Hou Hsiao-hsien

[Stefan Andersson]

Goodbye South, Goodbye 4K restoration:
https://www.filmlinc.org/nyff2026/films ... h-goodbye/

[Peacock]

A Janus Films release!

[Michael Kerpan]

A nice BD at last. But at least the old DVD didn't look that bad. Unlike Good Men, Good Women which looked pretty grotty. I hope that one can be restored as well -- and get a proper home video release.

[The Fanciful Norwegian]

Not just my favorite Hou but possibly my favorite movie, period. Evidently this premiered a couple of months ago at the Shanghai Film Festival. Fingers crossed it turned out better than the Flowers of Shanghai 4K (at least there's no mention of Ritrovata—I guess it was restored by the National Film Archive of Japan, but the wording is a bit vague).

Still waiting on the restoration of The Puppetmaster that was supposed to happen alongside the other Chiu Fu-sheng productions (A City of Sadness, Raise the Red Lantern, To Live) that have been restored over the last few years. I hope it isn't in the same boat as The Mission, which has been held up by a lack of suitable elements. I also looked to see if there were any updates on The Boys from Fengkuei, Cute Girl, and The Green, Green Grass of Home, which were listed on the Janus website a couple of years back—not only could I find no updates, the listings have been removed. They're still on the Criterion Channel, so I have no idea what's going on.

[denti alligator]

Who would pick up City of Sadness for home video?

[goblinfootballs]

Who would pick up City of Sadness for home video?

Who would buy it? Me. Who is distributing it? Film Movement.

[denti alligator]

Yes, I meant who would get the rights and distribute.

[TechnicolorAcid]

Yes, I meant who would get the rights and distribute.

I believe Film Movement has the rights to it if I remember correctly

[Mr.DarjeelingLimited]

Yes, I meant who would get the rights and distribute.

Since Criterion finally partnered with Film Movement for Farewell My Concubine and are credited with the restoration of Raise The Red Lantern (which was held by the same producer), I hope it’s them.

[The Fanciful Norwegian]

I suspect Criterion only got Farewell My Concubine because Film Movement's partnership with OCN hadn't happened yet (it was announced a couple of months before the Criterion release, so I'm sure it was licensed well before OCN was in the picture) or because Film Movement wasn't ready to do UHDs. And I think the claims of Criterion's involvement with Raise the Red Lantern were in error—Film Movement has restoration notes on their website and they credit the Udine Far East Film Festival and Ritrovata, so I don't see where Criterion would come in. Supposedly the Shanghai International Film Festival credited Criterion, but I can't find a primary source and SIFF's notes on the restoration only mention the FEFF and Ritrovata.

[qw0aszx]

I suspect Criterion only got Farewell My Concubine because Film Movement's partnership with OCN hadn't happened yet (it was announced a couple of months before the Criterion release, so I'm sure it was licensed well before OCN was in the picture) or because Film Movement wasn't ready to do UHDs. And I think the claims of Criterion's involvement with Raise the Red Lantern were in error—Film Movement has restoration notes on their website and they credit the Udine Far East Film Festival and Ritrovata, so I don't see where Criterion would come in. Supposedly the Shanghai International Film Festival credited Criterion, but I can't find a primary source and SIFF's notes on the restoration only mention the FEFF and Ritrovata.

I saw the new restored master. Criterion is indeed credited on the opening restoration texts under the special thanks section.

[malachi_lui]

Lee Ping-bin says the Goodbye South, Goodbye restoration looks completely wrong: https://x.com/frankyan2/status/2098141402332840057?s=46

[hearthesilence]

I posted this years ago in this forum, but when MoMA had his retrospective, he took the time to watch the prints before his Q&A's, and he was vocal when he thought they looked too bright. Clearly he's always cared and is more than happy to put the time in to review any presentation of his work - it doesn't look like he's typically asked to participate in these restorations, which is very unfortunate.

[andyli]

He did serve as the color grading consultant for the 4K restoration of Flowers of Shanghai, though it is not clear if he was involved in the de-graining.

[hearthesilence]

He did serve as the color grading consultant for the 4K restoration of Flowers of Shanghai, though it is not clear if he was involved in the de-graining.

I haven't seen the DCP but does it look as bad as the Blu-ray in that regard?

[andyli]

Yes I'm afraid the de-graining is baked in the restoration.

[tenia]

I have seen Flowers in theaters through the DCP first, and it's indeed the same as the BDs, but in a different medium (which it usually is - video releases with specific additional artificial filterings have become extremely rare).

[qw0aszx]

He did serve as the color grading consultant for the 4K restoration of Flowers of Shanghai, though it is not clear if he was involved in the de-graining.

Lee Ping-bin supervised the 4K restoration of Dust of Angels too and that's another one with clearly DNR applied. He even talked about not liking heavy grains and tried to manage it during the restoration process in the interview: https://www.biosmonthly.com/article/11078

[tenia]

You mean Dust in the Wind ? Because I've recently seen Dust of Angels and its new restoration looks pretty good and does not look DNRed.

[malachi_lui]

Lee Ping-bin says the Goodbye South, Goodbye restoration looks completely wrong: https://x.com/frankyan2/status/2098141402332840057?s=46

Saw the US premiere of this restoration at NYFF earlier tonight. It was my first time seeing the film and the 4K restoration looked fine enough without a reference point, though I'm now skimming through a DVD rip on Archive .org and the DVD rip looks more yellow in some scenes, as well as having stronger contrast than the new restoration. Of course it's hard to know how accurate the ancient DVD was to the colours of the original theatrical prints. It's also hard to properly observe things about black levels and grain through DCP projection from a distance, though black levels looked a bit light at times (shadows seem boosted up in this restoration) and while there was still a little bit of grain, it looked at least 'managed' even though I doubt it was ever a particularly grainy film anyway. In general I thought most of it looked somewhat dull in range and a bit too dark, not dissimilar to seeing a mediocre HDR to SDR conversion. Anyway, I look forward to hearing opinions about this restoration from viewers with more informed eyes.

As for the film itself, I appreciate it though as is often the case with Hou, I find that he stands at such a remove from his characters and anything that happens to them, which creates a dissonant distancing effect for me. Lots to respect, like the way the fights are staged often from further away in generally static shots, though I'm not sure it really clicks. (This is the 6th Hou I've seen, so far my favourite is easily The Time To Live and The Time To Die, though I like Flight of the Red Balloon more than a lot of people seem to, it's a minor work but I remember it being a pleasant watch. Millennium Mambo is an admirable achievement in methods and technicality but I don't care for it much, and I'm overdue on a rewatch of Flowers of Shanghai.)

[Michael Kerpan]

The moments that eventually won me over in GSG were the scenes involving movement -- trains gliding through little towns (and secondarily the motorcycle riding scenes). If not for those, I might not have given HHH a second chance (this was my first exposure). But I grew to love this and all the other films as well. I must say Millenium Mambo is one of my top favorites (maybe even the very top one).