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WKW is dead to me. Just plain dead....

Confirmation that WKW is a moron. Nothing about his statement makes sense.

He should not be surprised when his audience is not the same either

At some point he'll be dead or need some cash and they'll re-release the original versions on 12k brain implant and charge the equivalent of today's $600. "Finally, WKW's films the way they he intended!"*

"*When they were made, not 30 years later"

Stefan Andersson wrote: Sat Sep 27, 2025 3:59 pm Céline Pozzi, a manager at L’Immagine Ritrovata, on restoring Wong´s films: “Wong Kar-wai /../ had this special neon look on his films, and he wanted to change it and get away from that cold light,” /.../. “He said, ‘I’m not the person I was at the time. I’ve changed. I have the right to change the film.’ ”
https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2025 ... estoration

the most annoying thing about this is the fact the vast, overwhelming majority of people think that this is acceptable. as I've said before, people really think In the Mood for Love should be green and that's what's so angering about this all to me

I know we've all repeated this stuff throughout this forum but I really don't think we've hated on WKW enough for it as a film community..

It shows you how unserious many film “lovers” are these days. No one stands for anything (unless it’s imposing modern mores on an older film)

ryannichols7 wrote: Sat Sep 27, 2025 8:29 pm

Stefan Andersson wrote: Sat Sep 27, 2025 3:59 pm Céline Pozzi, a manager at L’Immagine Ritrovata, on restoring Wong´s films: “Wong Kar-wai /../ had this special neon look on his films, and he wanted to change it and get away from that cold light,” /.../. “He said, ‘I’m not the person I was at the time. I’ve changed. I have the right to change the film.’ ”
https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2025 ... estoration

the most annoying thing about this is the fact the vast, overwhelming majority of people think that this is acceptable. as I've said before, people really think In the Mood for Love should be green and that's what's so angering about this all to me

I know we've all repeated this stuff throughout this forum but I really don't think we've hated on WKW enough for it as a film community..

I’m stunned by how idiotic some of the responses to WKW’s disgusting, revisionist bullshit are on the Blu-Ray.Com forum

I was very lucky to see Days of Being Wild and Happy Together at the New Beverly about two years ago. The latter was beat up to hell, but it was still so refreshing to see them the right way. I’ve still got my Kino Lorber DVD’s and won’t part with them.

That cold neon look is something you find throughout Hong Kong films, and I assume captures something of what it was like to be in that city at the time. Wong is in effect erasing the historical look of his city and replacing it with…how things look now? Seems like an artistic disaster, but Wong has seemingly embraced a philosophy of endless change and mutability.

Unlike most here I have no problem with his general philosophy. How can I? I prefer Henry James’ later revised novels to the originals, Coleridge’s final version of The Rhyme of the Ancient Mariner, and the third, revised edition of Paradise Lost. But that doesn’t mean I have to like Wong’s final products. And these new ones sound like a disaster.

WKW could do whatever he wants if he’d just present the original version alongside it in home video releases. No one would even care and write it off like Coppola’s late period hobby (though he’s guilty of this too, he’s still not dumb enough to deny people the original version of high profile movies like the third Godfather)

Mr Sausage wrote: Sat Sep 27, 2025 8:58 pm That cold neon look is something you find throughout Hong Kong films, and I assume captures something of what it was like to be in that city at the time. Wong is in effect erasing the historical look of his city and replacing it with…how things look now? Seems like an artistic disaster, but Wong has seemingly embraced a philosophy of endless change and mutability.

Unlike most here I have no problem with his general philosophy. How can I? I prefer Henry James’ later revised novels to the originals, Coleridge’s final version of The Rhyme of the Ancient Mariner, and the third, revised edition of Paradise Lost. But that doesn’t mean I have to like Wong’s final products. And these new ones sound like a disaster.

You make some good points about literary works. I’m reminded of John Fowles’ The Magus, which he really weakened with a revised conclusion, and that’s the only version to be in print for decades now

domino harvey wrote:WKW could do whatever he wants if he’d just present the original version alongside it in home video releases. No one would even care and write it off like Coppola’s late period hobby (though he’s guilty of this too, he’s still not dumb enough to deny people the original version of high profile movies like the third Godfather)

I know. But at the same time, I get the impression many people have a more philosophical objection than just an objection to not having access to the versions they prefer.

It’s kind of weird and sad to think back to the times I saw “Happy Together” in 35mm in recent years (or rather ten odd years ago) and how coveted those screenings would now be.

Is the Kino blu-ray the last unaltered release of Happy Together?

Yes

Seeing the opening waterfall shot from the fifth row of T1 (the “big” theater) at MoMA was pretty awesome - again, from a pristine 35mm print but despite the “restoration” nuttiness, I can’t imagine them messing up that experience for anyone else going forward.

Murdoch wrote: Sun Sep 28, 2025 9:49 pm Is the Kino blu-ray the last unaltered release of Happy Together?

