Wong Kar-wai

[JamesF]

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

A few Korean sites say that the VHS (title: 열혈남아) is the Taiwanese version; assuming the film had a similar workflow to films like The Killer, it probably previewed in Taiwan in an earlier cut with a Mandarin dub and temp music before Wong finished the edit. So this may be the alternate ending? (EDIT: Or this one?)

[The Fanciful Norwegian]

A few Korean sites say that the VHS (title: 열혈남아) is the Taiwanese version; assuming the film had a similar workflow to films like The Killer, it probably previewed in Taiwan in an earlier cut with a Mandarin dub and temp music before Wong finished the edit. So this may be the alternate ending? (EDIT: Or this one?)

The shorter of these endings (the one with the blue background on the end credits) is the one that appears to have been used in Taiwan, and is also one of the two alternate endings on the Criterion BD; the other is an extended version of the "standard" ending of unspecified provenance. The extended version of the "happy" ending on the Korean VHS may have just been released in Korea, or it may have also been used for the midnight preview screening in Hong Kong, which had some variant of that ending. The "Conversations with Filmmakers" book on Wong has an interview conducted after the midnight preview but before the film's general release, in which Wong says he's changed the ending because "the movie is too long" and "many people want Andy Lau's character to die because they cannot accept him as an idiot." He also describes the new ending as "weak but acceptable."

[AquaNarc]

Criterion Channel is going to stream Blossoms later this year.

Any updates on this? Not much time left in "this year"...

[ryannichols7]

Criterion Channel is going to stream Blossoms later this year.

Any updates on this? Not much time left in "this year"...

he's finishing off the AI NFT scenes

[dwk]

Criterion Channel is going to stream Blossoms later this year.

Any updates on this? Not much time left in "this year"...

Yes, they've finally announced it

Beginning on November 24, the Criterion Channel will exclusively premiere the 30-episode series, with three new episodes released every Monday night at 8 p.m. ET through the end of January

[Matt]

Is anyone watching "Blossoms Shanghai"? I haven't seen anyone mention it here.

[andyli]

Has the entire series been uploaded yet? I'd love to hear how people from the West see this, and how they place this thing within the context of his oeuvre.

[Matt]

Just 9 episodes so far.

[John Cope]

I definitely have some opinions but I'm reserving them until at least the halfway mark.

[Lowry_Sam]

I have mixed feelings about this. While I am glad that the channel seems to be branching out into international tv & that it's doing so with a newer series from a seasoned director, this particular choice has me wishing for something else. I am glad he's trying something new, but I'm a bit perplexed by the high rating on IMDB. In addition to the plot holes & incongruities, the fast-paced editing & slick sets just leave me cold. I just saw Kill Bill and never looked at my watch during the whole bloody affair, but I must have paused the first episode 3 or 4 times to see how much time was remaining and ultimately decided after 10 minutes into the second episode that I'd rather just watch a noir or dive into a Shawscope box.

[WrathOfAguirre]

I do plan to watch two or three episodes to see if it pulls me in or not, but I was a little turned off when they advertised there'll be 30 episodes (I'm sure that's exciting to a lot of fans, but personally I'm just not into sinking multiple seasons-worth--or the equivalent--of TV shows right now). I dig WKW, but the preview/premise didn't leave me feeling eager to commit to the length when I first saw it.

[Murdoch]

Light in the Attic has preorders up for new LP releases of a handful of WKW soundtracks. The discs have pretty awful gimmicky looks to them (glow in the dark, splatter design, multi colored). I wonder if Chungking Express has the pitch tinkering present on the newest Criterion release...