Despite what many people, and the digital edition of the new generation of consoles would want you to believe, it’s a great time to be a fan of physical media. Even more so than director’s cuts brought upon by relentless fan campaigns, 4K restorations are allowing filmmakers to tweak their films in more meaningful ways than adding CGI rocks in the foreground in the special edition of “Star Wars.” The latest filmmaker to take advantage of these restorations is Wong Kar-Wai.
READ MORE: The Essentials: The Films Of Wong Kar-Wai
In a note from Wong himself via the Film at Lincoln Center, the filmmaker describes the process of restoring some of his classic films in 4K, like “Chungking Express” and “The Hand” and making some changes to his original work. “We were caught in a dilemma between restoring these films to the form in which the audience had remembered them and how I had originally envisioned them,” Wong said in the note. “There was so much that we could change, and I decided to take the second path as it would represent my most vivid vision of these films.”
“I invite the audience to join me in starting afresh, as these are not the same films, and we are no longer the same audience,” the filmmaker continued. The changes are plenty and meaningful, from changing the aspect ratio of “Chungking Express” and “In the Mood for Love” to match the original 1:85:1 they were shot in, or changing the format of “Fallen Angels” to cinemascope because Wong originally intended the film to be released that way.
Janus Films is in charge of the “World of Wong Kar Wai” restoration package, which includes films like “As Tears Go By,” “Days of Being Wild,” “Happy Together,” and a director’s cut of “The Hand.”
Here are all the changes made in the restorations.