Au revoir Taipei Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		4.5
Video		3.5
Audio		4.0
Extras		3.5
Overall		4.0

Au revoir Taipei Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Dr. Svet Atanasov May 20, 2011

Winner of Best Asian Film Award (NETPAC) at the Berlin International Film Festival, Arvin Chen's "Au revoir Taipei" (2010) arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Hong Kong-based distributors Panorama. The supplemental features on the disc include an audio commentary with the director of the film and various cast members, and two standard making of featurettes. In Mandarin, with optional English and Traditional Chinese subtitles for the main feature. Region-Free.

She's gone...

Kai (Jack Yao) becomes seriously depressed after his girlfriend moves from Taipei to Paris. Instead of helping his parents with the family business as he used to, he begins spending time in a local bookstore, hoping to learn as much French as possible. Susie (Amber Kuo), who works as an assistant in the bookstore, takes an interest in him, but he politely rejects her.

Eventually, Kai’s girlfriend calls to let him know that she has found a new boyfriend. Determined to win her back, Kai decides to borrow money for a quick trip to Paris from local gangster-turned-real estate broker Brother Bao (Frankie Gao).

Brother Bao likes Kai and agrees to give him the money he needs if he helps him retrieve an important package, which one of his men has hidden somewhere in the city after the police went after him. Having absolutely no idea what the package contains, Kai assures Brother Bao that he is the right man for the job.

Kai invites his best friend Gao (Paul Chiang), who spends most of his time working behind the counter at a small convenience store, to accompany him. Along the way, Gao confesses to Kai that he has also fallen in love with a beautiful girl but cannot gather the courage to ask her out. Meanwhile, Brother Bao’s ambitious nephew, Hong (Lawrence Ko), and his thugs decide to have a bit of fun and steal the important package.

Produced by Wim Wenders, American-born director Arvin Chen’s first feature film Au revoir Taipei is a light and charming romantic comedy with a few very good twists. The majority of them are during the final third of the film where its various characters meet.

It takes some time to get to know these characters as they are scattered all over the Taiwanese capital, but this allows director Chen to show different parts of his beloved city. By the time they meet, it truly feels as if one has actually visited Taipei and spent a good amount of time on its busy streets.

The manner in which the different relationships evolve is rather predictable, but most of the clichés that typically plague these types of films have been avoided - after he gets his heart broken, Kai reacts in a way that is understandable; Susie’s desire to help also makes sense, as it is the only way she could establish some sort of a relationship with Kai; the shy Gao also reveals how he truly feels about a girl that he has fallen in love with without making a fool of himself.

The part where the film transitions from being a romantic comedy to a thriller, and then back to a romantic comedy, is also convincing. There are a couple of hilarious scenes with Hong and his buddies that ultimately bring Kai and Susie closer and effectively prepare the wonderful finale.

Taiwanese pop star Amber Kuo and Jack Yao are wonderful in front of the camera. For a while they look shy and not entirely sure what to make of their friendship -- these are amongst the very best scenes in the film. Paul Chiang is also outstanding as the shy friend.

Cinematographer Michael Fimognari’s (Beautiful Boy, 96 Minutes) lensing is beautiful. The long shots with Taipei’s empty streets, in particular, look great. Justin Guerrieri’s editing is also competent.

Note: Last year, Au revoir Taipei was screened at the Berlin International Film Festival, where it won Best Asian Film Award from the Network for the Promotion of Asian Cinema (NETPAC).

Au revoir Taipei Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Presented in an aspect ratio of 1.78:1, encoded with MPEG-4 AVC and granted a 1080p transfer, Arvin Chen's Au revoir Taipei arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Hong Kong-based distributors Panorama.

The overwhelming majority of the film is quite dark. Kai and Susie's adventure on the streets of Taipei takes place at night and occasionally clarity isn't overly impressive. Generally speaking, fine object detail is good, though I spotted various traces of light noise corrections; as a result, selected scenes tend to look a bit soft. This is not to say, however, that the high-definition transfer lacks depth and fluidity. On the contrary, even some of the darkest scenes look quite good. Furthermore, mild edge-enhancement occasionally creeps in but never affects the integrity of the presentation; macroblocking is never an issue of concern. I also did not see any traces of heavy artifacting and banding. Finally, there are no serious stability issues to report in this review. (Note: This is a Region-Free Blu-ray disc. Therefore, you will be able to play it on your PS3 or SA regardless of your geographical location).

Au revoir Taipei Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

There is only one audio track on this Blu-ray disc: Mandarin Dolby TrueHD 5.1. For the record, Panorama have provided optional English and Traditional Chinese subtitles for the main feature.

The Mandarin Dolby TrueHD 5.1 track has a good range of nuanced dynamics that enhance the velvety violin solos very well. Additionally, the surround channels are not overly active, but there are a couple of scenes during the final third of the film where they are very effective. The dialog is crisp, clean, stable, and exceptionally easy to follow. I also did not detect any disturbing pops, cracks, hissings or audio dropouts to report in this review. The English translation does not suffer from endless grammatical errors.

Au revoir Taipei Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• When Taipei Becomes Paris - this standard making of featurette contains raw footage from the shooting of the film, as well as short interviews with director Arvin Chen and various cast and crew members. In Mandarin, with optional Traditional Chinese subtitles. (15 min, 480/60i).

• When "Blue Guy" Meets "Cute Girl" - a look at the various characters in Au revoir Taipei. In Mandarin, with optional Traditional Chinese subtitles. (15 min, 480/60i).

• Let Us Tell The Story of Taipei - an audio commentary with the director of Au revoir Taipei and various cast members. In Mandarin, not subtitled.

Au revoir Taipei Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Au revoir Taipei is a charming and enormously uplifting film that should appeal to a wide variety of viewers. I did not know what to expect from it, but ended up enjoying it tremendously. It is definitely one of the very best Asian films to reach my desk this year. The Blu-ray disc herein reviewed, courtesy of Hong Kong-based distributors Panorama, looks and sounds good. It is also Region-Free. RECOMMENDED.