YesAsia has it up for pre-order, but says the release date is December 10th. It also says the distributor is Mei Ah, and that it's in Region 0. WARNING: YesAsia does NOT list English subtitles.
Layoyo and DVD Asian both list the HK release as having English subtitles. (And anamorphic 16:9 NTSC, DTS audio, etc.) And at the bargain price of £4.30 plus shipping. Nice. There's also a limited edition 2-disc set, but no information on what that entails.
Have Mei-Ah improved any in recent years? The only disc of theirs I bought was "In the Mood for Love", which was an atrocity (the disc, not the film). I heard they did good DVDs of a few John Woo films, so maybe they've changed.
On the other hand, I can hardly imagine it being worse than the GD FACE DVD. It was probably stupid of me to buy that disc, but I wanted to see the film that badly, following the cancellation of its closing night screening at the Edinburgh Film Festival.
You guys might want to check out wwwDOTdddhouseDOTcom, it's been reliable for me and they have a good selection of titles, but weekly bargains. I'm not sure how much shipping to the US would cost though since they are based in Hong Kong and I live in Singapore
I got the single-disc Mei Ah DVD in the mail today, and so far, the transfer looks decent. There are no logos of any sort, unlike the Face version. It's anamorphically enhanced, and picture looks good, although there does seem to be just a bit of blurring sometimes. Detailing is very nice. Audio sounds fine as well. Please note that I'm viewing this on a 17-inch Trinitron computer monitor and listening to this on an Altec Lansing 2.1 computer speaker setup. I've only viewed this film by skipping through the chapter stops, so I have no idea if the entire movie is decent, but it looks to be that way. I'll try to have screenshots up later today or tomorrow, but no promises.
I read the post over there that talked about the blurring, and I'm talking about a different kind. Perhaps I worded it wrong. When the camera moves, there's blurring. Also, someone said over there that the extras are subtitled in English. I got the single-disc version because I've never known of a foreign release with English subtitles on the extras, but now I know better. :frowning:
'got the HK version, witch features a nice 16/9 version of the movie and a brilliant 5.1 EX surround track + english sub.
PS : after watching the movie, i can tell that image is above average (but kind of blury from time to time) and sound is quite good (not really using EX capabilities) except from 2 or 3 times, when tonality changes a bit and sound is a bit harsh ! 9$ is a good price, anyway !
Got the HK single disc version. IMHO it's okay, but not demonstration quality (picture and sound).
However, it doesn't matter what picture and sound quality are like if the film itself isn't v. good. To be honest, I found it very self-indulgent and not a little muddled (I know that work was done on the movie after its Cannes showing, but it still doesn't do it for me, I'm afraid). Defintely not up to the standard of In the Mood For Love in my books. Of course, your mileage may vary but I'd approach this one with a little caution.
Wong Kar Wai's film of Tony Leung's post Maggie Cheung musings on his sad heart and fictional inner life is ceratinly an ambitious work for what is essentialy really a post script to In The Mood For Love. Nobody muses like Wong Kar Wai, and I found this a lush emotional trip despite the fractured nature of it's narritive. Viewers who have not seen In The Mood For Love will certainly miss an entire level of this film. Plus there's a sublime moment Tony Leung bumps into a character from Days Of Being Wild.
I picked up the two disc edition a few weeks ago, waited till the picture opened here in Dublin, saw it in the theatre then checked the disc out that night. The "Making Of" has English subtitles and was well worth the extra few quid. There is also a short featuretee featuring behind the scenes footage of the beyond beautiful Zhang Ziyi in action.
As mentioned above reems have been cut from the final print we're all seeing in theatres and on DVD. It's apprent from the trailers and making of that most of this is from the futuristic element of the film. Maggie Cheung's "Special Appearance" is bearly two shots in the final film, where as there's an android version of her in the cut futurtisc element that we never see. Hopefully some of these scenes will turn up on a special edition.