6.6 | / 10 |
Users | 0.0 | |
Reviewer | 3.0 | |
Overall | 3.0 |
A group of Chinese youths living in Japan runs afoul of a local crime syndicate.
Starring: Kazuki Kitamura, Tomorô Taguchi, Naoto Takenaka, Shô Aikawa (II), Michisuke KashiwayaForeign | 100% |
Drama | 36% |
Crime | 18% |
Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Video resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 1.85:1
Original aspect ratio: 1.85:1
Japanese: LPCM 2.0
English
Blu-ray Disc
Single disc (1 BD)
Region A (B, C untested)
Movie | 3.0 | |
Video | 3.5 | |
Audio | 4.0 | |
Extras | 2.0 | |
Overall | 3.0 |
Note: This film is available as part of
Takashi Miike’s Black Society Trilogy.
If you’re not already familiar with Takashi Miike, you could spend several hours getting to “know” him via any of several of his films, many of which
have been released on Blu-ray. And what an incredible assortment they are:
Audition, Ichi the Killer, The Happiness of the Katakuris (my
personal
favorite), Sukiyaki Western Django, Crows Zero, Zebraman 2: Attack on Zebra City, 13 Assassins, Hara-Kiri: Death of a Samurai,
Over Your Dead Body and Yakuza Apocalypse
will provide more than ample evidence that Miike is both intentionally provocative as well as incredibly protean. Miike has become almost
infamous due to some of the depictions and story elements in films like Audition and Ichi the Killer, and that proclivity is certainly on
hand in each of the three films contained in this set, though perhaps not in the same context as those two aforementioned entries. Kind of
ironically,
this so-called Black Society Trilogy (which is also known under some alternative names, including Black Triad Trilogy and—just for
good measure—Triad Society Trilogy) really isn’t a trilogy in a standard sense, for each film exists as a standalone entry and can only be
linked to the others tangentially in terms of overall plot dynamics featuring criminals and, in some cases, shared casting.
Ley Lines is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Arrow Video with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 1.85:1. Arrow's typically informative insert booklet doesn't shed much light on the provenance of this presentation, stating only that "the high definition masters were made available for this release by Kadokawa Pictures", something that may indicate that any quality control issues were outside of Arrow's purview. Perhaps due to its at least slightly more recent vintage, this is arguably the most pleasing looking transfer in this set. While things are still fairly soft looking overall, the grain field is finer and tends to look more organic as well as not masking fine detail as much as in the previous two entries. The films unusual color grading techniques are also rendered well here. The outdoor footage offers a decently vivid palette and good detail levels. As with Rainy Dog, a kind of odd censoring technique has been utilized, where a blue scribble appears over various "naughty bits".
Ley Lines begins with the same text card that served as a preamble to Shinjuku Triad Society:
Ley Lines includes dialogue in languages other than Japanese. In order to depict this more accurately for foreign viewers, subtitles for non-Japanese dialogue have been placed in brackets.The LPCM 2.0 track offers good reproduction of the urban sounds as well as dialogue (in whatever language). Fidelity is fine and prioritization well handled in one of the "busier" sounding tracks in this set.
Ley Lines is probably the most distinctive "Miike-esque" offering in this set in terms of style, and the film is often quite ravishing from a visual standpoint. The story is a little underdeveloped, but Miike's frequent theme of strangers in a strange land finds an interesting treatment in this film. This has generally the nicest looking video in this set, and once again audio is fine and the commentary track engaging.
(Still not reliable for this title)
1997
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2000
1973
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