Chinese Box (1997) - 15th September 2021 - Imprint Films

[DawnShadow]

Jeremy Irons stars as John, a British journalist living in Hong Kong. John has fallen in love with Vivian (Li), a bartender with a jaded past. Vivian is eager to secure her position in Hong Kong society and wants her successful boyfriend Chang to marry her. When Chang proves to be indecisive about their relationship, Vivian turns to John. Giving into their feelings for a brief but passionate affair, they now face inevitable change and unexpected obstacles in this touching and compelling film.

Director Wayne Wang (The Joy Luck Club) creates a cinematic “love letter” to his native island Hong Kong.

Special Features and Technical Specs:

New 2020 1080p High definition 2K restoration
Audio commentary with co-writer / director Wayne Wang and critic Roger Garcia
New featurette on Wayne Wang (2021)
New composer featurette (2021)
“Chinese Box Home Movies” featurette
Original aspect ratio 1.85:1
Theatrical Trailer
English Dolby Digital 2.0
Optional English subtitles
Limited Edition slipcase on the first 2000 copies with unique artwork.

Pre-order : https://viavision.com.au/shop/chinese-box-1997/

[darry]

Is this any good? Seems like a movie about a sexpat with a fetish for Asian women.

[Yasujiro Ozu]

It's quite a good film. It's about embracing and not fearing change and not excepting that change to be negative or less but perhaps optimistic and positive. The relationship between Jeremy Irons and Gong Li is paralleled with the hand over of Hong Kong to China. I found it quite touching.

[danielvh]

I picked this up a while ago and finally got around to watching it.

The blu ray is decent but not brilliant - good clarity, detail and colour. Quite a lot of film grain but it felt natural. The image did feel a little bit flat though and I’m not sure if it was the transfer or filming style, but it had a bit of a soap opera effect. The audio was also only average - decent clarity of dialogue but with no surround and limited bass, it wasn’t all that dynamic.

The only other source I could readily find were trailers/clips on YouTube and the blu ray (obviously) looked a lot better than those.

[Yasujiro Ozu]

It's obviously an old transfer. These films have a limited appear outside the usual film buffs interest and therefore sell in small numbers. I like yourself would have preferred a brand spanking new transfer with all the bells and whistles, unlikely to happen in this parallel universe.

[Aunt Peg]

Whenever I see this thread I keep think it is the Christopher Petit film (which I would love to see find its way to a Blu Ray release).