Wong Kar-Wai's Fallen Angels and Happy Together: SE's from Kino -- March 31, 2009
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Wong Kar-Wai's Fallen Angels and Happy Together: SE's from Kino -- March 31, 2009
Per Amazon.com's Pre-Order Listings:
Fallen Angels: Special Edition @ Amazon
Acknowledged throughout the world as one of the most important directors working today, Wong Kar-Wai (Happy Together, Ashes Of Time) has developed a signature style that employs bold, experimental use of photography, music, and editing to capture the tension of the approaching millenium. Originally intended to be a third story in his now classic Chungking Express, Fallen Angels has emerged as what some critics have come to consider his "quintessential work."
Set in the neon-washed underworld of present-day Hong Kong, Fallen Angels intertwines two exhilarating tales of love and isolation. First, there's the unconsummated love affair between a contract Killer (Leon Lai Ming) and the ravishing female Agent (Michele Reis) who books his assignments and cleans up after his jobs. When the Killer decides that he must move on, he leaves her with only a coin for the jukebox and instructions to play song number 1818 - "Wang Ji Ta" ("Forget Him")...
Ex-convict Ho (Takeshi Kaneshiro) stopped speaking at the age of five after eating a date-expired can of pineapple. He lives with his father, who runs a guesthouse where the Agent is in semi-permanent residence. He makes a living by re-opening shops that have closed for the night and intimidating customers into buying goods and services from him. After an awkward romance with a girl named Cherry, Ho finds himself all the more alone...
Wong Kar-Wai brings these parallel storylines together in a blitz of ultra-hip style and classical cinematic sensibilities. A poet of modern alienation, Kar-Wai's universe is populated with characters both dark and comic, magical and existential; Fallen Angels is both a vie at revolutionary cinema and an homage to a love for movies.
http://www.kino.com/video/item.php?film_id=104
Happy Together: Special Edition @ Amazon
Winner of the Best Director Prize at the 1997 Cannes Film Festival, Wong Kar-Wai's Happy Together is a cinematic balancing act, a stunning display of filmmaking style and a touching love story evenly mixed into one film. Hong Kong and world cinema have never seen anything quite like it.
Tony Leung and Leslie Cheung, two of Hong Kong's biggest stars, play a pair of gay lovers living out the waning days of their relationship as expatriates in Buenos Aires. Together with Australian Christopher Doyle, Kar-Wai's longtime cinematographer, the director discovers a city rich with diverse cultural influences. Happy Together reveals a corner of the world alive with intimate colors and an astonishing array of sounds. Even more striking, though, is the way that such an international collaboration begins to life a romance that is both realistic and universal. Ho and Lai are characters who are instantly identifible, who play the roles and experience the dynamics that all couples go through in the course of a relationship. Lusty tango bars, the salsa music of the La Boca sidewalks and the hypnotic vision of the nearby Igauzu Falls gives further dimension to the tensions growing between the two lovers.
Wong Kar-Wai (Chungking Express, Fallen Angels) has made with Happy Together his most accomplished work: A modern film, made by an auteur with a distinctive signature, which contains equal amounts of cinematic beauty and penetrating drama. Here, Kar-Wai has crafted a rare art film that cements his international reputation as a world-class director.
http://www.kino.com/video/item.php?film_id=126
Might be released to coincide with the yet-to-be-announced domestic copy of Ashes of Time: Redux -- from whichever studio will be releasing (presumably Sony). For whatever reason, both Kino's editions could benefit from some up-to-date polish in the transfer department. Exciting news!
Fallen Angels: Special Edition @ Amazon
Originally Posted by Kino.com's Fallen Angels synopsis
Acknowledged throughout the world as one of the most important directors working today, Wong Kar-Wai (Happy Together, Ashes Of Time) has developed a signature style that employs bold, experimental use of photography, music, and editing to capture the tension of the approaching millenium. Originally intended to be a third story in his now classic Chungking Express, Fallen Angels has emerged as what some critics have come to consider his "quintessential work."
