The Wong Kar-Wai Collection

[arsaib4]

Kino International is releasing a box-set of Wong Kar-Wai's films on Oct 19.

The set includes:

As Tears Go By - (1988/102mins) - is a story of two gang members, one young one old, when love enters the life of the elder, he contemplates leaving the streets for another life.

Days of Being Wild - (1990/94mins) - is a story about the lives of 6 young people in Hong Kong during the 60's.

ChungKing Express - (1994/102mins) - is a dream-like valentine to youth and hopeless love that juxtaposes two offbeat stories with beautiful, mysterious women and colorful cops against a backdrop of a Chinese fast-food restaurant.

Fallen Angels - (1996/95mins) - is a neo-noir fantasy involving a hitman who is the object of unrequited passion for two women: the female agent who hands down his assignments, and an orange-haired punkette name Baby.

Happy Together - (1997/98mins) - is a chronicle about the stormy affair of a gay couple living as expatriates in Buenos Aires. The film uses gorgeous, saturated images set to an eclectic soundtrack of classic tangos, torch songs and Frank Zappa instrumentals.

This is first time (to the best of my knowledge) that As Tears Go By and Days of Being Wild are being released on a R1 dvd. The non-region 1 discs that I own of these two are simply crap. Happy together will also include the documentary Buenes Aires Zero Degrees. Each film includes optional english subtitles and new anamorphic transfer and will be available separately except ChungKing Express(Miramax).

I was hoping for the much neglected Ashes of Time to be part of this but unfortunately it's not. The upcoming french box-set does have this film but the box-set is not scheduled to have english subtitles.

[oscar jubis]

No fucking Ashes of Time?! I'll be buying the French box set. And I can't read French.

[arsaib4]

Thanks for the support Oscar, as much as i'm excited to see his earlier films being part of this, i'm equally disappointed about 'Ashes of Time,' being shafted again. It was at the top of nearly every list of undistributed films of the 90's and unfortunately the trend continues........

[wpqx]

I might have to take these seperately. I am excited about the first two films, but I'm content with my other Kar-Wai releases. Granted Happy Together has some hard to read subtitles, but it works. That also gets my vote for his best film, but no one is asking. Ashes of Time I do have on VHS, which again has hard to read subtitles, but I personally think the film isn't stellar. At least not his best. This is the best release from Kino next month, who aren't exactly topping there Kieslowski releases this month.

[arsaib4]

I've never really thought about the best among Wong kar-Wai's films, but if I had to pick one i'd go with 'ChungKing Express' closely followed by 'In the Mood for Love.'

[arsaib4]

More info is finally available through Kino now, the site doesn't mention Chungking Express separately which again brings up the question why they didn't go for Ashes of Time instead of just adding in 'Chungking' to fill their box-set. It's safe to say that this is the same Miramax version w/out any upgrades.

http://www.kino.com/video/news.php?news_id=20

[wpqx]

From what I was told the Chungking Express is the exact same Miramax DVD. The one with the Tarantino introduction and wrap up. I also find it odd that they threw this in the set, and yes perhaps Ashes of Time should have been substituted. My video has hard to read subititles, and it might make the overall set more appealing. Although I did think Chungking Express was a better film. I also just heard about another Hitchcock boxed set coming out in September, from MGM this time, oh well, separate thread it shall be.

[arsaib4]

More good news as along with this film being released on dvd, Kino is also releasing the film theatrically starting in NY on Nov 19th.