엽기적인 그녀 (My Sassy Girl) [Nova Media Exclusive]

[Ray O. Blu]

Received my Lenti from eBay.
Got 0844/1000.
Probably check it out later.

[Liersi]

Watched yesterday after not seeing it since its original release. Still very funny and charming. The romance felt a bit flatter than the first time I saw it, but that's understandable. One of the great things about revisiting films at different periods in our lives is how our perspectives change what we see in them.

The transfer looks rather dated and dull. I' glad to have this, mind you, but for those who haven't seen it yet: keep your expectations in check. Detail is servicable, certainly way beyond a DVD. If you've seen any of the number of older SK transfers on Blu: that's what this looks like.

[Shingster]

I received my copy last Friday and immediately sat down to watch the film: Gotta say it's definitely a bit dated in places and I still wish that Zoo sequence didn't drag on so long, but the film still worked its magic over me. It's still a great romantic comedy.

Now the transfer imo is solid, but completely unspectacular. It's basically what you would expect from a dated master: kinda soft, kinda flat, plenty of print damage (white specks and hairs so this was struck from either the OCN or the Internegative, my guess would be the Internegative given the softness and weak grain resolution). However this is easily the best the film has ever looked on home video. Hands down.

I've done a quick comparison to the Japanese BD using the Caps-a-holic grabs. You can clearly see that this new DC is an improvement in just about every area except for the compression - the Korean BD is a bit inconsistent here, although in motion it generally looks fine.

http://screenshotcomparison.com/comp...5311/picture:0

[PGW]

Thanks for the A/B, Shingster. It shows that the Japanese blu-ray doesn't have the unnatural stretching that the HK and Korean DVDs have... and also that the new blu-ray looks significantly better than the Japanese disc (it looks like they put that through some kind of filter to remove grain, which also removed a lot of the detail along with it).

[Shingster]

I also took a couple of photos of my projector screen when watching to give people an idea of how irritating the scene-descriptive subtitle are:




The 2nd example kinda highlights what's so annoying about these subs at times: You can clearly see the bleedin' character on screen smiling, but the subs insist on spelling it out to the viewer! It's like they think people hard of hearing aren't paying attention to the film itself! What's worse is that you get scene descriptive subtitles cropping up during shots/scenes where there isn't any dialogue as well! It can be very trying, but you do eventually settle into a reading rhythm where you kinda blank out the SDH stuff. Takes a while though!

[PGW]

Yes. I found myself just kind of reading the right side of the screen, sometimes.
The really irritating thing is that, since there were only 2000 total copies produced, I'm willing to bet that exactly ZERO percent of the English-speaking purchasers are hearing impaired.

I'm seriously thinking of writing to Nova and telling them that if they ever want to pull this little trick again, please send me the English script and have me re-write it for them.

[Shingster]

Originally Posted by PGW

Thanks for the A/B, Shingster. It shows that the Japanese blu-ray doesn't have the unnatural stretching that the HK and Korean DVDs have... and also that the new blu-ray looks significantly better than the Japanese disc (it looks like they put that through some kind of filter to remove grain, which also removed a lot of the detail along with it).

I should add the Japanese transfer to me looks like it was struck from an internegative or interpositive, it definitely doesn't look like an OCN scan (the grain has colour in it, which you see often with IP scans) so the Korean DC might look sharper because it's an OCN scan as oppose to an IN/IP.

It's really hard to say because the Korean transfer doesn't really look sharp or grainy enough for a typical OCN scan, but then if this is an old scan (say this was the master struck for the original DVD release, which they later regraded and stretched) then perhaps we're just seeing softness from a crappy old scan.

I'm sure a proper modern-day 4K restoration or at least just a 4K scan of the OCN would yield significantly better results than whay we are seeing here.

Originally Posted by PGW

I'm seriously thinking of writing to Nova and telling them that if they ever want to pull this little trick again, please send me the English script and have me re-write it for them.

LOL well that's the only way a company like this will ever address the error I reckon, but I would expect them to completely ignore your offer. It would be awesome for us fans if they did take you up on it though! Alebit for UHD buyers I guess! The damage is already done here in BD land.

[PGW]

"...say this was the master struck for the original DVD release, which they later regraded and stretched..."

No, because the hairs are not on either the HK or Korean DVD, and there's damage there that's not seen here. Definitely a different transfer.

[Shingster]

I'll take your word for it, been way too long since I last watched the DVD. It might be a more recent scan then and either it was a fairly basic 2K scan with relatively little work done on it, or the source print just doesn't contain much detail. It's not like this was some mega-budget production even for that time, so maybe it just looks a bit rough?

[Phesstve]

Originally Posted by PGW

I'm seriously thinking of writing to Nova and telling them that if they ever want to pull this little trick again, please send me the English script and have me re-write it for them.

You should do it. They should welcome all constructive criticism, and if more people do it then they have to address it, or at least do better next time...

By the way, I am still waiting for mine, so once I have seen the movie I will give them feedback.

[Shingster]

Maybe start a petition? Obviously you're not gonna amass thousands of names or anything, but perhaps it would make a more assertive argument than one or two of us emailing them indivudually?

