Films
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Red Sorghum (1988)
Red Sorghum (1988) poster

Red Sorghum (1988)

红高粱

Drama, Romance, History • 1h 31m

Director: Zhang Yimou

Cast: Gong Li, Jiang Wen, Teng Rujun, Liu Ji, Qian Ming, Ji Chunhua, Zhai Chunhua, Jia Zhaoji, Zhang Yuxiang, Zhou Guiyun, Yang Qianbin, Xu Guoqing, Yao Er-ga, Li Yusheng, Dong Kun, Hu Xiaoguang, Zhang Yimou, Nie Laijing

Most likely WCL China Blu-ray

Best English-friendly release · updated 7 months ago

Overview

An old leper who owned a remote sorghum winery dies. Jiu'er, the wife bought by the leper, and her lover, identified only as "my Grandpa" by the narrator, take over the winery and set up an idealized quasi-matriarchal community headed by Jiu'er. When the Japanese invaders subject the area to their rule and cut down the sorghum to make way for a road, the community rises up and resists as the sorghum grows anew.

Release details

Best Video Release

WCL China Blu-ray

WCL China Blu-ray probably best transfer https://forum.blu-ray.com/showpost.php?p=19502187&postcount=Crocodile124 over Imprint Collaborations: The Cinema of Zhang Yimou & Gong Li

TSPDT
2026: #897
2025: #881
2024: #872
2023: #846
2022: #846
Length
91 mins
Type
Movie

More from Zhang Yimou

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Director: Zhang Yimou

Best English-Friendly & Video:

Germany Turbine Mediabook Blu-ray

Video Notes:

Germany Turbine Mediabook Blu-ray has a superior MPEG-4 AVC encode over the US Sony Blu-ray's MPEG-2 or France/Australia Universal Blu-ray's VC-1. Open matte version also included

Best Audio:

Germany Turbine Mediabook Blu-ray has a Dolby Atmos remix and the original audio in DTS 5.1.

Korea Blu-ray for lossless original 5.1 audio mix.

Additional Info:

Germany Turbine Mediabook Blu-ray is completely uncut and uncensored, having none of Sony US's PG-13 edits or Pathé UK's BBFC horse trip cuts.

Director: Zhang Yimou

Best English-Friendly & Video:

Germany Turbine Mediabook Blu-ray

Video Notes:

Germany Turbine Mediabook Blu-ray has no DNR or sharpening from past releases

Best Audio:

Germany Turbine Mediabook Blu-ray for the Dolby Atmos remix on the director's cut and the original 5.1 mix on the theatrical cut

Korea Nova Media Blu-ray for the original 6.1 mix on the director's cut

Additional Info:

Germany Turbine Mediabook Blu-ray has the Hong Kong English subtitles instead of the censored Miramax subtitles.

Miramax Blu-ray has lossy Mandarin audio and does not have the director's cut.

Director: Zhang Yimou

Best English-Friendly:

Korea Nova Media Blu-ray, or Imprint Boxset Blu-ray

Sources: caps-a-holic (opens in a new tab) · DVDBeaver (opens in a new tab)

Upcoming Release:

Film Movement Blu-ray release soon

Best Video:

No comparisons, but Korea Nova Media caps
DVDBeaver's Imprint Blu-ray caps

Director: Zhang Yimou

Best English-Friendly:

Well Go US 4K Blu-ray

Best Video:

Any of the 4K Blu-ray

Best Audio:

Engilsh dub: Well Go 4K Blu-ray
5.1: 2019 Hong Kong 4K Blu-ray (upsampled to 24/96)

Director: Zhang Yimou

Best English-Friendly:

Imprint Blu-ray or new restoration soon

Sources: fareastfilm.com (opens in a new tab)

More from WCL

See more →

Director: Tian Zhuangzhuang

Best English-Friendly & Video:

China WCL Blu-ray

Director: Bu Wan-Cang

Best English-Friendly & Video:

China WCL Blu-ray

Director: Chen Kaige

Video format: 1080p Blu-ray

Best Video:

WCL China Blu-ray

Video Notes:

WCL China Blu-ray is the only Blu-ray available as of Aug 2026

Director: Henri-Georges Clouzot

Video format: UHD Blu-ray

Best English-Friendly:

WCL China Blu-ray

Sources: Criterion Forum (opens in a new tab)

