8 | / 10 |
Users | 0.0 | |
Reviewer | 3.5 | |
Overall | 3.5 |
"Farewell, My Concubine" is a movie with two parallel, intertwined stories. It is the story of two performers in the Beijing Opera, stage brothers, and the woman who comes between them. At the same time, it attempts to do no less than squeeze the entire political history of China in the twentieth century into a three-hour time-frame.
Starring: Leslie Cheung, Fengyi Zhang, Gong Li, Qi Lü (I), Da YingForeign | 100% |
Drama | 61% |
Romance | 18% |
Music | 6% |
Period | 6% |
War | 5% |
Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Video resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 1.85:1
Original aspect ratio: 1.85:1
Mandarin: DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1
English
Blu-ray Disc
Single disc (1 BD)
Region A (locked)
Movie | 5.0 | |
Video | 3.5 | |
Audio | 5.0 | |
Extras | 4.0 | |
Overall | 3.5 |
Winner of the Palme d'Or Award at the Cannes Film Festival, Chen Kaige's "Farewell My Concubine" (1993) arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Criterion. The supplemental features on the release include archival program with the director and Charlie Rose; new program with author and professor Michael Berry and film producer Janet Yang; archival program on the making of the film; and more. In Mandarin, with optional English subtitles. Region-A "locked".
Presented in its original aspect ratio of 1.85:1, encoded with MPEG-4 AVC and granted a 1080p transfer, Farewell My Concubine arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Criterion.
The following text appears inside the leaflet that is provided with this release:
"Undertaken by Tomson Films at Hiventy in France, this new 4K restoration was created from the 35mm original camera negative, with a 35mm release print used for color reference. The 5.1 surround soundtrack was remastered at Hiventy.
Mastering supervisor: Rodolphe Bertrand/Hiventy, TransPerfect Media, France.
Colorist: Pauline Bassenne/Hiventy, TrancePerfect Media, France."
The release introduces an exclusive new 4K restoration which was completed to commemorate the 30th anniversary of Farewell My Concubine. The 4K restoration is also available on 4K Blu-ray. I viewed it in native 4K and then tested different sections of the 1080p presentation.
In our review of the 4K Blu-ray release, you will read comments about different inconsistencies in the 4K restoration that alter the period appearance of various visuals. Some of the changes also impact delineation, clarity, and the dynamic range of the visuals. This being said, it is pretty easy to argue that the 4K restoration still offers many meaningful improvements impacting grain exposure, delineation, clarity, depth, etc. The problem is that while some areas of the film may look good now, they do not look as they should. Image stability is excellent. The entire film looks immaculate as well. (Note: This is a Region-A "locked" Blu-ray release. Therefore, you must have a native Region-A or Region-Free player in order to access its content).
There is only one standard audio track on this release: Mandarin DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1. Optional English subtitles are provided for the main feature.
The two older Blu-ray releases of Farewell My Concubine have only 2.0 tracks, so I was eager to view the film with a 5.1 track. In areas with dialog, the 2.0 and 5.1 tracks perform equally well. However, a lot of the mass footage in the second half of the film where the communists take over definitely sounds better on the 5.1 track. The English translation is excellent.
Because there has not been a proper home video release of the original, much longer version of Chen Kaige's Farewell My Concubine in America, this upcoming Blu-ray release is easy to recommend. However, the new 4K restoration that was prepared for its 30th anniversary should have been a lot more convincing. Farewell My Concubine should have a dazzling period appearance, but right now certain parts of it have an unmistakable contemporary appearance. In addition to the Blu-ray release, there is a 4K Blu-ray/Blu-ray combo pack that streets on the same date. RECOMMENDED.
(Still not reliable for this title)
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