An Autumn's Tale – 88 Films (Blu-ray)

Theatrical Release Date: Hong Kong, 1987
Director: Mabel Cheung
Writer: Alex Law
Cast: Chow Yun-fat, Cherie Chung, Danny Chan, Cindy Ou, Arthur Fulbright, Gigi Wong

Release Date: July 29th, 2024
Approximate Running Time: 99 Minutes 14 Seconds
Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1 Widescreen / 1080 Progressive / MPEG-4 AVC
Rating: 15 (UK)
Sound: DTS-HD Mono Cantonese, DTS-HD 5.1 Cantonese
Subtitles: English
Region Coding: Region B
Retail Price: £14.99 (UK)

"Set in New York, this bitter-sweet drama stars Chow Yun-Fat as Sam, a cool, and charismatic waiter who takes his naïve and heart-broken NYU student cousin, Jennifer (Cherie Chung) under his wing. Their friendship grows as he shows this innocent youngster all that life in the Big Apple has to offer." - synopsis provided by the distributor

Video: 5/5

Here’s the information provided about this release's transfer, "Presented by Fortune Star Media Limited, the restoration of the film was carried out from the original 35mm picture and optical soundtrack negative, repaired and scanned at L'Immagine Ritrovata Asia. The restoration work was performed in 4K resolution at  L'Immagine Ritrovata in Bologna, Italy and the color correction and Cantonese audio track restoration were completed with supervision from the director, Mabel Cheung."

An Autumn's Tale comes on a 50 GB dual layer Blu-ray.

Disc Size: 42.1 GB

Feature: 29.9 GB

The source looks excellent; colors look correct, image clarity, black levels, and compression are solid, and the image retains an organic look.

Audio: 5/5 (DTS-HD Mono Cantonese), 4.5/5 (DTS-HD 5.1 Cantonese)

This release comes with two audio options, a DTS-HD mono mix in Cantonese and a DTS-HD 5.1 mix in Cantonese. There is some dialog in English. Both audio tracks are in excellent shape; dialog comes through clearly, and everything sounds balanced and robust when it should. That said, though the 5.1 audio track does a great job opening up the soundtrack, the clear winner is the mono audio track. Included are removable English subtitles.

Extras:

Extras for this release include a stills gallery with music from the film playing in the background, a theatrical trailer (4 minutes 29 seconds, DTS-HD mono Cantonese with removable English subtitles), an interview with screenwriter Alex Law (21 minutes 46 seconds, DTS-HD stereo Cantonese with removable English subtitles), an interview with director Mabel Cheung (17 minutes 46 seconds, DTS-HD stereo Cantonese with removable English subtitles), reversible cover art, a clear plastic O-Ring (limited to the first pressing), and a 28-page booklet (limited to the first pressing) with cast & crew information, an essay titled A Hong Kong Romance In/Via New York: An Autumn's Tale written by Tom Cunliffe, and archival images.

Summary:

An Autumn's Tale is the second of three films directed by Mabel Cheung that make up a collection of films known as the Migration Trilogy; the other two films are The Illegal Immigrant and Eight Taels of Gold.

A young woman from China goes to New York to be with her boyfriend, who's attending school there. Shortly after her arrival, she discovers her boyfriend is seeing another woman. Her cousin helps her get over her heartbreak and adjust to living in New York.

An Autumn's Tale is a unique Hong Kong film that places its story in an unfamiliar setting: New York City. An Autumn's Tale is also a fish-out-of-water scenario in which its protagonist, Jennifer, finds herself in a place that is far removed from where she grew up in China. She is trying to fit in and adjust after learning of her boyfriend's betrayal. Her main support is her cousin Vincent; he lives in the moment and does not let others influence him. Over time these two characters change, forming an inseparable bond.

The heart and soul of An Autumn's Tale are its two lead performances: Chow Yun-fat (The Killer), who portrays Vincent, and Cherie Chung (Maybe It's Love), who portrays Jennifer. Vincent is someone who does not care about what others think about him, while Jennifer is someone who overly values what others think. In all, Chow Yun-fat and Cherie Chung worked together in nine films, so it is not a surprise how strong their onscreen chemistry is. When it comes to the rest of the cast, their performances do a superb job supporting the two leads.

When discussing An Autumn's Tale, one cannot overlook director Mabel Cheung’s contributions. Though the visuals let the performances be the focal point, there are a handful of stylish moments that heighten the mood. One area where the visuals really excel is how they take advantage of the New York locations.

From a production standpoint, An Autumn's Tale is a film where everything perfectly falls into place. A well-executed narrative does a phenomenal job building momentum to a gut-punch finale, and key moments are given an ample amount of time to resonate. Another strength is Lowell Lo’s (Naked Killer) exemplary score, which does an excellent job of reinforcing the mood. Ultimately, An Autumn's Tale is a poignant melodrama about appreciating what you have before it slips away.

An Autumn's Tale gets an excellent release from 88 Films that comes with a solid audio/video presentation and a trio of insightful extras, highly recommended.

Written by Michael Den Boer