[Shingster]

Oh and I forgot to add the BDInfo for this disc:

                                                                                                                Total   Video                                             
Title                                                           Codec   Length  Movie Size      Disc Size       Bitrate Bitrate Main Audio Track                          Secondary Audio Track
-----                                                           ------  ------- --------------  --------------  ------- ------- ------------------                        ---------------------
00002.MPLS                                                      AVC     2:17:01 41,937,567,744  47,215,198,580  40.81   34.98   DTS-HD Master 5.1 3495Kbps (48kHz/24-bit)

DISC INFO:

Disc Title:     MY_SASSY_GIRL
Disc Size:      47,215,198,580 bytes
Protection:     AACS
BD-Java:        No
BDInfo:         0.5.8

PLAYLIST REPORT:

Name:                   00002.MPLS
Length:                 2:17:01.213 (h:m:s.ms)
Size:                   41,937,567,744 bytes
Total Bitrate:          40.81 Mbps

VIDEO:

Codec                   Bitrate             Description     
-----                   -------             -----------     
MPEG-4 AVC Video        34978 kbps          1080p / 23.976 fps / 16:9 / High Profile 4.1

AUDIO:

Codec                           Language        Bitrate         Description     
-----                           --------        -------         -----------     
DTS-HD Master Audio             Korean          3495 kbps       5.1 / 48 kHz / 3495 kbps / 24-bit (DTS Core: 5.1 / 48 kHz / 1509 kbps / 24-bit)
Dolby Digital Audio             Korean          192 kbps        2.0 / 48 kHz / 192 kbps

SUBTITLES:

Codec                           Language        Bitrate         Description     
-----                           --------        -------         -----------     
Presentation Graphics           Korean          22.745 kbps                     
Presentation Graphics           English         36.003 kbps                     
Presentation Graphics           Korean          40.793 kbps

As you can see the average bitrate is a pretty healthy 35Mbps so this transfer's complete inability to render the grain properly (as evidenced by just about every screenshot I took) is simply a by-product of some really shocking compression work on Nova's part. Give this master to the likes of David Mackenzie who has been authoring the Eureka HK film releases and we could be looking at a Director's Cut that is sharper and really textured. As it stands it's still the sharpest transfer out there by a mile though!

[DougieJ]

Some random thoughts about this movie and release.
This release blows the dvd out of the water, easily. The colors and detail, just look at the scene where the boy sneaks through the garden at the beginning, just beautiful. Or the scenes at the mountain. Or the details of Jun Ji-Hyun’s face in her close-ups, really beautiful. Sure, there are some white little specks and it looks a bit rougher when opticals are involved, but that’s fine. It looks like a movie. I love the cinematography of Korean movies from the early 2000s, they have a special look to them. I think this a beautiful "print", even though it didn’t get cleaned up.

I don’t like the menu. The starmax dvd had a photo of the tree and emotional scenes superimposed in the background while the boy speaks the 10 rules to follow AND the “I Believe” song is playing, I mean, you get emotional just by playing the menu. The blu-ray menu looks weird, Jun Ji-Hyun doesn’t look right. Of all the photos they have of her from this movie, why use one where she doesn’t look like herself. Tae-hyun looks weird as well. The whole menu looks kinda cheap, like a rushed photoshop job.

I tear up for the first time at the exact same scene every time I watch this, when the girl runs out in the rain after a fight with her parents and the boy is watching her from a distance and “I Believe” starts playing. It’s where this movie gets magical. Btw, Jun Ji-Hyun is just fantastic, what a range she had at just 19, she can do anything.

Glad I got both editions, both covers are beautiful. I wonder if this movie will ever get another physical release, I don’t think so. Unless a company like Arrow or 88 Films get their hands on it and do a 4k remaster with normal subtitles, one can hope. But this one didn’t even sell out, which I thought it would do in just a couple of hours on release day. I think this is it. And I’m happy with it. Now bring on “Windstruck” and “The Classic”, then I can "retire".

[Phesstve]

Looks like this is getting a "plain" release from Nova Media on the 20th. December (2019).



Aspect Ratio & Format: 1.92:1 1080p High definition
Audio: Korean DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1
Subtitles: Korean, English
Rating: 15
Code: ALL (region free for all Blu-ray players)
Run Time: 137 mins + 163 mins

Special Feature:

- Story Board (35:27)
- Special Effect (04:30)
- NG Cut (34:33)
- Deleted Scenes (03:06)
- Making Film (60:21)
- Interview (10:42)
- Film Release (10:38)
- Preview (3:43)

[Scottie]

Is this OOP? I absolutely love this movie.

I've been holding off for years on a domestic release, but I can't wait any longer.

[No Name]

Originally Posted by Scottie

Is this OOP? I absolutely love this movie.

I've been holding off for years on a domestic release, but I can't wait any longer.

It's not OOP. You can find it on international seller websites like YesAsia:

https://www.yesasia.com/us/my-sassy-...0-en/info.html

[Ray O. Blu]

Here’s an option on eBay from a reputable seller I’ve used many times:

https://www.ebay.com/itm/My-Sassy-Gi...-127632-2357-0

Novamedia Plain Edition:

http://novamnm.com/product/blu-ray-m...-edition/1931/

[Stanlore]

I got my regular copy yesterday and popped it in for a quick peek.

Looks ok, colors a little dull and faded, but clear for the most part.

Alot of film dirt, specks, and stuff.... no love was put into the remaster. The bonus features are the ones form the old dvd 20 years ago, no subtitles. SD (more like VCD qualitY).

Still... i love this movie. Glad to have a copy. If they ever properly made a better Blu Ray, wouldn't blink to replace this one.

[darry]

Originally Posted by Stanlore

I got my regular copy yesterday and popped it in for a quick peek.

Looks ok, colors a little dull and faded, but clear for the most part.

Alot of film dirt, specks, and stuff.... no love was put into the remaster. The bonus features are the ones form the old dvd 20 years ago, no subtitles. SD (more like VCD qualitY).

Still... i love this movie. Glad to have a copy. If they ever properly made a better Blu Ray, wouldn't blink to replace this one.

They definitely did a 4K remaster. I wonder if it will be no. 2 in the On Masterpiece series.

[Streetlight]

Do anyone still have the screenshot comparison with the Korean Blu?