Center Stage - Maggie Cheung

[nitin]

This is apparently out:

http://www.yesasia.com/global/center...0-en/info.html

Would appreciate a/v comments from anyone picking it up.

Cheers

[drobswim13]

I would appreciate it, as well. If it is a true HD master, I'm all over it.

[darry]

Mine shipped out a couple of days ago. Will let you know the quality when it arrives.

[nitin]

thanks darry that would be great

[darry]

I watched this last night. The image is pretty soft and some of the daylight scenes have a glare to them. Not sure if it was meant to look like that. It reminds me a lot of the image for Days of Being Wild, not a very sharp or detailed image but still fairly natural looking and film like.

Another annoying aspect was that the modern day scenes had an anomaly where every time a subtitle appeared it would darken the background so it looked like the bottom of the screen was flickering. The sound was awesome though. Oh, and did I mention it's a great movie.

[nitin]

I have the korean dvd and your description of the image seems consistent with that dvd image.

More concerned about that subtitle issue though, that would be a dealbreaker IMHO.

[drobswim13]

Originally Posted by darry

I watched this last night. The image is pretty soft and some of the daylight scenes have a glare to them. Not sure if it was meant to look like that. It reminds me a lot of the image for Days of Being Wild, not a very sharp or detailed image but still fairly natural looking and film like.

Another annoying aspect was that the modern day scenes had an anomaly where every time a subtitle appeared it would darken the background so it looked like the bottom of the screen was flickering. The sound was awesome though. Oh, and did I mention it's a great movie.

That is unfortunate. I might just stick with my DVD, then, but I do love this movie.

[eledoremassis02]

Does anyone have screencaps from this release? Im interested to see how it compares to the the U.S one. The contrast looks better but youtube compression

The Art of Stanley Kwan's Center Stage 關錦鵬《阮玲玉》的電影藝術 - YouTube

[eledoremassis02]

Originally Posted by Futurhythm

Get the US release. This one's an upscale with remixed audio only.

Already got it but thats good to know, thank you!

[qw0aszx]

Originally Posted by Futurhythm

Get the US release. This one's an upscale with remixed audio only.

Aside from the typical Ritrovata color grading, the Film Movement US blu-ray had two parts cut, one is some shots from the opening public bath scene, the other is Ruan Ling-yu blowing smoke to Tang Chi-Shan, these two parts were preserved in the 4K DCP I saw at this year's Shanghai International Film Festival, so I don't know where it went wrong. So I truly hope MOC can pick this up, release this in complete version and give it a re-grading job.

[eledoremassis02]

Originally Posted by qw0aszx

Aside from the typical Ritrovata color grading, the Film Movement US blu-ray had two parts cut, one is some shots from the opening public bath scene, the other is Ruan Ling-yu blowing smoke to Tang Chi-Shan, these two parts were preserved in the 4K DCP I saw at this year's Shanghai International Film Festival, so I don't know where it went wrong. So I truly hope MOC can pick this up, release this in complete version and give it a re-grading job.

I wonder if they're aware of this? I might pick up a dvd copy from hongkong

[Alexcap]

the 88films release thats out on the 24/3/2025 is the 2hr6 minutes short international cut and not the original 2hr34 minutes hong kong version which sucks because to me its not the HK version then its not worth getting.

[qw0aszx]

Originally Posted by Alexcap

the 88films release thats out on the 24/3/2025 is the 2hr6 minutes short international cut and not the original 2hr34 minutes hong kong version which sucks because to me its not the HK version then its not worth getting.

I think the 126-minute info was just a misprint because the only version of this film went through the 4K restoration was the longer director's cut.

[Markgway]

The version passed by the BBFC runs 154:35

https://www.bbfc.co.uk/release/centr...pwwc0xmdi2mjaw

[cooey]

Originally Posted by Alexcap

the 88films release thats out on the 24/3/2025 is the 2hr6 minutes short international cut and not the original 2hr34 minutes hong kong version which sucks because to me its not the HK version then its not worth getting.

See below...

Originally Posted by Markgway

The version passed by the BBFC runs 154:35

https://www.bbfc.co.uk/release/centr...pwwc0xmdi2mjaw

[sidetracked1]

If anyone is still worried, it's clear that the reports that the 88films release is 126 minutes are wrong. The 88films website clearly has this at 155 min, and DVDcompare has it at a very specific 155:02 .

That said - has anyone yet been able to confirm if the 88films version restores the cuts that were in the U.S. FilmMovement version?

[hanz0]

Disc Title: CENTER STAGE
Disc Label: CENTER_STAGE_1991_GBR_BD
Disc Size: 47,899,379,176 bytes
Protection: AACS
Playlist: 00000.MPLS
Size: 41,867,274,240 bytes
Length: 2:35:02.501
Total Bitrate: 36.01 Mbps
Video: MPEG-4 AVC Video / 27996 kbps / 1080p / 23.976 fps / 16:9 / High Profile 4.1
Audio: Chinese / LPCM Audio / 2.0 / 48 kHz /  2304 kbps / 24-bit
Audio: Chinese / DTS-HD Master Audio / 5.1 / 48 kHz /  3829 kbps / 24-bit (DTS Core: 5.1 / 48 kHz /  1509 kbps / 24-bit)
Subtitle: English / 24.419 kbps

Entry has been updated

[The Mole]

Originally Posted by sidetracked1

If anyone is still worried, it's clear that the reports that the 88films release is 126 minutes are wrong. The 88films website clearly has this at 155 min, and DVDcompare has it at a very specific 155:02 .

That said - has anyone yet been able to confirm if the 88films version restores the cuts that were in the U.S. FilmMovement version?

Can you specify what was missing?

[thisgenius]

So am I better off holding onto my HK blu if I want the right cut for this?

[sidetracked1]

Originally Posted by The Mole

Can you specify what was missing?

Well, I've only seen the Film Movement version, but stealing someone else's post from the Criterion forum...

"There are at least two major cuts in Film Movement's new blu-ray of Center Stage, compared with the old Hong Kong blu-ray. The first cut is in the opening scene in the bathhouse, where the establishing shot is cut short to omit full frontal and back nudity of men walking past the camera. The second is more severe. About 1 hour and a half into the film, when Ruan is rehearsing her famous smoking scene alone in her room, there is an abrupt cut that eliminates a line from Tang ("What are you doing?"), Ruan blowing smoke to Tang's face, staring at Tang, and moving away from Tang, resulting in a jarring discontinuity."