[Weekly Update] 4K Remaster Color

Montreal summer kicks off with fireworks and jazz festival.

I went to take some photos, and then my camera malfunctions and took out my entire roll of film :/ That's why I stay home and watch SGDQ instead.

CHANNEL UPDATE

Hope you enjoy our final video on the history and movie of China. The four months long ambitious series was a fulfilling project to make, and I hope it was fulfilling to watch as well. Unfortunately I was not able to include even half of what I wanted to talk about in the limited time, and had to forgo some obvious stuff like the mandatory hairstyle in the Qing dynasty, which I assume most people are already aware of. Perhaps we'll revisit the Qing dynasty sometime down the road. But for now, let's move on to something different.

For our next video, we have a lighthearted review of an Indian cult classic: Deshdrohi. From what I can see so far, it feels almost like Hindi Manos the Hands of Fate, with the opening sequence comprise entirely of the dude running. Hopefully the movie is less infuriating and more fascinating.

I have began researching a new topic: The Oriental Riff. If you don't know what it is, click on the term to check it out. It's that Chinese melody you see in movies and TV shows. I'm currently looking for examples of it throughout history. If you can remember it appearing in a film, leave a comment and let me know!

MEDIA TALK

I know many of our patrons are DVD and Blu-ray collectors, and are already familiar with this topic. But just in case you don't, here is the gist.

Recently, many classic movies are receiving 4K remaster Blu-ray releases, most notably the Matrix and Lord of the Rings. These releases were controversial, as their color profiles were nothing like how people remember them to be. The green hue that is widely associated with the Matrix films were toned down significantly in the 4K release. Lord of the Rings also doesn't have the warm yellow tone.

What's interesting with Lord of the Rings, however, is that the images are significantly cleaner than the HD releases. Details ornamentations on costumes became much clearer. While the increased resolution certainly is a factor, it felt more like the film was just badly focused in the HD release... which it likely was.

Indeed, controversial as it may be, the HD releases of these films and many others were flawed. The green tint of the Matrix was suspected to be a lazy color correction attempt or an artifact of bad scanning. The 4K release, with a much more neutral tone was much closer to what people actually saw in theaters back in the day.

An opposite treatment was controversially applied to In the Mood for Love. The film was given a much stronger yellow tint in its 4K release. I have seen the film in the 35mm print format, and remember it being pretty close to the HD releases. So, I'm not entirely sure why the remaster went with a different color tint. Supposedly it was a decision made by Wong Kar-wai, so I guess I'm in no position to complain.

That raises a question, however: These "mistakes" from home releases have since became the film's identity. Movies like Everything Everywhere All at Once explicitly references In the Mood for Love's home release aesthetic. Sci-fi movies have since equate green with the simulated world. It is part of pop culture. Should authorial intention be put above public memories?

On the other hand, I think many would agree that being faithful to the original film print is more important than recreating a mistake made in the HD transfer, if not for the sake of digital preservation.

This is a question without an answer, and we'll just have to wait to see how it all unfolds. If Star Wars is any indication, I'm sure the fans will just add back the color grade if they want to. Heck, the new remake of Metal Gear Solid 3 straight up gives you the option of using the new color or old color. More Blu-ray should just do that.

Anyway, that's the short update for this week. I'm curious to see what you think. Do you prefer the new or old In the Mood for Love? I like some scene of the new 4K release, mostly the scenes when the two protagonists are in the taxis. But nearly every scene I feel had lost that Hong Kong film look. In an attempt to make it more nostalgic, the film actually lost the identity it was nostalgic towards.

Anyway, I'll see you next week as a broken man, forever changed by Deshdrohi.