Home Media Review: Wings of Desire 4K Blu-Ray (Criterion)

The Criterion Collection re-releases Wim Wenders's classic romantic fantasy into the 4K UHD format.

Since Criterion has started moving into the world of 4K UHD in late 2021, many of their most beloved titles have been coming back, except this time within a new format. This week, Wings of Desire has received that treatment.

Picture Quality

Criterion’s brand new 4K release of Wings of Desire does not include HDR, which made me rather skeptical of picking it up. Despite this, I find that the image has indeed been done justice. Presented in the film’s original aspect ratio of 1.66:1, this new 4K UHD release allows the black and white imagery to look incredibly lively - but the sharp contrasts between that and the colour certainly is something worth noting. It’s especially beautiful in a way that captures the longing to experience human connection (best emphasized by how the film utilizes a shift between both black and white and colour), but I think it’s the black-and-white sequences that really benefit most from the 4K treatment here.