Stray Dogs Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		4.0
Video		4.0
Audio		5.0
Extras		4.5
Overall		4.5

Stray Dogs Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Dr. Svet Atanasov March 25, 2015

Winner of the Grand Special Jury Prize at the Venice Film Festival, Tsai Ming-liang's "Stray Dogs" (2013) arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of independent U.S. distributors Cinema Guild. The supplemental features on the disc include an original trailer for the film; the short film "Journey to the West" (2014); and filmed session with the Taiwanese director at Cinematheque Francaise. The release also arrives with a leaflet featuring an essay by critic Jonathan Rosenbaum. In Mandarin, with optional English subtitles for the main feature. Region-Free.

Family dinner

Tsai Ming-liang’s first digital and apparently final feature film, Stray Dogs, begins and ends abruptly. It has a structure, but its uneven segments can be easily rearranged without collapsing it. It is calm and peaceful, but it has the rebellious spirit of Jean-Luc Godard’s early nouvelle vague films.

The film is set in Taipei where a single father (Tsai's regular collaborator Lee Kang-sheng) with a drinking problem and his two children are barely surviving. Each day -- regardless of how bad the weather might be -- the man holds a heavy advertising placard in the middle of a busy street, while the children spend time in a nearby supermarket that routinely runs tasting events. They meet late at night and with the money the man is paid purchase cheap food. The family dinner takes place at a secluded parking lot and is always quick and boring (there is never time for laughs and smiles). The three then wash in a public restroom and go ‘home’ – a tiny room in an abandoned building with an old mattress and a few big bags full of used clothes.

The routine never changes, but no one complains. While he is away from the children the man occasionally cries but swallows the bitter tears and keeps on working. He understands that he is happy to have a job. Around him there are other men that are just as hurt and desperate, but they too prefer to hide their pain and frustration. The children seem fully aware that their father does whatever he can so that they don’t starve.

The longer the camera observes the man and his two children, the more it begins to feel like they exist in an alternative reality -- the rhythm of time changes and the noises the big city produces move somewhere in the back. With the exception of a few women that sporadically help the children, no one seems to notice them. Like stray dogs, they occasionally emerge from the shadows, leave a tiny trail, and then quietly disappear again.

In Stray Dogs Poverty and social injustice are facts of life and there is no finger-pointing. Instead, the film welcomes the viewer to the world of the homeless man and then gradually alters the rhythm of time. With time essentially no longer a factor, the viewer is given a chance to see (and hopefully experience) rather than see through the man’s reality. The concept is very unusual and requires a great deal of patience as the film slows down dramatically, but the experience is quite illuminating.

Tsai’s treatment of time has always been very unique, but with Stray Dogs the conventional sense of gravity is almost completely eliminated. For example, in What Time Is It Over There? the main protagonists connect and then feel their presence in different time zones and in I Don't Want To Sleep Alone time seemingly slows down and they temporarily get lost in a city that seems eager to play tricks on those who are naive enough to assume that they know all of its secrets. In Stray Dogs Tsai never hits the reset button -- the film never returns to the viewer’s reality and ends on the ‘other side’, where being alive means something entirely different.

Ultimately, Stray Dogs offers a meditative experience that challenges virtually all of the conventional rules contemporary films respect. It does it with tremendous confidence and brilliant style, but it works as intended only it is approached with the right state of mind.

***

Also included on this release is Tsai's Journey to the West (2014), the newest addition to the "Walker" series, about a monk slowly moving through the streets of Marseille while being followed by the great Denis Lavant (Holy Motors, Boy Meets Girl).

Stray Dogs Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Presented in an aspect ratio of 1.78:1, encoded with MPEG-4 AVC and granted a 1080p transfer, Tsai Ming-liang's Stray Dogs arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of independent U.S. distributors Cinema Guild.

Please note that there are two sets of screencaptures included with our review:

1. Screencaptures 1-19: Stray Dogs
2. Screencaptures 21-26: Journey to the West

Stray Dogs: Shot digitally, the film has the appropriate clean and smooth appearance. Without exception the well-lit close-ups and wider panoramic shots boast impressive depth and clarity (see screencaptures #2 and 15). Contrast levels fluctuate, but the fluctuations are caused by the manner in which light is captured by the camera. Colors are stable and well saturated. Despite the fact that the film is quite long and there is substantial amount of supplemental content, compression is not problematic. There are select sequences where it is obvious that it could have been better, but the film does have a consistently pleasing appearance. A few compression artifacts sneak in, but one must know where to look for them, or at least where to anticipate them, in order to spot them (see screencapture #3). Overall image stability is outstanding.

Journey to the West: The film is presented in 1080i, but the visuals are impressive. During the long close-ups, in particular, depth is very good. Clarity and sharpness also do not disappoint. Colors are stable and natural. Lastly, compression here also could be better, but the current presentation is free of distracting anomalies.

Note: This is a Region-Free Blu-ray release. Therefore, you will be able to play it on your PS3 or SA regardless of your geographical location).

Stray Dogs Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

There is only one standard audio track on this Blu-ray release: Mandarin DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1. Cinema Guild have provided optional English subtitles for the main feature.

Stray Dogs does not have a prominent music score. There are a few casual exchanges in Mandarin, but the rest of the film is essentially filled with random sounds and noises and plenty of silence (typically prolonged segments in which the camera quietly observes the main protagonists).

Journey to the West comes with a standard DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 track, but there is no consistent dialog. There is only street noise and a mix of random sounds.

Stray Dogs Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Trailer - original U.S. trailer for Stray Dogs. In Mandarin, with imposed English subtitles.

• Journey to the West (2014) - Tsai Ming-liang's minimalistic film, Journey to the West, about a monk (played by veteran Taiwanese actor Lee Kang-sheng) slowly moving through the streets of Marseille while being followed by the great Denis Lavant. Presented in 1080i with DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 track. (54 min).

• Tsai Ming-liang Master Class at the Cinematheque Francaise - in this long session, director Tsai Ming-liang talks about his childhood years and his love for cinema, and discusses some of the key reoccurring elements in his films, his relationship with actor Lee Kang-sheng (who appears in all of his films), the important lessons he has learned from the great classic directors, the fact that his films typically do not perform well at the box office (unlike the films of Wong Kar Wai, Hou Hsiao-Hsien, and Edward Yang), how people's viewing habits have changed for the worse, the "Walker" series (Journey to the West is part of the series), etc. The session was filmed before a screening of Stray Dogs on March 10, and was part of a retrospective which was organized by Cinematheque Francaise in partnership with the Deauville Asian Film Festival (March 12 - 30, 2014). In Mandarin and French, with optional English subtitles. (70 min).

• Leaflet - featuring an essay by critic Jonathan Rosenbaum.

• Trailers - trailers for other Cinema Guild releases.

Stray Dogs Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

In Tsai Ming-liang's Stray Dogs a poor alcoholic father and his two children barely survive in Taipei. Instead of observing their misery, the viewer is invited to enter their reality and see the world through their eyes. It is a complex and very challenging film that requires a great deal of patience, but a hugely illuminating one. The film looks great on Blu-ray. Also included on this release is an outstanding session with the great Taiwanese director which was filmed at Cinematheque Francaise in 2014. Thus far, this is easily one of the year's best Blu-ray releases. VERY HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.