More like less altered. There's a 2012ish Japanese Blu-ray that has a scan of an original 35mm print (floating around online), which looks vastly different to all other video releases. For instance, the scene of the restaurant staff playing football in the street with the sunlight bleeding into the camera and the lens flares etc: the Kino is very yellow, the Criterion box version isn't as heavily yellow but still quite warm, while the 35mm print scan is actually blue during that scene. Lots of multi-step photochemical processing done to the films back in the 90s, so I think that for some of the box set restorations (namely Chungking Express and Happy Together) actually look closer to what the original negative probably looks like, even if it's nothing like previous versions. (Of course, the green In The Mood For Love is still digitally artificial.) When you look at the transfer notes on Criterion's original 2008 Chungking Express Blu-ray, it's mostly from an internegative then some bits from an interpositive. Lots of processing on those that aren't baked into the negative.

Appreciate the in-depth breakdown. The Japanese blu-ray appears harder to come by than even the Kino, at least stateside.

I guess I'll never see these films as they originally existed since the various home video releases have been my only exposure.

Murdoch wrote: Mon Sep 29, 2025 12:39 am I guess I'll never see these films as they originally existed since the various home video releases have been my only exposure.

Honestly, I think the consensus is that the KL and first version Crit BDs are pretty serviceable and for most intents and purposes "definitive" if imperfect presentations. By WKW's own admission, he's changed the films "original" appearance since then.

As to WKW trying to rewrite history, and the "public's" muted reactions it's a shame, but I think Lucas proved that he was able to pretty much eradicate his insanely popular Library-of-Congress ensconced trilogy in favor of something Disney Franchise ready, and most people (even of that generation) just went along with it. So really what hope do we have of trying to claw back some HK arthouse films.

IIRC the old Japanese Blu-ray also has a different cut of the film. it's supposed to be very close to the same cut released everywhere else, but some people noticed at least a few extra shots. See here.

Correct, and also no English subs on the old Japanese Blu-ray.

It's worth nothing (as has been noted well above) that even on first release(s), many of WKW's films, particularly the first handful, existed in multiple versions, to the point where people are still discovering heretofore-uncommented-upon differences between release prints. The most obvious differences come down to edits—different versions of scenes, different beginnings and endings, scenes in one version and not in another, etc.—but there are also notable differences in color. Part of this may have been WKW and his collaborators timing the versions differently, but it's also something that's true of a lot of non-WKW films as (in my experience) less priority was placed on the uniformity of prints in HK than in Hollywood. If a different lab or set of labs produced the prints for export (or for export to one specific region or festival) they might look quite a bit different, if not quite as different as the two Criterion Blu-Rays of In the Mood for Love.

Variant version of Days of Being Wild:
https://www.davidbordwell.net/blog/2008 ... g-obscure/
https://wong-kar-wais-love-odysseys.blo ... -results=5 - plus: The Razor in The Grandmaster

Blog posts:
Happy Together remastered - In the Mood for Love 2001 - 2046 deleted scenes - Chungking Express HK Cut/International Cut:
https://wong-kar-wais-love-odysseys.blogspot.com/

Certainly the WKW films have always had a kinetic feeling that came from the improvised working methods of the director and his collaborators. But there is a logical split between the various cuts that resulted from the dynamic grab-bag anarchism of this work through ~ 2046, and what followed. He's basically given all of his beloved work the Ashes of Time Redux treatment, and its both a wonder and a shame he can't see why he was so revered in the first place.

As Tears Go By:
"The Korean VHS tape contains an extended ending."
http://www.lovehkfilm.com/reviews_2/as_tears_go_by.htm

I draw a line of separation in my mind between the small changes between versions which have always existed in films like Chungking Express and Happy Together and what Wong has done to Ashes of Time and Fallen Angels. Those two films have been altered beyond recognition, and there are fewer ways to see any original version. The changes to those films alter the entropic tone of the production, change what the movies seemed to be about––and they also make the films look radically different in so many pervasive ways it's impossible not to see it throughout (similar to the way goofy characters now dot the surface of Star Wars like graffiti, constantly doing bits in the background of scenes and standing out like a sore thumb).

The changes to In the Mood for Love and Chungking Express and the altered color scheme or filtering on As Tears Go By are the kind of standard variations you often see in the different versions of HK films that went out to different markets. If I didn't know Wong Kar-Wai's intention so well, I'd call them benign differences. They're reasons to hang on to different versions of a film, for instance. I have VHS and VCD copies of It's Now or Never because of the variations in the different cuts. But Ashes of Time is nearly impossible to see in any of its theatrical presentations (all of which, to my mind, maintain the original feel of the film in a way the Redux absolutely does not), and earlier versions of Fallen Angels are so out-of-print it's very hard to see. And what's interesting as well is how those profoundly eviscerated movies have effectively dropped out of WKW's canon for the public at large. It's like the major changes and Wong's bad-mouthing of their original versions put the stank on these pictures, and made them seem less worthwhile in general.