How do I know which DVD I'm getting?
I want to order this off E-bay, but I'd also like to know which release it is. How can I tell if it's the world video release, or the mei ah release? Does anyone have pictures of the covers?
shareThe cheapest and best place to buy the mei ah release off ebay is
http://cgi.ebay.com/Ashes-Of-Time_W0QQitemZ200209716978QQihZ010QQcategoryZ617QQrdZ1QQssPageNameZWD1VQQ_trksidZp1638.m118.l1247QQcmdZViewItem
I've ordered from them and the release was offical and not a bootleg of the official. Mei Ah is the best version of the film.
This is the Zoke Culture version
http://cgi.ebay.com/Ashes-of-Time-DVD-New-Wong-Kar-Wai-Leslie-Cheung-Maggie_W0QQitemZ280214678957QQihZ018QQcategoryZ617QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem
The transfer seems to be the same as the Mei Ah version when concerning the picture. It's really cheap but the problem is that it doesn't have the original audio it is a mandarin dub.
This is the World DVD
http://www.amazon.com/Ashes-Time-Brigitte-Lin/dp/B00000INVJ/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=dvd&qid=1207282050&sr=8-1
DON'T waste your money on this version. It has the original picture of the others but they put black bars on the top and bottom of the full screen movie to make it look wide screen. The translation on the subtitles is horrible. I couldn't get through the movie with this version so I just stopped it in the first 5 minutes and bought the Mei Ah version. Some people say that somewhere in the middle of the movie it cuts into another movie that is Ashes of Time.
The basic way to tell the difference on the covers is that the Mei Ah has chinese characters on the cover. The Zoke Culture has the red border at the bottom. The World DVD's cover is like the Mei Ah's but it has all english on the cover and lists the awards the movie won.
Thanks so much, and unfortunately I already had the painful experience of watching the World DVD release from netflix.
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Just don't get your hopes too high for the Mei Ah release -- it's more like which release sucks less rather than one being honestly superior.
The good news is that WKW's recut, Ashes of Time Redux, is debuting at Cannes (today, actually). We can hope hope hope for not only a high-quality edition (dare I say Criterion? -- they're going to do Chungking Express in Blu-Ray) of that eventually but it might even spur them to release a decent version of the original.
The not so good news is that i was really waiting to see a decent version of this movie. I bought this version here: http://www.cdwow.net/DVD/Ashes-of-Time-Redux-Deluxe-Gift-Edition-Limited-Edition/dp/5579395 (Limited Edition Gift Box, english subs, Mandarin or Cantonese Audio) and the extras are really worth it, but the picture quality is in some scenes far below my expectations!
Camera moving over scenes in shots outside of buildings stutter more then nescessary and some backgrounds (again, outside shots) are full of pixels.
But the colors are gorgeous in indoor shots and calmer parts of the movie!
Are either of those releases in 16:9, and do they play on R1 DVD players?
http://www.myspace.com/myheadisflamedx
http://www.geekout-blog.blogspot.com
I believe that all of them are Region 0 and work on any DVD player
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