Tom Jolliffe on the joy of a loving 4K restoration…
In cinema, there’s a progressive fascination with new fangled technology. With every passing year, new tech and new kit is released leaving those with a technological fascination slobbering in anticipation. If you’re a filmmaker with any passing eye upon breaking Netflix you know that the entry requirements are becoming more and more stern with (at last check) 4k ready a bare minimum (as far as your visual kit). In terms of distribution format, whether through streaming content or physical media, 4k hasn’t particularly become big. It’s still something deemed a little niche for those with a deep rooted fascination.
For myself, I’m still on Blu-ray (five or so years back I didn’t see the fuss, but once you’ve gone Blu, that’s it mate). However, having experienced 4k I can certainly notice the benefits, but predominantly so with movies shot on film and particularly those that have had a good restoration in accordance too. The effect was similar in the jump from video to DVD, and then DVD to Blu-ray, and perhaps this next step doesn’t feel like it’s leaping a chasm, but what I would say, is that, particularly with good restoration work, the effort definitely pays off (Criterion for example often breath new life into films).
Whichever way you cut it, of the re-mastered films I’ve now seen in 4k (especially big screen), they always looked like new. Some films most definitely deserve this spruce up. As far as films shot on 4k digital, and very much made with and for the technology, they have a very distinct clarity that maybe looks too clean. Maybe even, dare I say, occasionally a bit samey (unless they’ve had the luxury of a maestro DP like Roger Deakins). So my preference with the tech is in revitalising 35(60etc) mm and making a sexy looking film that big sexier. Two classics have been given a 4k touch up recently that really got me thinking of those which deserve the time. These two most certainly did deserve it.
Andrei Tarkovsky’s Mirror is one such. A director known for sculpting astonishing imagery deserves nothing less than to have his cinema revitalised when the new technology allows for it (and without compromising or altering his intended vision). Mirror’s dreamlike, occasionally haunting imagery, played at Tarkovsky’s atypically alluring pace, is picture perfection. I’ve targeted this one within my sights, holding off my impending need for a re-watch, until I can get my hands on a 4k version. Certain visual storytellers like Tarkovsky, and say Stabley Kubrick (the most recent remaster of 2001 was sublime) have perfect CV’s to be seen refreshed.
Another cinematic masterwork with a recent 4k revival was Wong Kar Wai’s stunning film In The Mood For Love. These films, even without the gloss, bells and whistles of a perfect visual format, still of course carry the dramatic weight they always have. If you can make the viewing feel a little bit closer to your first time though, then all the better.
In The Mood For Love is a beautiful film in every respect. Visually it is utterly resplendent. The use of colour is magnificent too, and undoubtedly it will benefit from what a 4k restoration can bring out of the source material. Colourful films I think seem to have a particular benefit and it really brings out that quality. I think of a few more like Suspiria (1977) which has always dazzled, but has looked particularly superb since the Blu-ray era, and even more exquisite in 4k. Dario Argento’s rainbow vision of kaleidoscopic colour looks even more like an exploding bag of skittles.
Like many cinephiles with a love of visual cinema, there are certainly films on a wish-list that I’d eventually love to see in the most up-to-date quality possible. Back on Tarkovsky, another of his masterworks (to be fair he was pretty much 7 for 7 on the masterpiece front) and another personal favourite is Stalker. That’s currently up to a 2k restoration, on its Criterion release which sits proudly in my collection (incidentally, physical media for me will always top streaming, because you have more consistency in your playback). That version was astonishing enough, but likewise another hope that comes in accordance with 4k full remasters, is that there’s usually a tendency to also rerelease those films on the big screen to boost the new impending physical and streaming versions. I missed Stalker’s 2017 re-release, I won’t miss a 4k re-release (touch wood, rub the rabbits foot, etc.) and all being good there’ll be cinemas around to play the film.
What’s the best 4k remaster you’ve seen? Which films do you want to see in 4k? Let us know on our social channels @flickeringmyth…
Tom Jolliffe is an award winning screenwriter and passionate cinephile. He has a number of films out on DVD/VOD around the world and several releases due out in 2021, including, Renegades (Lee Majors, Danny Trejo, Michael Pare, Tiny Lister, Ian Ogilvy and Billy Murray), Crackdown, When Darkness Falls and War of The Worlds: The Attack (Vincent Regan). Find more info at the best personal site you’ll ever see here.
Originally published February 13, 2021. Updated November 15, 2022.
