7.2 | / 10 |
Users | 0.0 | |
Reviewer | 4.5 | |
Overall | 4.5 |
A story about a New York Chinatown cab driver who falls for college student.
Starring: Chow Yun-Fat, Cherie Chung, Danny Bak-Keung Chan, Gigi Suk-Yee Wong, Man HuangForeign | 100% |
Drama | 19% |
Romance | 7% |
Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Video resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 1.85:1
Original aspect ratio: 1.85:1
Cantonese: DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 (48kHz, 24-bit)
Cantonese: DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 Mono (48kHz, 24-bit)
English
Blu-ray Disc
Single disc (1 BD)
Slipcover in original pressing
Region B (locked)
Movie | 4.0 | |
Video | 5.0 | |
Audio | 5.0 | |
Extras | 3.5 | |
Overall | 4.5 |
Mabel Cheung's "An Autumn's Tale" (1987) arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of 88 Films. The supplemental features on the release include archival program with Mabel Cheung; archival program with screenwriter Alex Law; vintage stills; and remastered original trailer. In Cantonese, with optional English subtitles for the main feature. Region-B "locked".
Presented in its original aspect ratio of 1.85:1, encoded with MPEG-4 AVC and granted a 1080p transfer, An Autumn's Tale arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of 88 Films.
The release introduces a new 4K makeover of An Autumn's Tale, supervised and approved by director Mabel Cheung. This 4K makeover is a genuine stunner, one of the very best that I have seen done for an older Hong Kong film.
In 2011, we reviewed this release of An Autumn's Tale, produced by Hong Kong-based label Kam & Ronson Enterprises. It was a disappointing release, sourced from an old standard definition master with many limitations. I still have the release in my library. However, after spending fifteen minutes with the new 4K makeover, I did not feel the need to pull it out and perform direct comparisons.
The new 4K makeover gives An Autumn's Tale a very healthy, gorgeous organic look that impressed me a lot. I liked everything that I saw on my system, but was particularly pleased with how the new 4K makeover was graded. An Autumn's Tale has a notably diverse color scheme, emphasizing certain primaries and nuances in ways that were very typical for Hong Kong films from the 1980s, and the new 4K makeover revives the native qualities of this color scheme in specular fashion. Many of the darker sequences, for instance, have a rich appearance that is not easy to get right but looks sensational on this release. (I intentionally took screencaptures #3 and 5 to demonstrate to highlight this particular strength of the presentation). Delineation, clarity, and depth are excellent. In a few areas, small density fluctuations can be observed, but they are part of the original cinematography). There are absolutely no traces of problematic digital corrections. Image stability is excellent. The entire film looks immaculate as well. (Note: This is a Region-B "locked" Blu-ray release. Therefore, you must have a native Region-B or Region-Free player in order to access its content).
There are two standard audio tracks on this Blu-ray release: Cantonese DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 Mono and Cantonese DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1. Optional English SDH subtitles are provided for the main feature.
The previous Blu-ray release of An Autumn's Tale had a Cantonese track with some obvious balance issues. I chose to revisit An Autumn's Tale with the Cantonese DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 track and thought that it was wonderful. It is very easy to tell that it has been remastered because it sounds very, very solid. I did not notice any thinning, balance issues, hiss, or unnatural dynamic fluctuations. The English translation is outstanding as well.
Chow Yun-Fat will always be remembered as one of Hong Kong cinema's greatest action men. However, some of his best work is in films that did not require of him to carry a gun. One of these films is An Autumn's Tale, a romantic charmer from the '80s shot entirely on location in New York City. I like An Autumn's Tale a lot, and even during the DVD era always kept a copy of it in my library. This new Blu-ray release from 88 Films introduces a 4K makeover of it that is a genuine stunner. I am going to place it next to Casino Raiders, another old favorite of mine from the '80s, which was also given a fabulous makeover and great Blu-ray release last year. VERY HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.
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