Joy (2015) 4K Ultra HD 2160P REMUX HEVC DTS-HD

A story based on the life of a struggling Long Island single mom who became one of the country's most successful entrepreneurs. For more about Joy 4K and the Joy 4K Blu-ray release, see Joy 4K Blu-ray Review published by Jeffrey Kauffman on May 11, 2016 where this Blu-ray release scored 3.5 out of 5.

Joy (2015) Review
Joy is presented on 4K UHD courtesy of 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment with an HEVC / H.265 encoded 2160p transfer in 1.85:1. Though finished at a 2K DI, there's a considerable uptick in fine detail in this new rendering, with immediately noticeable elements like the snow in the opening sequence or, later, the fabric of Joy's kind of tweedy overcoat offering better levels of precision (the snow in fact almost assumes a 3D quality at times). What was immediately striking to me, however, was the grain resolution—for whatever reason, the grain is much more of a presence in this new version, giving the film a thicker texture but perhaps ironically giving a more cinematic look to the supposed "broadcast" moments featuring the soap opera (at least when they're delivered full screen, instead of being watched on a television). The grain is especially noticeable in both the black and white sequences as well as the later moments when Joy and Walker are in the almost futuristically white television studio. The other major difference comes courtesy of HDR, where there's a clear increase in gradation of tones, as well as a more marked offering of contrast in moments like the sailing sequence where Sandgren's almost bleach bypass look is more intense than on the standard Blu-ray. Shadow detail is incrementally improved in some of the dimmer moments like the table gatherings in Joy's home where product details are discussed. There's also a wider variety of texture and (purposeful) softness on display in terms of the some of the intentionally "tweaked" video like the flashback to the wedding or even the sequence with Joy and Tony singing onstage as teenagers. In fact the whole dichotomy between flashbacks and contemporary happenings is more visually arresting in this presentation due to the more obvious differences in the presentational aspects.

There were no handshake issues with this disc, and commendably very little (virtually none in fact) of the judder I've been experiencing in other early 4K UHD releases.

Video
Codec: HEVC / H.265
Resolution: Upscaled 4K (2160p)
HDR: HDR10
Aspect ratio: 1.85:1
Original aspect ratio: 1.85:1

Audio
English: DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1
French: DTS 5.1
Spanish: Dolby Digital 5.1
German: DTS 5.1
Italian: DTS 5.1

Subtitles
English SDH, French, German, Italian, Spanish, Danish, Dutch, Finnish, Norwegian, Swedish