7.2 | / 10 |
Users | 0.0 | |
Reviewer | 3.5 | |
Overall | 3.5 |
This 1993 international hit by Ang Lee is a funny and poignant story of a gay, Taiwanese-American man who goes to some lengths to fool his visiting family that he's actually straight. The results are far more complicated and entertaining than anyone could have guessed.
Starring: Mitchell Lichtenstein, Sihung Lung, Winston Chao, Neal Huff, Michael GastonForeign | 100% |
Romance | 27% |
Drama | 26% |
Comedy | Insignificant |
Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Video resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 1.85:1
Original aspect ratio: 1.85:1
English: DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0
English, English SDH
Blu-ray Disc
Single disc (1 BD)
Region A (locked)
Movie | 3.5 | |
Video | 3.5 | |
Audio | 4.0 | |
Extras | 2.0 | |
Overall | 3.5 |
Nominated for Oscar Award for Best Foreign Language Film, Ang Lee's "The Wedding Banquet" (1993) arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Olive Films. The supplemental features on the disc include an original trailer for the film and archival interviews with Ang Lee and co-writer/co-producer James Schamus. In English and Mandarin, with optional English and English SDH subtitles for the main feature. Region-A "locked".
The bride that changed everything
Presented in its original aspect ratio of 1.85:1, encoded with MPEG-4 AVC and granted a 1080p transfer, Ang Lee's The Wedding Banquet arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Olive Films.
It is fairly easy to tell that the release is sourced from an older master. However, even though there are areas where density is inconsistent and depth really isn't as convincing as it should be, the film's overall appearance is still quite pleasing. The main reason for this is that no attempts have been made to repolish and resharpen it. Also, there are no traces of recent filtering adjustments. On the other hand, the grain also isn't as pronounced as it should be -- especially in a way that new 2K or 4K masters ensure that it is -- so the more obvious some of the fluctuations that are mentioned above are, the easier it will be for you to notice the age of the master. There are also a few segments where black crush sneaks in, though my feeling is that you will spot its presence primarily during close-ups (see a good example in screencapture #3). Colors are stable, but ideally saturation should be better, and there should be a healthier range of nuances. Image stability is good. There are no distracting large debris, cuts, damage marks, stains, warped or torn frames to report. My score is 3.75/5.00. (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 Blu-ray release: English DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 (with small portions of Mandarin). Optional English (for the Mandarin) and English SDH subtitles are provided for the main feature.
I don't recall seeing this film in my theater and I am a bit suspicious that the original audio soundtrack was Mono. On the other hand, it was only Ang Lee's second feature film and it is painfully obvious that it was shot with a very modest budget. Whatever the case might be, the current lossless track handles the dialog and the unimpressive score really well. During he outdoor footage there are a few segments here and there where balance appears inconsistent, but I could easily tell that the original audio was not mixed terribly well. In other words, there are random organic sounds and noises that pretty easily create unevenness. There are no audio dropouts, pops, cracks, or distracting distortions to report.
Ang Lee's second feature film, The Wedding Banquet, has a big heart and is pretty much impossible to dislike, though I think that it would have been even better with a bolder script. I enjoyed it, but I felt that it does plenty of things the 'right way', rather than with a spontaneity that would have made it look a lot more authentic. The Blu-ray release is sourced from a slightly uneven but good master, and also has a nice archival featurette with interesting comments from Ang Lee and co-writer/co-producer James Schamus. RECOMMENDED.
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