Set in the neon-washed underworld of present-day Hong Kong, Fallen Angels intertwines two exhilarating tales of love and isolation. First, there's the unconsummated love affair between a contract Killer (Leon Lai Ming) and the ravishing female Agent (Michele Reis) who books his assignments and cleans up after his jobs. When the Killer decides that he must move on, he leaves her with only a coin for the jukebox and instructions to play song number 1818 - "Wang Ji Ta" ("Forget Him")...
Ex-convict Ho (Takeshi Kaneshiro) stopped speaking at the age of five after eating a date-expired can of pineapple. He lives with his father, who runs a guesthouse where the Agent is in semi-permanent residence. He makes a living by re-opening shops that have closed for the night and intimidating customers into buying goods and services from him. After an awkward romance with a girl named Cherry, Ho finds himself all the more alone...
Wong Kar-Wai brings these parallel storylines together in a blitz of ultra-hip style and classical cinematic sensibilities. A poet of modern alienation, Kar-Wai's universe is populated with characters both dark and comic, magical and existential; Fallen Angels is both a vie at revolutionary cinema and an homage to a love for movies.
http://www.kino.com/video/item.php?film_id=104
Happy Together: Special Edition @ Amazon
Originally Posted by Kino.com's Happy Together synopsis
Winner of the Best Director Prize at the 1997 Cannes Film Festival, Wong Kar-Wai's Happy Together is a cinematic balancing act, a stunning display of filmmaking style and a touching love story evenly mixed into one film. Hong Kong and world cinema have never seen anything quite like it.
Tony Leung and Leslie Cheung, two of Hong Kong's biggest stars, play a pair of gay lovers living out the waning days of their relationship as expatriates in Buenos Aires. Together with Australian Christopher Doyle, Kar-Wai's longtime cinematographer, the director discovers a city rich with diverse cultural influences. Happy Together reveals a corner of the world alive with intimate colors and an astonishing array of sounds. Even more striking, though, is the way that such an international collaboration begins to life a romance that is both realistic and universal. Ho and Lai are characters who are instantly identifible, who play the roles and experience the dynamics that all couples go through in the course of a relationship. Lusty tango bars, the salsa music of the La Boca sidewalks and the hypnotic vision of the nearby Igauzu Falls gives further dimension to the tensions growing between the two lovers.
Wong Kar-Wai (Chungking Express, Fallen Angels) has made with Happy Together his most accomplished work: A modern film, made by an auteur with a distinctive signature, which contains equal amounts of cinematic beauty and penetrating drama. Here, Kar-Wai has crafted a rare art film that cements his international reputation as a world-class director.
http://www.kino.com/video/item.php?film_id=126
Last edited by gryffinmaster; 12-20-08 at 01:57 PM.
#4
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Wait - are these Kino discs with *GASP* special features? I'm speechless.
I opened this thread assuming the HD release of Fallen Angels was going to be mentioned as well. Hopefully it's still on the schedule.
Originally Posted by Cosmic Bus
Kino was supposed to be working on an HD release for Fallen Angels (and, if there's a God, one for Happy Together); no word on that?
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Kino already has an SE of Happy Together -- I wonder if this is just a repackaging. Fallen Angels will no doubt be using the HD master from the R3 reissues, which is absolutely stunning.
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Re: Wong Kar-Wai's Fallen Angels and Happy Together: SE's from Kino -- March 31, 2009
What?!?!?! A re-release in SD and no Blu-Ray version?!?!?!!?!?!
Awwwww
Pretty pathetic; I hope a HD version is on the way.
Awwwww
Pretty pathetic; I hope a HD version is on the way.
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Re: Wong Kar-Wai's Fallen Angels and Happy Together: SE's from Kino -- March 31, 2009
I hope these releases are actually good. Fallen Angels is ok, but I love Happy Together. That one's great.
