Sunny – 3-disc Special Limited Edition

by amy · December 9, 2011

Format: DVD
No. Discs: 3 + signed postcard
Duration: 259min. + Extras

Technical Specs

Region: 3 — South East Asia (including Hong Kong, S. Korea and Taiwan)
Sound: Korean Dolby Digital 5.1ch
Video: Anamorphic Widescreen 2.35:1
Subtitles: English – Only Feature Film

Content

DVD Disc 1:

Theatrical Cut (124min.)

DVD Disc 2:

Director’s Cut (135min.)
Commentary by director Hyeong-Cheol Kang, Ho-jeong Yoo, Hee-kyung Jin, Su-hee Ko, Jin-hee Hong, Yeon-kyung Lee, Sun-kyung Kim
Commentary by director Hyeong-Cheol Kang, Eun-kyung Shim, So-ra Kang, Min-young Kim, Jin-joo Park, Bo-ra Nam, Bo-mi Kim, Hyo-rin Min
Commentary by director Hyeong-Cheol Kang, producer 이안나, lighting director 이성재, art director Yo-han Lee, music director Jun-seok Kim, costume designer 채경화

DVD Disc 3:

Making Of (47min.)
The Art Direction (7min.)
The Music (8min.)
Poster/Promo Shooting (4min.)
Special Drama ep499 and ep500 (the drama scenes they watch at the hospital) (4min.)
Music Video for 알 수 없어 by Magma (6min.)
Still Gallery + Trailers

Let me start off this review by saying that Sunny is turning out to be one of my favorite films of the year. So, when I realized that I had watched the Theatrical Cut of the film and that there was a Director’s Cut available, my curiosity peaked. Sadly, there’s actually not much difference between one or the other, as the scenes included in the film are mostly inconsequential to the plot.

I actually kind of prefer the Theatrical Cut as a whole.

Having said that, the Korean products that I’ve gotten this year haven’t disappointed me. Sunny is no exception. The packaging looks like a really posh yearbook with a thick cardboard case covered with cloth-like fabric — you know, like the encyclopedias we used to have. The original Korean title and the year are letterpressed and printed with a golden metallic ink on the front and on the spine.

Taking the case out of its plastic over-cover, which carries the product and content information, as well as sliding the elastic band holding the plastic and case together, you’re presented with a slightly oversized postcard of the film’s Director’s Cut poster in Saul Bass style, the three different slim cases of both of the versions of the film, and the special features.

The video transfer isn’t super clear, though that might be my own fault for watching so much high definition content lately. However, there seems to be image problems in bright scenes, like in the beginning when Nami is having breakfast. I also wasn’t able to fully notice the 5.1 Dolby Surround mix, and even my player was labeling it a 2.1 mix.

As far as extra content goes, it all goes wasted on me because none of it is subtitled. That was to be expected, I think it’s very rare to find subtitled extras especially in Asian editions of films, which is kinda disappointing because the 40-something-minute Making Of seemed to be interesting, as well as the short supplements in The Art Direction and The Music.

However, I would have loved if all three commentary tracks had been subtitled. It’s not like you can even turn the commentaries on and go along with them, they’re just completely wasted on the non-Korean speaker.

The Bluray version seems to have only the Director’s Cut in high definition, while the Theatrical Cut is presented in DVD, so maybe you’re better sticking with the DVD version. No idea how different the packaging is for both.