Past Lives (2023)

[nicwood]

Originally Posted by thenexus6

Still waiting patiently for UK release..

I've received the SC UK BD just now. It comes with a slip cover, 5.1 audio, BD-50 and the bonus features of the US BD - audio commentary, Bound by Fate featurette and deleted scenes. English SDH subs are available in addition to the Korean portions.

The disc is a MASSIVE improvement to the horribly encoded US BD. Grain exposure is excellent except for highlights. I assume they encoded this at a standard bitrate and optimised it for the normal sections. I wish we had a 4K by now (hopefully from A24 directly) but if this is it for the film on physical media, I'm fine with it.

[hpmoon]

Originally Posted by nicwood

I've received the SC UK BD just now. It comes with a slip cover, 5.1 audio, BD-50 and the bonus features of the US BD - audio commentary, Bound by Fate featurette and deleted scenes. English SDH subs are available in addition to the Korean portions.

The disc is a MASSIVE improvement to the horribly encoded US BD. Grain exposure is excellent except for highlights. I assume they encoded this at a standard bitrate and optimised it for the normal sections. I wish we had a 4K by now (hopefully from A24 directly) but if this is it for the film on physical media, I'm fine with it.

Interesting; however, it's notable that the film was shot...on actual film, to explain the grain - it's jarring these days relative to pristine digital, so you might need to account for that. And the irony is that your UK encoding might have tried to clean it up, which is of course a no-no.

[nicwood]

Originally Posted by hpmoon

Interesting; however, it's notable that the film was shot...on actual film, to explain the grain - it's jarring these days relative to pristine digital, so you might need to account for that. And the irony is that your UK encoding might have tried to clean it up, which is of course a no-no.

I’m not sure what you’re getting at to be honest. Nothing jarring about film grain, at least for me. I always prefer film to digital and the encode renders the grain mostly well.

[hpmoon]

Originally Posted by nicwood

I’m not sure what you’re getting at to be honest. Nothing jarring about film grain, at least for me. I always prefer film to digital and the encode renders the grain mostly well.

You've been knowingly vague about describing "bad encoding" - that's usually an impression left by grain fighting the digital mediums, but the worst thing of all (that you might think is better) is when the common practice of automatic noise reduction gets applied to master content, which can "look like better encoding" to many.

[nicwood]

Originally Posted by hpmoon

You've been knowingly vague about describing "bad encoding" - that's usually an impression left by grain fighting the digital mediums, but the worst thing of all (that you might think is better) is when the common practice of automatic noise reduction gets applied to master content, which can "look like better encoding" to many.

Well, based on that, it seems you completely misunderstood what I appreciated and subtly criticized in the case of Past Lives’ UK Blu-ray (and more generally if you’ve ever read one of my many BD and UHD reviews on this site). I’ll leave it at that for now.

[Geode]

Originally Posted by hpmoon

You've been knowingly vague about describing "bad encoding" - that's usually an impression left by grain fighting the digital mediums, but the worst thing of all (that you might think is better) is when the common practice of automatic noise reduction gets applied to master content, which can "look like better encoding" to many.

I don't think that the poor encoding of the US release had much of anything to do with film grain. The problem seems to be the bitrate, which is much lower in the US release compared to the one from Studio Canal. I have read conjecture that perhaps the original intent was to fit this on a BD-25 disc instead of BD-50.

This is from a different thread about the actual release:

https://forum.blu-ray.com/showpost.p...3&postcount=10

[giopna]

Originally Posted by nicwood

The disc is a MASSIVE improvement to the horribly encoded US BD. Grain exposure is excellent except for highlights. I assume they encoded this at a standard bitrate and optimised it for the normal sections. I wish we had a 4K by now (hopefully from A24 directly) but if this is it for the film on physical media, I'm fine with it.

Another issue the US Blu-ray seems to have is a mismatch in the gamma—either at the source or in the encoding process—resulting in what looks to be a gamma 2.4 encoded source (BT.1886) encoded as gamma 1.9, resulting in a slightly milkier image, overall. Does the Studio Canal version suffer from the same problem?

