804 A Brighter Summer Day

Discuss releases by Criterion and the films on them. Threads may contain spoilers!
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colinr0380
Joined: Mon Nov 08, 2004 4:30 pm
Location: Chapel-en-le-Frith, Derbyshire, UK

Re: 804 A Brighter Summer Day

#201 Post by colinr0380 » Thu Feb 09, 2017 1:27 pm

Regarding this discussion about crime and punishment, I was enjoying reading Hannah McGill's latest article in her "Object Lesson" series of the latest Sight & Sound (March 2017, Page 8), which focuses on how films have used an inaminate object to inform their story and characterisation. This latest piece was on lightbulbs and while she doesn't mention A Brighter Summer Day its obviously highly applicable here! I'll just quote the last paragraph of the piece, which felt like it could describe the action in this film as well:
Hannah McGill in Sight & Sound wrote:A naked bulb has contradictory connotations. It can stand at once for theatricality and delusion, and for reality at its rawest: the dressing-room mirror, but also the police interview room. It also has significance as a technical tool: the use of the simplest possible screen lighting to keep costs down on low-budget thrillers helped to create the shady look of film noir. And perhaps finally, there's something in the physical form of the lightblub - the fragile, crushable body, the inner spark that threatens at any time to falter or go out - that reminds us of ourselves.

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FrauBlucher
Joined: Mon Jul 15, 2013 8:28 pm
Location: Greenwich Village

804 A Brighter Summer Day

#202 Post by FrauBlucher » Mon Feb 27, 2017 7:43 am

Last night I cracked this open, yeah, no, not interested in that other thing that was on. I've never seen this, and was blown away by it. It's an extraordinary film. I wasn't sure I was going to watch the 4 hours all in one day, but I couldn't turn it off. I was so locked into the people and surroundings that I felt like I, myself was living in that town. The ending floored me. I just didn't see that coming. I can't wait to delve into the supplements.

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Magic Hate Ball
Joined: Mon Jul 09, 2007 6:15 pm
Location: Seattle, WA

Re: 804 A Brighter Summer Day

#203 Post by Magic Hate Ball » Thu Mar 02, 2017 3:57 am

This movie is great, wow. I love the powerful but low-key cinematography, it's so consistent from beginning to end that it creates a totally beguiling and involving atmosphere that's hard to shake. Even after the movie ended, it lingered - I couldn't stop seeing the spaces around me through the lens of the film.

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Never Cursed
Such is life on board the Redoutable
Joined: Sun Aug 14, 2016 12:22 am

Re: 804 A Brighter Summer Day

#204 Post by Never Cursed » Thu Mar 02, 2017 10:06 am

Isn't it odd, then, that the movie had four different cinematographers, some amateurs?

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hearthesilence
Joined: Fri Mar 04, 2005 4:22 am
Location: NYC

Re: 804 A Brighter Summer Day

#205 Post by hearthesilence » Thu Mar 02, 2017 11:23 am

Definitely, but if you have a director with a strong handle on the look (and especially if he's helped by other key personnel like the gaffer who didn't need to switch off with someone else), it can be done. I'm guessing the rules for crediting are not different though and that each of the four shot a substantial portion that made it into the film.

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Magic Hate Ball
Joined: Mon Jul 09, 2007 6:15 pm
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Re: 804 A Brighter Summer Day

#206 Post by Magic Hate Ball » Thu Mar 02, 2017 2:56 pm

I haven't seen any of Yang's other films (yet), but from the trailer for Yi Yi and screencaps of his previous works he seems to have a very strong visual style. I'm sure if you compiled images from each cinematographer's work on Brighter Summer Day you'd be able to see the shifts in style and trends but the overall whole is extremely cohesive.

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hearthesilence
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Location: NYC

Re: 804 A Brighter Summer Day

#207 Post by hearthesilence » Mon Jun 19, 2017 11:06 am

It's buried somewhere on Dave Kehr's old website (found it yesterday on my phone but can't find the link today), but according to Kent Jones in June 2009, they had the original negative for the "shorter" cut of A Brighter Summer Day, but they "only" had the IP for most of the scenes cut from the compete version. There were a few minutes that at that time were still missing, but I'm guessing the crummy looking part that was posted about earlier would be this formerly missing material?

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htom
Joined: Sun Nov 07, 2004 1:57 pm

Re: 804 A Brighter Summer Day

#208 Post by htom » Mon Jun 19, 2017 12:06 pm

hearthesilence wrote:It's buried somewhere on Dave Kehr's old website (found it yesterday on my phone but can't find the link today), but according to Kent Jones in June 2009, they had the original negative for the "shorter" cut of A Brighter Summer Day, but they "only" had the IP for most of the scenes cut from the compete version. There were a few minutes that at that time were still missing, but I'm guessing the crummy looking part that was posted about earlier would be this formerly missing material?
The comment by Jones indicates five missing minutes from reel 7, though I have no idea how to read the film length from that alone. As it is, the part that remains in poor quality on the print used for the Blu-ray is now perhaps a minute in length at most.

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hearthesilence
Joined: Fri Mar 04, 2005 4:22 am
Location: NYC

Re: 804 A Brighter Summer Day

#209 Post by hearthesilence » Thu May 18, 2023 4:54 pm

FWIW, caps-a-holic now has images from both Criterion and Carlotta's Blu-rays and it looks like Criterion filters the grainier footage just a bit. I kind of lean towards Carlotta, which unfortunately has no English subtitles.

AxeYou
Joined: Fri Jan 27, 2023 3:56 pm

Re: 804 A Brighter Summer Day

#210 Post by AxeYou » Thu May 18, 2023 9:01 pm

hearthesilence wrote:
Thu May 18, 2023 4:54 pm
FWIW, caps-a-holic now has images from both Criterion and Carlotta's Blu-rays and it looks like Criterion filters the grainier footage just a bit. I kind of lean towards Carlotta, which unfortunately has no English subtitles.
I noticed it last night as well and indeed the Carlotta looks a bit better. But based on the caps is it framed slightly differently from the Criterion? It shows a bit more image above Criterion's framing and a bit less at the bottom.

It's described as having the same Criterion-restored transfer on Carlotta's website though: https://laboutique.carlottafilms.com/en ... dward-yang Is the restored master not already cropped to the desired AR in general?

AxeYou
Joined: Fri Jan 27, 2023 3:56 pm

Re: 804 A Brighter Summer Day

#211 Post by AxeYou » Fri May 19, 2023 12:38 am

It turns out David M. / FiM encoded the Carlotta release.

https://forum.blu-ray.com/showpost.php? ... tcount=382

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