Taiwan New Wave Cinema: In Our Times/The Sandwich Man/Growing Up - Blu-ray Forum

toddly6666 · 01-19-2016, 01:27 PM

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In Our Times (1982)
The Sandwich Man (1983)
Growing Up (1983)

Audio: Mandarin LPCM Stereo
Subtitle: Traditional Chinese, English
Screen: 16:9
Studio: SONY MUSIC

toddly6666 · 01-19-2016, 01:27 PM

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toddly6666 · 01-19-2016, 01:28 PM

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PGW · 01-19-2016, 06:05 PM

Ooh! Now THAT I'll go for. I don't think "The Sandwich Man" has ever been available with English subs, and the DVD of "In Our Times" has been cropped to pan and scan (and looks pretty awful).

Link?

toddly6666 · 01-19-2016, 09:29 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by PGW

Ooh! Now THAT I'll go for. I don't think "The Sandwich Man" has ever been available with English subs, and the DVD of "In Our Times" has been cropped to pan and scan (and looks pretty awful).

Link?

jsdvd.com

Fabs · 01-20-2016, 12:08 AM

All these releases of Taiwanese New Wave stuff is awesome. Maybe they're working on Yang's earlier works, or some more Hou like Daughter of the Nile!

shibal · 01-20-2016, 02:23 AM

It's also available for pre-order at YesAsia but I just pre-ordered at jsdvd mall as it's going to be cheaper even with the EMS shipping factored in the total.

nissling · 08-17-2016, 02:55 PM

I got this in the mail today. In Our Time looks completely awful. I've seen the DCP and it was just as abysmal. Textures are minimal, colors seem faded, there's some flickering and all motions are pretty much painful to watch. The worst about this all is that the remaining grain gets completely smeared out whenever something moves as an addition to the already unwatchable master. One of the worst Blu-rays I've even seen, as long as we don't count upscales or such.

Did try out some scenes from The Sandwich Man. It's certainly soft and DNR has been applied but it at least looks like a film. Considering this film has never had a proper, English friendly release, I'm considering it tolerable even though I certainly don't find it looking any good. I can get you some captures if interested. Haven't checked out Growing up yet.

Should also be noted that the black levels are very, very high on these masters (doesn't seem to be the typical PC levels compressed into video levels as with other Asian releases either). Be ready to tweak your brightness settings.

nissling · 08-18-2016, 03:03 PM

Okay so now I gave Growing Up a quick look. It's a soft master and DNR has indeed been used, but it still looks high-def for sure (it's a proper 2K master, no upscale). Motions are fine and certainly watchable considering the film's rarity.

Here's some captures for you. For each film I did an attempt to adjust the black levels in one of the screenshots and results were pretty good.

In our time (don't let these fool you, it looks very bad in motion)
https://drive.google.com/folderview?...3c&usp=sharing
Sandwich man
https://drive.google.com/folderview?...FE&usp=sharing
Growing up
https://drive.google.com/folderview?...VU&usp=sharing

Other than the debacle for In our time, it's a pretty neat little box set. Packaging is very nice and the producers do indeed want to give you the impression of quality. It's not as good as a Criterion or Arrow edition but if you're into Taiwanese cinema this may be something for you. I'm happy to own it.

Fabs · 08-18-2016, 08:27 PM

I hope we get other Taiwanese new wave films on Blu soon. I know they've restored Hou Hsiao-hsien's Daughter of the Nile as well as Edward Yang's Taipei Story and That Day on the Beach.

nissling · 08-19-2016, 11:03 AM

Taipei Story is awesome. I saw it theatrically.

[Show spoiler]

shadedpain4 · 08-19-2016, 04:19 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Fabs

I hope we get other Taiwanese new wave films on Blu soon. I know they've restored Hou Hsiao-hsien's Daughter of the Nile as well as Edward Yang's Taipei Story and That Day on the Beach.

I'd gleefully buy all three of those.

Fabs · 08-19-2016, 07:41 PM

I think we all would, the only problem is waiting for a release.

Dan Average · 09-03-2016, 06:20 PM

Those other three are actually Taiwan Film Institute restorations, not CMPC restorations. Criterion and MoC licensed their King Hu titles directly from the TFI, so in theory anything the TFI does (which also includes Hu's Legend of the Mountain and Wan Jen's Super Citizen Ko) could be up for grabs. (Taipei Story is also a World Cinema Project presentation a la A Brighter Summer Day.) Whether anyone will actually bite is another question—Super Citizen Ko is unfortunately a fairly obscure title with no big names attached, and the TFI has also restored a number of Hokkien films from the '60s that will frankly be lucky to get a BD release in Taiwan, never mind anywhere else.

John_Drake · 09-05-2016, 01:26 AM

Cheers for this Dan.

Did you say that Super Citizen Ko got a BD release in Taiwan?

I only have a VCD but have been looking for a proper copy for ages.

Dan Average · 09-11-2016, 04:28 AM

AFAIK the Super Citizen Ko restoration has only been shown at the Taipei Film Festival. But I think it's at least possible a Taiwanese BD could eventually appear, unlike some of the more obscure titles restored by the TFI. I doubt an outfit like Criterion or Masters of Cinema would be interested, but hey, prove me wrong, guys...

01-19-2016, 01:27 PM	#1
toddly6666 Blu-ray Baron Top contributor Member since:Nov 2009 Location:Hong Kong Home Theater Gallery:20 4K collection:1 Blu-ray collection:1441 DVD collection:31 Blu-ray reviews: 290 Trading Score:61	Taiwan New Wave Cinema: In Our Times/The Sandwich Man/Growing Up image.jpg In Our Times (1982) The Sandwich Man (1983) Growing Up (1983) Audio: Mandarin LPCM Stereo Subtitle: Traditional Chinese, English Screen: 16:9 Studio: SONY MUSIC

08-19-2016, 11:03 AM	#11
nissling Senior Member Top contributor Member since:Dec 2012 Location:Stockholm, Sweden 4K collection:449 Blu-ray collection:1850 DVD collection:28	Taipei Story is awesome. I saw it theatrically. [Show spoiler] Last edited by nissling; 08-19-2016 at 03:58 PM.

