Accident

Review of Shout Factory Blu-ray edition
From Hong Kong in 2009, "Accident" is a superb noirish drama about a group of professional assassins who kill people by staging elaborate, faked accidents. Unfortunately, the film gets a disappointing Blu-ray video transfer from Shout Factory. Not only is its screen aspect ratio cropped from the original 2:35:1 to 1.78:1, but its colors and sharpness are also unsatisfactory for a high-def transfer. There is a much better-looking (and also region-free) import Blu-ray edition made by Hong Kong's Mega Star, and you should get that edition instead. Blu-ray.com has screen captures of both editions, where the poor picture quality of Shout Factory's Region-A edition is readily apparent.

"Accident" belongs to one of Hong Kong's most venerable genres, the crime drama, But director Pou-Soi Cheang departed from the genre's convention and created a quiet, noirish thriller full of subtle psychological intrigue. Its story brings to mind Francis Coppola's 1974 film "The...

Accident, intriguing mystery with unique plot
I love Asian films and am always looking for something different. I found it in Accident, starring Louis Koo, Ritchie Ren, and Lam Suet (always a favorite of producer/director Johnny To). Another reviewer talks about the technical aspects of the disc, but I don't find that to be a problem for me, this is the only version I've ever watched so I am not qualified to speak about how it compares to other versions. This version looks fine to me. I looked into getting the original format disc from another source but it's an all region disc and my BD player, Sony, does not play those types of discs. The cover mistakenly says it is in 2.35:1 aspect ratio but it is the standard 16x9 ratio of widescreen sets. Has DTS-HD 5.1 Cantonese language with English subtitles. 87 minutes.

What makes Accident so interesting to me is the first couple of times I watched it, I wondered just what was going on? There is an ambiguous angle to the plot and it's not obvious what the truth is. I think I...

But as for the Blu-ray release, knowing that the Hong Kong Blu-ray release is superior to the Region 1 US release...
Filmmaker Pou-Soi Cheang is known for films that revolve around assassins or murder ("Hidden Heroes", "Dog Bite Dog", "Shamo", "Love Battlefield"), in 2009, Cheang would collaborate with famous Hong Kong producer Johnnie To ("Election", "PTU", "Running Out of Time") and would release the film "Accident".

"Accident" ("Yi Ngoi") would star Louis Koo ("Triad Election", "Election", "Zu Warriors", "Flash Point"), Richie Jen ("Breaking News", "Fly Me to Polaris", "Exiled"), Shui-Fan Fung ("Vengeance", "Infernal Affairs", "Winners & Sinners"), Michelle Ye ("Vengeance", "Lady Cop & Papa Crook") and Suet Lam ("Kung Fu Hustle", "PTU", "Election").

The film would be nominated for four Hong Kong Film Awards and would win "Best Supporting Actress" for Michelle Ye.

VIDEO:

"Accident" is presented in 108p High Definition (2:35:1 aspect ratio). A colleague mine told me that "Accident" is actually 2:39:1 and was cropped to a 1:79:1 ratio and that there are...

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