[nicwood]

Originally Posted by giopna

Another issue the US Blu-ray seems to have is a mismatch in the gamma—either at the source or in the encoding process—resulting in what looks to be a gamma 2.4 encoded source (BT.1886) encoded as gamma 1.9, resulting in a slightly milkier image, overall. Does the Studio Canal version suffer from the same problem?

The SC version is the same but this appears to be source-related. I streamed the film on Apple TV and it looks the same in 4K there. I don’t particularly like the look either but that’s apparently the filmmakers’ preference so I’m okay with it.

[BluBonnet]

‘Past Lives’ Wins Best Picture From National Society of Film Critics

[Talal86]

I'm too pessimist for this kind of story. to me, it feels like the story is being told from an unreliable narrative point of view. the only dialogue that didn't feel this way to me was the husband speech, when he said that she married him for a green card

there's a disconnect between what we're seeing and what's we're being told. and the fact that they apparently loved each others so much, yet made no effort outside of the Skype calls, but blamed "destiny" lol

but it's all fine and well until Hae Sung said things like 'you always run', and 'you're too big for Korea' or somethings to that effect, that's when I thought 'bullshit'. she's really not any of that

it's like if Nora was telling the story to someone else and making it sound more romantic that it is. when the truth is, Nora just didn't want to be with a Korean guy.. or she was in a long distance relationship that simply went nowhere.

the movie itself is pretty good, though. voted 4

[nico87]

I saw this movie a few days ago and I keep thinking about it.
The whole time I was either shocked at how good it is (the framing, lighting, music, writing, acting, EVERY damn thing is top notch ) or getting incrementally emotionally invested. Love it

Saw a 4K HDR version, but I am quickly ordering the UK Blu-ray.
Really hoping to get a proper 4K UHD someday (please A24!!!)

[Tony208]

Only seen the trailer but it reminds me of comrades almost a love story

[Lancelot Link]

Can anybody kindly confirm for me whether or not the Digital Copy code included with the LGF Blu-ray of PAST LIVES redeems via iTunes, please???

[Geode]

Originally Posted by Lancelot Link

Can anybody kindly confirm for me whether or not the Digital Copy code included with the LGF Blu-ray of PAST LIVES redeems via iTunes, please???

What does "LGF" denote? Is that supposed to be Lionsgate? I've never seen that abbreviation before. The instructions that came with the digital code that came with my A24/Lionsgate Blu-ray says to go to lionsgate.com/redeem to redeem the code, for streaming or download.

[cgpublic]

Originally Posted by Lancelot Link

Can anybody kindly confirm for me whether or not the Digital Copy code included with the LGF Blu-ray of PAST LIVES redeems via iTunes, please???

No; A24/LGF films only redeem with VUDU.

[nico87]

Just received my UK disc, sadly no slipcover

If by some miracle the movie wins one or two Oscars (I would argue best movie is deserved even though I was blown away by Oppenheimer), the probability of it getting a 4K disc would increase significantly.

But I also echo the earlier sentiment that if we never see a 4K disc, the StudioCanal Blu-ray is great and I am very happy with it.

[theater dreamer]

I gave this a rent yesterday morning on Amazon, and loved it. I saw nine of the ten Best Picture nominees, with Zone of Interest being the lone exception, which I will see when it becomes available to stream.

Past Lives might have been my favorite picture of the nine. It’s superbly crafted by Celine Song, and the acting by the three leads is uniformly outstanding. The relationships moved me, yet importantly, I never felt that I was being manipulated.

I would like to own this-is it the consensus that the Studio Canal import is the way to go? I’m region free, so I can pick up the best copy no matter where it comes from.

[prkchopexpress]

this is really a fantastic movie.

we can talk about lots of snubs, because there are some every year. but as time passes, we will wonder how greta lee didn’t get a nomination or an oscar. i don’t know that i would say a win, but i think this is a sneaky amazing performance.

[giopna]

Originally Posted by nicwood

The SC version is the same but this appears to be source-related. I streamed the film on Apple TV and it looks the same in 4K there. I don’t particularly like the look either but that’s apparently the filmmakers’ preference so I’m okay with it.

Here's a comparison of the US (top) and UK (bottom) releases. There's an error in the US release's encode that's caused the blacks to appear raised when compared to the visually correct UK encode.

[Show spoiler]