1092 Throw Down
- swo17
- Bloodthirsty Butcher
- Joined: Tue Apr 15, 2008 10:25 am
- Location: SLC, UT
1092 Throw Down
Throw Down
One of the most personal films by the prolific Hong Kong auteur Johnnie To is a thrilling love letter to both the cinema of Akira Kurosawa and the art and philosophy of judo. Amid the neon-drenched nightclubs and gambling dens of Hong Kong's nocturnal underworld, the fates of three wandering souls—a former judo champion now barely scraping by as an alcoholic bar owner (Louis Koo), a young fighter (Aaron Kwok) intent on challenging him, and a singer (Cherrie Ying) chasing dreams of stardom—collide in an operatic explosion of human pain, ambition, perseverance, and redemption. Paying offbeat homage to Kurosawa's debut feature, Sanshiro Sugata, To scrambles wild comedy, flights of lyrical surrealism, and rousing martial-arts action into what is ultimately a disarmingly touching ode to the healing power of friendship.
SPECIAL FEATURES
• New 4K digital restoration, with 5.1 surround DTS-HD Master Audio soundtrack on the Blu-ray
• Interview from 2004 with director Johnnie To
• New interviews with coscreenwriter Yau Nai-hoi, composer Peter Kam, and film scholars David Bordwell and Caroline Guo
• Short making-of documentary from 2004 featuring To and actors Louis Koo, Aaron Kwok, Cherrie Ying, and Tony Leung Ka-fai
• Trailer
• New English subtitle translation
• PLUS: An essay by film critic Sean Gilman
One of the most personal films by the prolific Hong Kong auteur Johnnie To is a thrilling love letter to both the cinema of Akira Kurosawa and the art and philosophy of judo. Amid the neon-drenched nightclubs and gambling dens of Hong Kong's nocturnal underworld, the fates of three wandering souls—a former judo champion now barely scraping by as an alcoholic bar owner (Louis Koo), a young fighter (Aaron Kwok) intent on challenging him, and a singer (Cherrie Ying) chasing dreams of stardom—collide in an operatic explosion of human pain, ambition, perseverance, and redemption. Paying offbeat homage to Kurosawa's debut feature, Sanshiro Sugata, To scrambles wild comedy, flights of lyrical surrealism, and rousing martial-arts action into what is ultimately a disarmingly touching ode to the healing power of friendship.
SPECIAL FEATURES
• New 4K digital restoration, with 5.1 surround DTS-HD Master Audio soundtrack on the Blu-ray
• Interview from 2004 with director Johnnie To
• New interviews with coscreenwriter Yau Nai-hoi, composer Peter Kam, and film scholars David Bordwell and Caroline Guo
• Short making-of documentary from 2004 featuring To and actors Louis Koo, Aaron Kwok, Cherrie Ying, and Tony Leung Ka-fai
• Trailer
• New English subtitle translation
• PLUS: An essay by film critic Sean Gilman
- DandyDancing
- Joined: Mon Feb 10, 2020 8:27 am
Re: 1092 Throw Down
Great news! I discovered this with the new MOC disc and loved it. Is this as underrated as I think it is?
- therewillbeblus
- Joined: Tue Dec 22, 2015 3:40 pm
Re: 1092 Throw Down
So it looks like Criterion is only adding one supplement "New interviews with coscreenwriter Yau Nai-hoi, composer Peter Kam, and film scholars David Bordwell and Caroline Guo" but the MoC has two commentaries not ported over. Pass.
- dwk
- Joined: Sat Jun 12, 2010 6:10 pm
Re: 1092 Throw Down
That isn't one supplement, it is three separate interview programs. Criterion often groups together interviews on the specs, which sometimes leads a release to look like it has less special features than it actually has.
I don't think Ric Meyers' work is that highly regarded, so probably no loss there.
I don't think Ric Meyers' work is that highly regarded, so probably no loss there.
- knives
- Joined: Sat Sep 06, 2008 6:49 pm
Re: 1092 Throw Down
I’m excited for this as someone without region free capabilities though I do miss the chance of the inaugural To being a chance to break with the idea that Chinese cinema must be action cinema with a release of my favored Don’t Go Breaking My Heart duology.