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Re: Wong Kar-Wai's Fallen Angels and Happy Together: SE's from Kino -- March 31, 2009
I pretty much guarantee you these will be ports of the (gorgeous) R3 remasters that have been out for a couple of years -- The Eagle Shooting Heroes was, at least judging from the screenshots I've seen (I don't have the Kino myself), and it fits with Kino's SOP.
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Re: Wong Kar-Wai's Fallen Angels and Happy Together: SE's from Kino -- March 31, 2009
I sent Kino an e-mail to know if they are planning to release a blu-ray version of this like it was rumored some months ago. Here's my e-mail to them: Hi,
I was wondering if there's plan to release Fallen Angels in Blu-Ray in the future? I saw on amazon.com that you a re-releasing it in DVD as a special edition and the description says that it is: Remastered From New HD Film Transfers. I was just curious if that meant there will also be a blu-ray version also (made from the same transfer).
Thank you in advance,
Etienne
This is their answer: March 31st. Its a new HD transfer, but not officially Blu Ray.
Now, I don't really know what to make out of this... not officially Blu-Ray?!? I don't really know how I should interpret this... anyway, on my side, I know I have stopped buying DVD's and only buying HD now, so if there's no Blu Ray version of this, i'll skip this one for sure and just rent it or something. Still crossing my fingers for a HD release of this beautiful film
I was wondering if there's plan to release Fallen Angels in Blu-Ray in the future? I saw on amazon.com that you a re-releasing it in DVD as a special edition and the description says that it is: Remastered From New HD Film Transfers. I was just curious if that meant there will also be a blu-ray version also (made from the same transfer).
Thank you in advance,
Etienne
This is their answer: March 31st. Its a new HD transfer, but not officially Blu Ray.
Now, I don't really know what to make out of this... not officially Blu-Ray?!? I don't really know how I should interpret this... anyway, on my side, I know I have stopped buying DVD's and only buying HD now, so if there's no Blu Ray version of this, i'll skip this one for sure and just rent it or something. Still crossing my fingers for a HD release of this beautiful film
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Re: Wong Kar-Wai's Fallen Angels and Happy Together: SE's from Kino -- March 31, 2009
It's pretty weird phrasing, but from context I'm sure it just means the BD hasn't been officially announced (the announcement a few months back was "unofficial," since it didn't give a date, mention the specs, solicit pre-orders, etc.). What's worrying is that he doesn't actually say if the Blu-ray is coming at all. Kino seem to have put their BD plans on the backburner -- they were supposed to start releasing them in the fall, so obviously something's changed.
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Re: Wong Kar-Wai's Fallen Angels and Happy Together: SE's from Kino -- March 31, 2009
I'll probably check these out, although I'd love to see Blu-Ray releases.
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Re: Wong Kar-Wai's Fallen Angels and Happy Together: SE's from Kino -- March 31, 2009
Digitally Obsessed on Happy Together
The running time (which dOc actually checks, as opposed to just going by the cover specs) indicates a native NTSC transfer. They give it good marks all around, but (as usual for the site) no screencaps. It looks like they'll be reviewing Fallen Angels soon.
The running time (which dOc actually checks, as opposed to just going by the cover specs) indicates a native NTSC transfer. They give it good marks all around, but (as usual for the site) no screencaps. It looks like they'll be reviewing Fallen Angels soon.
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Re: Wong Kar-Wai's Fallen Angels and Happy Together: SE's from Kino -- March 31, 2009
I really want a comparison to the AE "Happy Together", which can be imported for much cheaper than the Kino release.
(Caveat: Kino's release includes an exclusive interview with WKW not included on the Artificial Eye import. Both have that amazing documentary, but - as with every other release - it's a letterboxed transfer on both.)
(Caveat: Kino's release includes an exclusive interview with WKW not included on the Artificial Eye import. Both have that amazing documentary, but - as with every other release - it's a letterboxed transfer on both.)
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Re: Wong Kar-Wai's Fallen Angels and Happy Together: SE's from Kino -- March 31, 2009
So are there any reviews up yet for Fallen Angels SE? I would love to upgrade from the old Kino disc.