Anybody seen MOTEL CACTUS yet ?
 

I want to get this Korean DVD, but just wondering is it any good ? Heard that the cinematographer is Christopher Doyle from Wong kar-wai's movies.

Re: Anybody seen MOTEL CACTUS yet ?
 

The DVD's alrite..... Dare i say its the korean take on IN THE MOOD FOR LOVE minus the restraint.... but thats a long shot.... Guess u'll never know unless u watch it..... ;)

Yes, its Du Ke-Feng aka Chris Doyle....



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It's a great film. I saw it Theatrially years ago when it made it's Film Festival tour. It deserves a wider audience

The transfer on the DVD is very good; but the encoding shows signs of being down by incompetant operators. The white level is set too high (white crush) and the black level too low (loss of shadow detail) the biggest disapoinment is the soundtrack. It is supposed to be Dolby Surround and that is how it is advertised on the Cover and that's how it was theatrically. The DVD has a scratchy Mono soundtrack; as if they encoded the wrong file--it sounds like an Optical Mono track like what you used to get in the bad old days when theaters often forgot to turn on the Dolby Decoder.

The technical flaws are not, however, bad enough to distract from the film; and otherwise the DVD does look good.

...ahh...

° "...the encoding shows signs of being down by incompetant operators...."

° "...white level is set too high (white crush) and the black level too low (loss of shadow detail)..."

° "...the biggest disapoinment is the soundtrack..."

° "...DVD has a scratchy Mono soundtrack..."

...if this were a R1 release from, say, WB or MGM or whomever, you would likely scream bloody murder about what, going by your description, appears to be a totally, hopelessly botched transfer...

...so how come you sum up your damning-with-(very)-faint-praise review thusly: "...The technical flaws are not, however, bad enough to distract from the film; and otherwise the DVD does look good."

...I mean, really now, which is it ?... good ?... bad ?... indifferent ?...

(signed) One Who Has Been Totally Put Off From Watching This DVD - Let Alone Buying It

. . . :o . . .

Well. The actual transfer to HiDef Video is fantastic. The DVD is has tons of detail and no edge enhancement. It's only the black and white points that are off. It is annoying, but it doesn't totaly ruin the experience. It's much worse in the white crush than in shadow detail. This is more noticable on a digital projector than on a CRT. It is by far the best consumer version of the film available.

The sound is annoying also, but it too is not a killer.

This DVD is far better than a Fox Lorber for example; and has more detail than a MGM, but is no Criterion.

This talk made me rewatch Motel Cactus. I would have that after a second viewing, the black detail is OK, but the white crush really is bad. Colour saturation is excellent (probably at the expense of white levels.)

...alright already... I'll take your word for it... have to assemble an order for several Korean discs anyway, so may as well add this <a href="http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/e/a/1998/04/30/STYLE1602.dtl">title</a>...

. . . ;) . . .