01-19-2016, 01:28 PM	#3
toddly6666 Blu-ray Baron Top contributor Member since:Nov 2009 Location:Hong Kong Home Theater Gallery:20 4K collection:1 Blu-ray collection:1441 DVD collection:31 Blu-ray reviews: 290 Trading Score:61	image.jpg

01-19-2016, 06:05 PM	#4
PGW Blu-ray Samurai Member since:Dec 2009 Location:United States Blu-ray reviews:2 Trading Score:4	Ooh! Now THAT I'll go for. I don't think "The Sandwich Man" has ever been available with English subs, and the DVD of "In Our Times" has been cropped to pan and scan (and looks pretty awful). Link?

01-20-2016, 12:08 AM	#6
Fabs Special Member Top contributor Member since:Nov 2013 4K collection:1 Blu-ray collection:257 DVD collection:33	All these releases of Taiwanese New Wave stuff is awesome. Maybe they're working on Yang's earlier works, or some more Hou like Daughter of the Nile!

01-20-2016, 02:23 AM	#7
shibal Active Member Member since:May 2015	It's also available for pre-order at YesAsia but I just pre-ordered at jsdvd mall as it's going to be cheaper even with the EMS shipping factored in the total.

08-17-2016, 02:55 PM	#8
nissling Senior Member Top contributor Member since:Dec 2012 Location:Stockholm, Sweden 4K collection:449 Blu-ray collection:1850 DVD collection:28	I got this in the mail today. In Our Time looks completely awful. I've seen the DCP and it was just as abysmal. Textures are minimal, colors seem faded, there's some flickering and all motions are pretty much painful to watch. The worst about this all is that the remaining grain gets completely smeared out whenever something moves as an addition to the already unwatchable master. One of the worst Blu-rays I've even seen, as long as we don't count upscales or such. Did try out some scenes from The Sandwich Man. It's certainly soft and DNR has been applied but it at least looks like a film. Considering this film has never had a proper, English friendly release, I'm considering it tolerable even though I certainly don't find it looking any good. I can get you some captures if interested. Haven't checked out Growing up yet. Should also be noted that the black levels are very, very high on these masters (doesn't seem to be the typical PC levels compressed into video levels as with other Asian releases either). Be ready to tweak your brightness settings.

08-18-2016, 03:03 PM	#9
nissling Senior Member Top contributor Member since:Dec 2012 Location:Stockholm, Sweden 4K collection:449 Blu-ray collection:1850 DVD collection:28	Okay so now I gave Growing Up a quick look. It's a soft master and DNR has indeed been used, but it still looks high-def for sure (it's a proper 2K master, no upscale). Motions are fine and certainly watchable considering the film's rarity. Here's some captures for you. For each film I did an attempt to adjust the black levels in one of the screenshots and results were pretty good. In our time (don't let these fool you, it looks very bad in motion) https://drive.google.com/folderview?...3c&usp=sharing Sandwich man https://drive.google.com/folderview?...FE&usp=sharing Growing up https://drive.google.com/folderview?...VU&usp=sharing Other than the debacle for In our time, it's a pretty neat little box set. Packaging is very nice and the producers do indeed want to give you the impression of quality. It's not as good as a Criterion or Arrow edition but if you're into Taiwanese cinema this may be something for you. I'm happy to own it.

08-18-2016, 08:27 PM	#10
Fabs Special Member Top contributor Member since:Nov 2013 4K collection:1 Blu-ray collection:257 DVD collection:33	I hope we get other Taiwanese new wave films on Blu soon. I know they've restored Hou Hsiao-hsien's Daughter of the Nile as well as Edward Yang's Taipei Story and That Day on the Beach.

08-19-2016, 07:41 PM	#13
Fabs Special Member Top contributor Member since:Nov 2013 4K collection:1 Blu-ray collection:257 DVD collection:33	I think we all would, the only problem is waiting for a release.

09-03-2016, 06:20 PM	#14
Dan Average Active Member Member since:Jan 2009	Those other three are actually Taiwan Film Institute restorations, not CMPC restorations. Criterion and MoC licensed their King Hu titles directly from the TFI, so in theory anything the TFI does (which also includes Hu's Legend of the Mountain and Wan Jen's Super Citizen Ko) could be up for grabs. (Taipei Story is also a World Cinema Project presentation a la A Brighter Summer Day.) Whether anyone will actually bite is another question—Super Citizen Ko is unfortunately a fairly obscure title with no big names attached, and the TFI has also restored a number of Hokkien films from the '60s that will frankly be lucky to get a BD release in Taiwan, never mind anywhere else.

09-05-2016, 01:26 AM	#15
John_Drake Blu-ray Samurai Top contributor Member since:Jul 2013 4K collection:1 Blu-ray collection:3442 Trading Score:92	Cheers for this Dan. Did you say that Super Citizen Ko got a BD release in Taiwan? I only have a VCD but have been looking for a proper copy for ages.

09-11-2016, 04:28 AM	#16
Dan Average Active Member Member since:Jan 2009	AFAIK the Super Citizen Ko restoration has only been shown at the Taipei Film Festival. But I think it's at least possible a Taiwanese BD could eventually appear, unlike some of the more obscure titles restored by the TFI. I doubt an outfit like Criterion or Masters of Cinema would be interested, but hey, prove me wrong, guys...

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