Collaborations: The Cinema of Zhang Yimou & Gong Li Blu-ray (1 Viewer)

[Citizen87645]

I couldn't find much chatter on this release except on CriterionForum.org.

Anyway, I've long wondered why Zhang's oldest films from the late 1980s and 1990s have not had an acceptable release on BD, so I'd say this Collaborations collection is long overdue.

See on Amazon

 

[bujaki]

I couldn't find much chatter on this release except on CriterionForum.org.

Anyway, I've long wondered why Zhang's oldest films from the late 1980s and 1990s have not had an acceptable release on BD, so I'd say this Collaborations collection is long overdue.

See on Amazon

Received it 2 days ago. Couldn't resist it. Great films.

 

[Citizen87645]

Received it 2 days ago. Couldn't resist it. Great films.

Yes, I'm definitely looking at ordering it in the next few days.

 

[cda1143]

Thanks for posting this. Very few if any of these films have hit Blu-ray yet in the US. Most DVD versions, long out of print, were extremely poor transfers. I consider them unwatchable.

For those interested who might not want the entire set, the two iTunes HD versions I’ve seen are quite respectable.

 

[Dave Yeung]

Anyone looking for a region A Blu-ray alternative, there is a Korean release set for Dec 17, 2021. It only has 4 films ( Red Sorghum (1987), Raise the Red Lantern (1991), The Story of Qiu Ju (1992), To Live (1994) ). At least it is region A, but it is missing one of the earlier movie Ju Dou (1990). Otherwise it will be perfect for me. There are two versions listed on Yesasia, but it looks like just a different packaging.

Here are links to Yesasia.com. Not sure if there are other online retailers.
Zhang Yimou 4-Movie Collection (Blu-ray) (4-Disc) (Respect Version)
Zhang Yimou 4-Movie Collection (Blu-ray) (4-Disc) (Sentimental Version)

 

[Citizen87645]

My impression from the CriterionForum.org discussion is that the Collaborations release is region free. Also, I can't have a collection of Zhang's films without Ju Dou, even though that may mean having to also own Curse of the Golden Flower.

 

[Denham]

I haven't been able to spot check the whole set yet, just the first several films.

Red Sorghum has issues. There are scattered shots that display wall to wall artifacts, bookending others that look quite nice- though I suspect the whole disc has been graded at odds with how it looked theatrically.
Even with the sections that don't have explicit issues, the quality of the encode is such that the picture feels like it's on the verge of breaking up at any moment.
In 2021, it's damn near unacceptable- though good luck trying to get Imprint to recall and remaster it. the artifacts may be baked into the master, but it's on Imprint's head that they didn't acknowledge that the film was "from the best available elements". Instead they chose to tout every film in the set as having a new 2K master from the original negative .
They set certain expectations for the presentation that the first film doesn't come close to meeting.

I briefly scanned Ju Dou and ...Red Lantern also. Both looked much better, and the picture much more stable.
Ju Dou didn't impress me much visually in the theater back in 1991, but it looks lovely here. Colors seem wan, but I don't believe it's inaccurate or revisionist.

The perfect bound booklet has fewer pages than was advertised , by almost half, but is nicely laid out and illustrated.
The box is of sturdier chipboard, similar to what Arrow uses, and has a die cut top half.

It's a shame about Sorgum as the rest of the release looks at least closer to being worth the high price tag.

 

[Citizen87645]

Here's a comparison of Red Sorghum editions: https://forum.blu-ray.com/showpost.php?p=19502187&postcount=124

 

[cda1143]

I haven't been able to spot check the whole set yet, just the first several films.

Red Sorghum has issues. There are scattered shots that display wall to wall artifacts, bookending others that look quite nice- though I suspect the whole disc has been graded at odds with how it looked theatrically.
Even with the sections that don't have explicit issues, the quality of the encode is such that the picture feels like it's on the verge of breaking up at any moment.
In 2021, it's damn near unacceptable- though good luck trying to get Imprint to recall and remaster it. the artifacts may be baked into the master, but it's on Imprint's head that they didn't acknowledge that the film was "from the best available elements". Instead they chose to tout every film in the set as having a new 2K master from the original negative .
They set certain expectations for the presentation that the first film doesn't come close to meeting.

I briefly scanned Ju Dou and ...Red Lantern also. Both looked much better, and the picture much more stable.
Ju Dou didn't impress me much visually in the theater back in 1991, but it looks lovely here. Colors seem wan, but I don't believe it's inaccurate or revisionist.

The perfect bound booklet has fewer pages than was advertised , by almost half, but is nicely laid out and illustrated.
The box is of sturdier chipboard, similar to what Arrow uses, and has a die cut top half.

It's a shame about Sorgum as the rest of the release looks at least closer to being worth the high price tag.

Thanks very much. Warm colours sound correct for Ju Dou. Very warm palette in the cinema in '91.

 

[Konstantinos]

Here's some comparisons for Ju Dou:

Ju Dou Blu-ray - Gong Li

 

[Citizen87645]

I haven't been able to spot check the whole set yet, just the first several films.

Red Sorghum has issues. There are scattered shots that display wall to wall artifacts, bookending others that look quite nice- though I suspect the whole disc has been graded at odds with how it looked theatrically.
Even with the sections that don't have explicit issues, the quality of the encode is such that the picture feels like it's on the verge of breaking up at any moment.
In 2021, it's damn near unacceptable- though good luck trying to get Imprint to recall and remaster it. the artifacts may be baked into the master, but it's on Imprint's head that they didn't acknowledge that the film was "from the best available elements". Instead they chose to tout every film in the set as having a new 2K master from the original negative .
They set certain expectations for the presentation that the first film doesn't come close to meeting.

I briefly scanned Ju Dou and ...Red Lantern also. Both looked much better, and the picture much more stable.
Ju Dou didn't impress me much visually in the theater back in 1991, but it looks lovely here. Colors seem wan, but I don't believe it's inaccurate or revisionist.

The perfect bound booklet has fewer pages than was advertised , by almost half, but is nicely laid out and illustrated.
The box is of sturdier chipboard, similar to what Arrow uses, and has a die cut top half.

It's a shame about Sorgum as the rest of the release looks at least closer to being worth the high price tag.

I watched Red Sorghum last night and yeah, there are some pretty ugly moments where noise is swarming all over the image.