Centre Stage: Technical Notes

Technical Notes Technical Notes:
Centre Stage
All Content Used With Permission.


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    by So Good... - Hong Kong DVD Movie Reviews
    www.sogoodreviews.com



IVL (this same dvd is now distributed by Joy Sales) presents the film in an aspect ratio of 1.78:1, with anamorphic enhancement. The movie benefits from remastering and looks more pleasing overall compared to prior editions. However some filtering haven't done the best of favours towards colours and brightness as many scenes are way too dark.

Advertised as Original Cantonese 2.0, it's is in fact the same Cantonese/Mandarin language track as intended. However it is a downmix of the accompanying remixes in Dolby Digital 5.1 and DTS 5.1. Lacking much effects anyway, this time around a downmix doesn't annoy or intrude.

The English subtitles are in essence the same as on the Deltamac dvd but are generally cleaned up here and there, which eliminates most of the little grammar- and spelling errors there was present before. The big plus now is that all on-screen text is translated, giving us an insight of what movie is being re-enacted and if it's even available anymore. Traditional and simplified Chinese subtitles are also included.

The original trailer turns up again, plus newly edited ones for Center Stage, Rouge, A Chinese Ghost Story and Police Story II, a 25 page Photo Gallery of stills (also available as a slideshow) and two new interviews, both subtitled in English. First up is Stanley Kwan (11 minutes 38 seconds). There is value in the subjects covered such as Kwan's impressions upon watching Ruan Ling-Yu's films, the research process and script development but the program is too short for any depth to be injected.

An Interview With Paul Fonoroff On Ruan Lingyu lasts 13 minutes, 1 second and he provides a fine breakdown of the career of Ruan and the moviemaking climate of the time. Included in the dvd case is a booklet containing Ruan Ling-Yu's letters written before her suicide, notes on Maggie Cheung's international acclaim for her role and an afterword by Stanley Kwan. On the flipside of this content is a larger movie poster.




    by HKFlix
    www.hkflix.com

The IVL and Joy Sales DVDs are essentially the same. Joy Sales simply took over distribution from IVL.



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