- therewillbeblus
- Joined: Tue Dec 22, 2015 3:40 pm
Re: 1092 Throw Down
Fair enough, I was aware of that but admittedly phrased it poorly. Either way, not exactly a glaring incentive to double-dip til we get more info on how strong the interviews are. I imagine this is the same 4k transfer as the MoC?
- dwk
- Joined: Sat Jun 12, 2010 6:10 pm
Re: 1092 Throw Down
Yeah, the transfer is almost certainly the same. And, yeah, if you have the MoC, I don't think the new interviews would be enough to buy it again. (Assuming Janus has this, I would guess that the new interviews will eventually be on the Criterion Channel, so one could just wait and watch them there.)
- yoloswegmaster
- Joined: Tue Nov 01, 2016 3:57 pm
Re: 1092 Throw Down
Chris, does it say on the press release who this is being licensed from?
- cdnchris
- Site Admin
- Joined: Tue Nov 02, 2004 2:45 pm
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Re: 1092 Throw Down
Fortune Star
- TheRanchHand
- Joined: Fri Nov 17, 2006 3:18 am
- Location: Los Angeles
Re: 1092 Throw Down
I saw this in theaters when it initially got a small release in LA and though I bought a DVD release I haven’t revisited it again. But I was very taken by it and think it’s an original evolved take on a martial arts theme. Super stoked for it.
- colinr0380
- Joined: Mon Nov 08, 2004 4:30 pm
- Location: Chapel-en-le-Frith, Derbyshire, UK
Re: 1092 Throw Down
We had a bit of a discussion about Throw Down (spoilers) a few years back in the Johnnie To thread, and it is a really good film and well worth getting a Criterion release. Although I'm debating getting it myself just because it will be the third time I would have purchased the film on Blu-ray!
- Michael Kerpan
- Spelling Bee Champeen
- Joined: Wed Nov 03, 2004 1:20 pm
- Location: New England
- Contact:
Re: 1092 Throw Down
One of my favorite To films. I hope this introduces him to a wider audience. I guess it is sort of an action film -- but it has an awful lot of non-action as well.
- Maltic
- Joined: Sat Oct 10, 2020 1:36 am
Re: 1092 Throw Down
dwk wrote: ↑Tue Jun 15, 2021 5:53 pmThat isn't one supplement, it is three separate interview programs. Criterion often groups together interviews on the specs, which sometimes leads a release to look like it has less special features than it actually has.
I don't think Ric Meyers' work is that highly regarded, so probably no loss there.
The MoC release also had the new commentary with Frank Djeng, which was ok (better than the other one anyway)
The interview with Bordwell could be quite interesting, but I'll probably pass on this...
- swo17
- Bloodthirsty Butcher
- Joined: Tue Apr 15, 2008 10:25 am
- Location: SLC, UT
Re: 1092 Throw Down
So Gary says the video is mostly a draw, while the audio goes from a 2.0 to a 5.1 track. Does anyone know which is accurate?
- Ivy Mike
- Joined: Mon Jan 21, 2008 2:22 am
Re: 1092 Throw Down
It actually seems possible it could have been 5.1 originally but I don't know myself. Anyone with either disc able to say what the Dolby logo at the end of the credits indicates (Dolby Stereo or Dolby Digital)? That could provide some help though I think it might not be a 100% guarantee.
- swo17
- Bloodthirsty Butcher
- Joined: Tue Apr 15, 2008 10:25 am
- Location: SLC, UT
Re: 1092 Throw Down
It says "Dolby Digital in Select Theaters"Ivy Mike wrote: ↑Thu Nov 04, 2021 9:01 pmIt actually seems possible it could have been 5.1 originally but I don't know myself. Anyone with either disc able to say what the Dolby logo at the end of the credits indicates (Dolby Stereo or Dolby Digital)? That could provide some help though I think it might not be a 100% guarantee.
- colinr0380
- Joined: Mon Nov 08, 2004 4:30 pm
- Location: Chapel-en-le-Frith, Derbyshire, UK
Re: 1092 Throw Down
The earlier Hong Kong Blu-ray has the audio options of either Cantonese Dolby TrueHD 7.1 or Mandarin Dolby Digital 6.1
- tenia
- Ask Me About My Bassoon
- Joined: Wed Apr 29, 2009 11:13 am
Re: 1092 Throw Down
HK releases are often offering upsampled and/or remixed tracks. It could very well be that the Criterion 5.1 track is new and based on a Dolby base while the older tracks simply are multichannels remixes.