Happy Together, a ravishing and bittersweet elucidation of
Wong Kar-Wai’s love and penchant for doomed romances, melancholia, loneliness,
unhurried pacing and stylized visuals, and having a title that couldn’t be more
ironic, would certainly rank amongst his best works, alongside the likes of Chungking Express, In the Mood for Love and 2046.
Lai (Tony Leung), reserved and deep, and Ho (Leslie Cheung), impulsive and
self-destructive, have fled from Hong Kong to Buenos Aires with the intent of
giving a fresh start to their tumultuous and on-and-off relationship. They also
want to visit the Iguaza Falls, which formed a constant leitmotif in its
representation of longing, dream and freedom and jarring juxtaposition to their
dismal, confused, emotionally torn and penurious existences. The haunting tone,
and the pervading sense of loss and heartbreak, was very well complemented by
the film’s freewheeling form. Doyle’s breathtaking cinematography – muted black-and-whites,
washed out colors, tinted visuals, varying film speeds – made it ravishing for
the eyes, while also deftly adding to the tale’s moody atmosphere, edginess and
emotional power, revelation of the lost protagonists’ inner longings and
emptiness, and portrayal of the city’s apartments, alleys and bars. The rather
underdeveloped character of the friendly Taiwanese Chang (Chang Chen) seemed
tad superfluous, more so when placed alongside Leung’s enthralling performance
and Leung’s bristling supporting act; the 3-hour version of the film which never
got released (Wong had himself cut it down to its 97 minutes length), hence,
makes one all the more curious.
Director: Wong Kar-Wai
Genre: Drama/Romantic Drama/Urban Drama
Language: Cantonese/Mandarin/Spanish
Country: China (Hong Kong)
Five years in the making and a pet project of Wong
Kar-Wai for long, the much anticipated The
Grandmaster is one gorgeously mounted martial arts film. Though it wouldn’t
rank among his best works, it does contain all the hallmarks of the Hong Kong
auteur – themes of unrequited love and loneliness, melancholic tone, elliptical
narrative and visually ravishing cinematography. It deals with the life of Ip
Man (Tony Leung), the legendary Kung-Fu grandmaster and teacher, with his most
famous student being Bruce Lee (that, though, isn’t the focus of the story). The
film chronicles his staid marriage to his doting wife, his being chosen as a
successor by a retiring grandmaster after a duel of wits, his platonic romance
with the former grandmaster’s daughter Gong Er (Zhang Ziyi) who is a martial
arts exponent herself, and his eventually settling-down as a teacher, with the turbulent
socio-political events in China from 1930s to 1950s, particularly the
Japanese-occupation of the country, at its backdrop. That said, this is anything
but a conventional biopic; this deeply introspective and existential work was far
more interested in the philosophy of martial arts, meditations on love, loss
and coming to terms with one’s life, and underlying socio-political contemplations,
than the minute historical details. Wong-regular Leung was brilliant as always,
and Ziyi, too, was nearly as good. the lush
production designs, the superbly choreographed combats, and in particular, the
dazzlingly shot opening sequence following Ip’s quiet ruminations
on what kung-fu means to him, were memorably done. The self-indulgent aesthetics and the muted
melancholia, however, might make this a tad uneven viewing experience.
Director: Wong Kar-Wai
Genre: Drama/Psychological Drama/Existential Drama/Action/Martial Arts Film/Biopic
Language: Cantonese/Mandarin/Japanese
Country: China (Hong Kong)
Hong Kong filmmaker Johnnie To is in love with the adage, “Slam Bam, Thank You Ma’m” (no puns intended); also, he’s attained a cult status of sorts for his hyper-stylized action flicks. Exiled, which is considered among his most famous works, is a curious blend of two popular genre tropes – the Gangster and the Western. Set just prior to the 1998 handover of the then-Portuguese city of Macau to the Chinese government, it is a tale of camaraderie and vengeance at the backdrop of the afore-mentioned political transitioning. When two hitmen are sent to assassinate a former member of Boss Fay’s gang, they end up confronting two guys there to protect him. As it turns out, they are childhood friends, and consequently, leaving their personal allegiances aside, the five comrades join forces to take on the mighty mobster and his gang. The film boasts of a lot of “cool” gunplay – it’s not enough to shoot the other guy, one must do so with braggadocio, style, and in a blaze of glory. The film also has its share of likeable deadpan humour – the occurrences at the doctor’s residence, the interactions between the protagonists while they are roaming in the wilderness trying to escape from Boss Fay’s wrath, and their taking decisions based on the toss of a coin, are fun to watch. However, despite its unabashed style-quotient and coolness, the movie felt a tad hollow at times courtesy a relatively weak script. For better or for worse, this over-the-top action thriller sure provides a classic illustration of 'style over substance'.
