An Introduction to Wong Kar Wai, and discussion thread.

[fish2plus2]

Hong Kong directer Wong Kar Wai will be making his American debut with the movieBlueberry Nights starring Racheal Weisz, Natalie Portman, Tim Roth, Jude Law and the Norah Jones.

I read somewhere that Wong Kar Wai told Norah Jones not to bother getting acting lessons, that he would direct her. Some of you may frown at this, but Wong Kar Wai has a strong history of placing Hong Kong pop stars in his films who have been able to give absolutely amazing preformances. Examples include Maggie Cheung(model), Leslie Cheung, and Faye Wong.

I am sure that Wong Kar Wai will rocket to fame. This is great because I want as many people to see his movies as possible.

Most of Wong Kar Wai's success has been achieved overseas. The majority of his films have not done well at Hong Kong box offices, and Wong Kar Wai is somewhat of an oddity in Hong Kong, because he is what most would call an art directer:

He does not use detailed scripts for his films, often the script is written minutes before shooting starts.

His films do not focus on plot, instead the story comes from the characters.

He claims that his non-linear style of story-telling is inspired by the late Argentinian writer Manuel Puig's novel titled "The Buenos Aires Affair".

Several of his films are primarily about time and loneliness, and what is not said, is often just as important as what is said.

Something you might find reflective in his work is that WKK was born in Shanghai, moving to Hong Kong as a child, where he did not pick up the language for several years.

To mention Wong Kar Wai, it seems mandatory to mention the man behind the camera, his cinematographer, Aussie Christopher Doyle, and William Chang who does production design and editing. The trio have worked on several of his films.

Doyle Article Doyle Article 2
Doyle Article 3

Every week, I will write an essay about one of his films, starting with Days of Being Wild. Anyone is welcome to post their own essay/review/comments in this thread. I also plan to make a similar thread on Korean Directer Kim Ki Duk.

[El Diablo]

f,

Either as a separate post or as part of your reviews, could you compare him and his films to other HK filmmakers? Thanks.

[The DaveR]

KKF, Looking forward to this. Love WKW movies. Great observation about loneliness in his movies. I suspect he loves Taxi Driver.

[colgin]

I love all of WKW's movies (especially "Happy Together")except "Ashes of Time", which I found unwatcheable. If my cineaste friend had no also found it unwatcheable I would have just assumed I was having a bad viewing day. Notwithstandign that someday I may give that one another chance.

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Great observation about loneliness in his movies.

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For the ne plus ultra on loneliness in Asian cinema check out the films of Tsai Ming-liang. He is my absolute favorite.

[onoble]

They shot parts of Bluberry Nights right near my apt. (Downtown NY).

Looked like a moderately bugeted affair, with shooting taking place in the same relatively blah bar for days.

[Wu36]

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Great observation about loneliness in his movies.

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For the ne plus ultra on loneliness in Asian cinema check out the films of Tsai Ming-liang. He is my absolute favorite.

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I'll second this, although I've only seen "What Time is it There" and "He Liu".

KKF, have you seen anything by Pen-Ek Ratanaruang, more specifically, Invisible Waves? I liked sixtynine and really enjoyed Last Life in the Universe, but have to wait for a US release to see his newer films.

[private joker]

Colgin -- give Ashes of Time another go. It's seemingly incoherent upon first viewing, which makes it unwatchable, but if you read some stuff on the story and get the characters straight in your head, there's a lot to gain from getting through it again. I really love it.

But my favorite Wong films are In the Mood For Love, Chungking Express, and Fallen Angels. I even liked 2046, despite the inability for any film to recapture the atmosphere of In the Mood.

Tsai Ming-liang is really hit and miss. What Time Is It There? is of course awesome, but sometimes he is deadly boring, including his most recent film -- I Don't Want To Sleep Alone, which an asbolute abomination. And surprisingly humorless.

I'll recommend another Asian master-shot stylist who specializes in loneliness, and that's Hou Hsiao Hsien from Taiwan. "Millennium Mambo" is unbelievably great.

[sam h]

KKF,

WKW is awesome. While its definitely true that he doesn't have a big mainstream following in America, I think that you might underestimate his popularity here having spent most of your post high-school life abroad. In places like New York or San Francisco, I think you could walk into a lot of restaurants and 90% of the people there would have heard of him and seen at least one of his movies. My friends aren't particularly big cinephiles, but he's a foreign director that one generally assumes everybody knows.

I second joker's Hou Hsaio Hsien recommendation.

[donkeylove]

On your recommendation I bought the kino box set from amazon today. As Tears Go By/Days of Being Wild/Fallen Angels/Chungking Express/Happy Together are included in the set. Any particular order to be best watched? I will chime in with my review after viewing.

[private joker]

Watch Chungking Express first. It's the poppiest one, and probably the most accessible/entertaining. It will give you a good intro to his style.

It's a movie in two halves, and the second half is absolutely amazing.