the Brain in his research and suggest improvements. Woman has beautiful eyes and a body to die for.

Uncle is the watchman. He would inform the rest of the crew about the target’s movement, whether the 'accident' scene is safe, and prevent surprises from derailing their work. Uncle has been a heavy smoker for many years.

An easy but carefully staged 'accident' -- eliminating the son (Richie Ren, The Sniper) of a paralyzed old man -- goes terribly wrong, and Fatty is killed. The Brain immediately concludes that someone, or possibly a group of people, has staged an 'accident' for his crew. Determined to uncover who may have ordered it and why he never saw it coming, the Brain then embarks on a treacherous journey that would cost him his sanity.

Accident can be deconstructed in three very different ways, all equally fascinating. The first requires paying attention to scattered bits of information about the Brain's past. If one aligns them properly, one is supposedly allowed to solve a giant puzzle. Or, maybe not.

The second demands that one carefully deconstructs the Brain's reaction immediately after Fatty dies. Did someone really trick his crew into the perfect 'accident'? The possibilities are interesting, and so are the several curveballs that seem to be effectively redirecting to a different scenario.

The third invalidates the Brain's words and actions after Fatty's death, and instead focuses on his environment. The longer one studies it, the more unsettling it becomes, making it easy to compare Accident to some of David Lynch's popular films.

Directed by Cheang Pou-Soi (Dog Bite Dog), and produced by Johnnie To and John Chong, Accident was screened at the Venice International Film Festival, where it was nominated for the prestigious Golden Lion Award. It is a member of the large family of genre films that To's production company, Milkyway Image, has popularized since the 1990s.

Accident Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Presented in an aspect ratio of 1.78:1, encoded with MPEG-4 AVC and granted a 1080p transfer, Cheang Pou-Soi's Accident arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Shout Factory.

Shout Factory's presentation of this very entertaining thriller is both disappointing and puzzling. The film has been cropped from its original aspect ratio of 2.39:1 to 1.78:1 and, needless to say, now it is practically unwatchable. The framing is so problematic that at times it is quite difficult to tell what is happening on the screen (see the tram accident during the second half of the film). Additionally, the high-definition transfer is also disappointingly weak. There are signs of heavy filtering, contrast issues, color reproduction issues, and compression issues practically everywhere. Some close-ups look remarkably flat (see sceencaptures #4 and 5), while during selected wider shots colors basically collapse. Indeed, this is a disappointing and very puzzling Blu-ray release from Shout Factory. (Note: This is a Region-A "locked" Blu-ray disc. Therefore, you must have a native Region-A or Region-Free player in order to access its content).

Accident Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

There are three standard audio tracks on this Blu-ray disc: Cantonese DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1, Cantonese Dolby Digital 5.1, and Cantonese Dolby Digital 2.0 track. For the record, Shout Factory have provided imposed English subtitles for the main feature (the subtitles cannot be turned off).

The audio treatment is a lot more convincing that the video treatment. The Cantonese DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 track actually opens up the film quite nicely during the "accidents" and Xavier Jamaux's atmospheric score gets a decent boost. The dialog is also clean and easy to follow. However, I did run a few tests with my Hong Kong disc and must say that I prefer its Cantonese Dolby TrueHD 7.1 track - during the final event, the surrounds and overall sound intensity are definitely a notch better. The English translation is good.

Accident Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Trailer - original trailer for Accident. In Cantonese, with imposed English subtitles. (2 min, 1080p).

• Making of - in this short featurette, cast and crew discuss the plot of Accident as well its key characters. Raw footage from the shooting of the film is also included. In Cantonese, with imposed English subtitles (13 min, 1080p).

Accident Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

I am unsure what to make of this Blu-ray release. Coming from Shout Factory, a distributor with a solid record, it is puzzling to say the least. The film has been cropped from its original aspect ratio and I thought that at times it was virtually unwatchable. On the other hand, Accident is very atmospheric and quite unpredictable, definitely worth owning. Unfortunately, once again I must urge fans of Asian cinema residing in the U.S. to seek the Hong Kong Blu-ray release, which MegaStar produced in 2009. AVOID.