Director: Johnnie To
Genre: Action/Crime Thriller/Gangster
Language: Cantonese/Mandarin
Country: China (Hong Kong)
Fulltime Killer is Hong Kong filmmaker Johnnie To’s unabashed expression of his love affair with the action genre. In fact the movie abounds in scenes and sequences that pay homage to a range of thumping contemporary action flicks like Terminator I & II, Heat, Desperado and Assassins, as well as earlier-era masterpieces like Rear Window. Further, it is a decent blend of stylish action sequences and fast-paced editing, and Adrian Lau’s turn as a psychotic killer is really fun to watch. However, despite the plethora of references and the reasonably entertaining watch, the movie certainly falls short of any lasting impact. By trying to aim at too many things, the director has failed to make any of the subplots of this kinetic take of one-upmanship between two assassins (a laconic, unparalleled hitman, and his younger and brasher rival) and their vying for the attention of a shy, beautiful girl, anything more than just about moderate. The movie, quite unfortunately, has followed a downward curve – it starts off really well with the look of an existential and fatalistic tale of contract killers, perhaps something like Le Samourai or A Bittersweet Life, but by the time it ends, it is hardly any better than the over-the-top, farcical climax.
Directors: Johnnie To & Wai Ka-Fai
Genre: Action, Thriller
Language: Mandarin/Japanese
Country: Hong Kong (China)
My Blueberry Nights, the latest from acclaimed Hong Kong auteur Wong Kar-Wai (i.e. if you don’t take into account the redux version of his Ashes of Time), is his first movie with English as the spoken language. Grammy winner Norah Jones starred as heartbroken young woman who sets off on a cross-country road journey across the US, and in the process befriends a motley of distinctive characters – an introverted café owner (Jude Law) who serves her blueberry pie for free, a lovelorn cop who has taken to alcohol to get over the memories of her ravishing albeit philandering wife (Rachel Weisz), and a cocky but fragile compulsive gambler with demons of her own (played exquisitely by Natalie Portman). The movie has all the hallmarks of the director – dazzling visual beauty, existentialist theme, rambling narrative, an array of lost souls, and a beautiful soundtrack that kept growing on me. However despite all his signature touches and the soothing flow, it somehow lacked that extra spark present in his masterpieces like Chungking Express and 2046. Consequently, I liked the movie, but it failed to stay with me.
Director: Wong Kar-Wai
Genre: Drama/Romantic Drama/Existentialist Drama/Road Movie
Language: English
Country: China (Hong Kong)
Given the grand production design, intoxicating visual beauty and the amount of trouble that besieged its making, Ashes of Time might very well be the movie that Hong Kong maestro Wong Kar-Wai might want to be remembered by. Though perhaps not his best work, vis-à-vis Chungking Express, Happy Together and In the Mood for Love, this epic martial arts movie is a visual feast and a brooding meditation on heartbreak, loneliness and the inescapable and treacherous nature of memory. It is as far removed from other HK movies typically belonging to this genre as perhaps Emir Kusturica’s Underground was from other war movies. In fact, the movie may be considered as a companion piece to the auteur’s 2046, structurally as well as thematically. Employing multiple voiceovers and a Byzantine narrative that has done away with the chronology of time, this is an expressionistic, surreal and deeply melancholic exploration of existentialism and unrequited love – arguably two of Wong Kar-Wai’s favourite motifs. Christopher Doyle’s mesmerizing cinematography (digitally rendered even more gorgeous in the Redux version) and the haunting soundtrack have added to the incredible beauty of this moody, lyrical and sensuous tale of lost souls. The movie comprises of the 'who’s who' of the Hong Kong film industry, including Leslie Cheung, both the Tony Leung’s, Maggie Cheung, Brigitte Lin and Carina Lau, among others.