Best Video:

France Coin Germany mire Cinema 4K Blu-ray

Video Notes:

(not English friendly)

Best Audio:

Arrow Blu-ray

Audio Notes:

Arrow Blu-ray is the less manipulated track, but according to cbc: "I find it sounds a bit shrill at times, and the 4K Blu-ray is not bad at all, it does lose some high freq detail but I would probably prefer it for watching"

Director: Yojiro Takita

Best English-Friendly:

WCL China 4K Blu-ray

Sources: slow.pics (opens in a new tab)

Best Video:

WCL China 4K Blu-ray, caps

Best Audio:

Arrow Blu-ray

Audio Notes:

The 4K Blu-ray has slightly neutered dynamics

Additional Info:

4K Blu-ray is from a 4K restoration, better detail, compresison is passable, grading is a bit of a mixed bag (might have been a regrade from SDR)

More Drama on Blu-ray

Director: Joel Coen

4K · Disappointing
Best English-Friendly & Video:

Director's Cut: Disappointing UK StudioCanal/US Criterion 4K Blu-ray
Theatrical Cut: LaserDisc or 2001 UK Universal DVD

Sources: Blu-ray.com (opens in a new tab)

Video Notes:

https://forum.blu-ray.com/showthread.php?p=21782879#post21782879 - comparison. StudioCanal is a massive improvement to the Criterion but still flawed in some areas (chroma noise)

Director: Liliana Cavani

4K · Solid

Director: Iain Softley

4K · Excellent
Best English-Friendly & Video:

Capelight Germany 4K Blu-ray

Sources: slow.pics (opens in a new tab)

Video Notes:

Both 88 Films and Germany Capelight are superior to the Shout! Factory in HDR10 but their FEL layer may even things out. Objectively, the Capelight looks best as they avoided the chroma blocking that’s visible in 88’s disc but they in turn included an Atmos mix. I have the Shout! Factory, love how it looks and the 4K transfer is spectacular. https://slow.pics/c/vPmFQSAH

Best Audio:

88 Films 4K Blu-ray

Additional Info:

Shout! Factory has the exclusive The Beauty of the Baud and the You Can't Stop Us All featurettes.

Director: Akira Kurosawa

4K · Excellent
Best English-Friendly & Video:

BFI 4K Blu-ray

Sources: Criterion Forum (opens in a new tab)

Best Audio:

2015 Star Media Blu-ray/2019 BFI Player WEB-DL

Director: Hiroshi Teshigahara

Best English-Friendly & Video:

Criterion Blu-ray

Sources: Criterion Forum (opens in a new tab)

Best Audio:

Criterion DVD

Director: Bruce Robinson

4K · Solid
Best English-Friendly & Video:

Arrow 4K Blu-ray

Sources: Criterion Forum (opens in a new tab)

Video Notes:

Arrow 4K Blu-ray has stronger encode than Criterion

Director: Olivier Assayas

Best English-Friendly & Video:

Arrow UK Blu-ray

Sources: Criterion Forum (opens in a new tab)

Video Notes:

Encoding is clunky on both Arrow and Criterion BDs but Arrow at least included the original stereo mix in addition to the 5.1 remix, while Criterion only included the 5.1 remix.

Director: Tsui Hark

Best English-Friendly & Video:

US Shout! Factory or UK Arrow 4K Blu-ray?

Director: John Woo

4K · Excellent
Best English-Friendly, Video & Audio:

US Shout! Factory or UK Arrow 4K Blu-ray

Sources: Criterion Forum (opens in a new tab)

Video Notes:

> Disk Kino/WCL China import

review: Disk Kino

Both have better encoding than Disk Kino, some shots are better on Shout! Factory, others on Arrow

Shout Factory still has the best video while Arrow did a questionable regrade. Arrow definitely has less grain in most shots, has a worse encode and is cm v2.9 compared to Shout’s cm v4.0.

Audio Notes:

Shout! Factory/Arrow 4K Blu-ray has the original mono

Director: Steven Spielberg

Best English-Friendly & Video:

US Paramount Blu-ray

Upcoming Release:

Paramount 4K Blu-ray Dec 15th

Video Notes:

US Paramount Blu-ray > International WB Blu-ray

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Researched and maintained by

vanshadymsimran

· last reviewed 7 months ago

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