Director: Wong Kar-Wai
Genre: Drama/Romance/Adventure/Existentialist Drama/Martial Arts Movie/Epic
Language: Cantonese
Country: China (Hong Kong)
Hong Kong auteur Wong Kar-Wai continued his enthralling tryst with unrequited love and loneliness with 2046. A loose sequel to In the Mood for Love and with passing references to Days of Being Wild, 2046 could easily be one of Wong Kar-Wai’s most challenging projects. The movie has two simultaneous timelines – one in Hong Kong of the late 1960s where a young, struggling author (played with devastating effect by Kar-Wai regular Tony Leung, one of the finest actors of his generation), upon getting rejection in his first (and true) love, has become a severely detached individual and a serial womanizer, and spends the days leading to each year-end with a separate woman; and in 2046, where nothing ever changes and which happens to be principal motif of the author’s stories. Arresting cinematography by long time collaborator Christopher Doyle, exquisite production design, and a lazy yet rapturous narrative, have managed to capture the beauty and sadness lingering in dinghy hotel rooms and narrow staircases, and have helped make this existentialist romantic drama-cum-pseudo sci-fi movie an engaging poem to the lost souls of the world.
Director: Wong Kar-Wai
Genre: Drama/Romance/Existential Drama/Psychological Drama/Sci-Fi
Language: Chinese (Cantonese)
Country: China (Hong Kong)
John Woo, before set sailing for Hollywood, bid farewell to the Hong Kong film industry with Hard Boiled – often referred to by the aficionados of the director’s works as THE action movie. The male bonding between a hot-headed trigger-happy cop and a cold and seemingly corrupt undercover agent is what makes this movie special. The stylized action sequences and kinetic editing style, too, are vintage John Woo stuff. But where the movie is immensely entertaining to watch, it never manages to reach levels that would imprint the movie to one’s mind. The chemistry between Chow Yan-Fat and Tony Leung, as the two diametrically different anti-heroes, is amazing. But where the first two acts are memorable for the slow and evocative buildup punctuated with spectacular sequences, the last act, on hindsight, seems a botched-up attempt to an explosive climax. Thus, this movie would be remembered more as Woo’s nostalgic tribute to, and guilty pleasure of lovers of HK action flicks, than as a standalone work of high merit.
Director: John Woo
Genre: Action/Buddy Film/Police Movie
Language: Chinese
Country: China (Hong Kong)
Lust, Caution is a fine follow-up to Taiwanese director Ang Lee’s much acclaimed Brokeback Mountain. It is a dark and brooding film where love and lust are just pawns in a game of cold-blooded foreplay, schemes and deceit. Set in China during World War II, the film tells the tale of a dangerous cat-and-mouse affair between a teenage girl who happens to be a member of China’s revolutionary underground movement, and a rich, powerful, womanizing political figure they want dead. Veteran Hong Kong actor Tony Leung has given yet another gripping performance as a cold and ruthless man who turns out to be a human being after all. The star of the show, however, is Tang Wei – her controlled portrayal of a girl-woman, whose conflicting psychological dilemmas and strong sexual undercurrents play hand in hand, deserves a huge applause. A provocative and disturbing thriller, this tense cloak-and-dagger tale is bound to keep viewers thoroughly engaged as much with its strong erotic content as with its taut narrative. As a reviewer so wonderfully summed up, whereas in Borekeback Mountain, “love is a haunting, elusive ideal briefly attained but forever out of reach”, here it “is a performance, a trap or, cruelest of all, an illusion.”
Director: Ang Lee
Genre: Thriller/Psychological Thriller/Resistance Movie/Spy Film
Language: Chinese
Country: China (Hong Kong)
Away with Words has nearly everything that could be there in the cinematography section – from point-of-view shots to flashforwards, from subdued blue filters to bright natural lightings, from standstills to motion blurs; and they are all a treat to the eye. Of course, coming from world’s most famous DOP Christopher Doyle (of Chungking Express and Hero fame), this was expected – more so since he had complete carte blanche given that this is his directorial venture. And one cannot deny the fact that his exceptional usage of visual montages has created an intensely surreal feast for the viewers. However, it can’t also be denied that Doyle’s directorial debut is an exceedingly curious, psychedelic and experimental movie devoid of any narrative, despite the theme of loneliness and alienation trough the tale of its two protagonists – a Chinese guy with the ability to associate physical dimensions with abstract words, and a hard-drinking Australian (undoubtedly Doyle’s alter ego). Too many liberties were taken where more restraint was necessary principally because Doyle the cinematographer strongly overshadowed Doyle the filmmaker. Hence the end product is a visual delight for the eyes but a bizarre jumble of undecipherable sequences for the mind.
Director: Christopher Doyle
Genre: Psychological Drama/Ensemble Film/Experimental
Language: Chinese
Country: China (Hong Kong)
