Wong Kar Wai @ Opening Ceremony - April 2

[Yardsale]

oh man those shirts look good

[landho]

the movie wasn't terrible, but it wasn't great. and yeah, you could totally tell that doyle didn't work on this... and wasn't a fan of the story in general.

he did the similar fps things in fallen angels - but to a much better effect.

Doyle did only part of the cinematography for In the Mood for Love, and that looked great. I don't think that WKW's visual steez can be attributed solely to Doyle (although Doyle deserves his fair share of the credit).

[jubei]

didn't he do 2046 as well?

[dunkin deeznuts]

didn't he do 2046 as well?

yes12345677777777

[sidneylo]

didn't he do 2046 as well?

nag rap forever.

[xcoldricex]

Doyle did only part of the cinematography for In the Mood for Love, and that looked great. I don't think that WKW's visual steez can be attributed solely to Doyle (although Doyle deserves his fair share of the credit).

well considering he's worked on every movie with him up til now - and this movie definitely lacked atmosphere and mood (he was trying hard... but he just ended up overusing through the window shots). maybe it was working with english speaking actors?

i was disappointed in the soundtrack (which he's usually good about) and what was with the happy ending?

[shinchrono]

well considering he's worked on every movie with him up til now - and this movie definitely lacked atmosphere and mood (he was trying hard... but he just ended up overusing through the window shots). maybe it was working with english speaking actors?

i was disappointed in the soundtrack (which he's usually good about) and what was with the happy ending?

Forget working with english-speaking actors, I wouldn't be surprised if it was having to deal with an english-speaking audience

[landho]

Haven't seen My Blueberry Nights yet, so I'll have to reserve judgment--negative or otherwise--till later. I love Doyle's work with WKW--my sister actually bought me Doyle's shooting diary for Happy Together for my birthday--but I thought that In the Mood for Love was WKW's best-looking film, and it was the one that Doyle had the least involvement in (till now)....

I've heard some not-so-positive things about My Blueberry Nights, but I remember reading a ton of negative press about 2046 as well, which I thought was a masterpiece. I was wondering, though, how American actors and studios would deal with WKW's process, though; I initially thought that there was no way it could work.

[Renny]

well considering he's worked on every movie with him up til now - and this movie definitely lacked atmosphere and mood (he was trying hard... but he just ended up overusing through the window shots). maybe it was working with english speaking actors?

i was disappointed in the soundtrack (which he's usually good about) and what was with the happy ending?

The theme song for ITMFL did appear in the movie 1/2 through or something...but yeah didnt add to the mood

[readytoignite]

did anybody actually go the event? i'm just curious as to what a public event would have been with the guy.

those of you into his soundtracks - DJ ChungKing Xpress selected about an hour and half of wong soundtracks for my radio show a few years back, crazy taiwanese cd pressings and all... set list and streaming audio available at http://www.wfmu.org/playlists/shows/5072

[xcoldricex]

realplayer = fail

[readytoignite]

don't blame me, i just work there...

[polishmike]

They have few of the shirts in OC in ny. They are $95.

[fallen angels]

so.. what did you guys think of MBN?

[Yardsale]

so.. what did you guys think of MBN?

Could have been a lot better but I heard it gets better after repeat views. To me it felt WKW was holding back.

[fallen angels]

"holding back"? or had nothing new to bring to the table?

the movie was very wkw, but not nearly as moving or cleverly crafted as his previous films. someone who has never seen a wkw film before or is new to wkw's themes might like the movie more, but i felt that MBN did not have anything new to offer to diehard wkw fans (besides it being a english language film). im starting to think WKW has nothing new to say about 'love' that he hasnt already expressed in his past films.

another reason why the movie was not up to par with his past work was the actors. the HK actors wkw has worked with were perfect for his movies, they were capable of expressing more depth than any of the western actors in MBN. david strathairn was probably the best in this cast. jude law was ok i guess, just a little too much wkw wisdom was forced into his dialogues. norah jones was just flat. wkw said he got a 'faye wong-chunking express' vibe when he met Norah and thats why he cast her for the role. F that, norah is no faye. not even close....

[landho]

"holding back"? or had nothing new to bring to the table?

the movie was very wkw, but not nearly as moving or cleverly crafted as his previous films. someone who has never seen a wkw film before or is new to wkw's themes might like the movie more, but i felt that MBN did not have anything new to offer to diehard wkw fans (besides it being a english language film). im starting to think WKW has nothing new to say about 'love' that he hasnt already expressed in his past films.

another reason why the movie was not up to par with his past work was the actors. the HK actors wkw has worked with were perfect for his movies, they were capable of expressing more depth than any of the western actors in MBN. david strathairn was probably the best in this cast. jude law was ok i guess, just a little too much wkw wisdom was forced into his dialogues. norah jones was just flat. wkw said he got a 'faye wong-chunking express' vibe when he met Norah and thats why he cast her for the role. F that, norah is no faye. not even close....

I will need to see it before I cast judgment, but from what I've read, MBN was constructed more in the manner of Chungking Express and Fallen Angels than his other films.

Also, it's worth noting that something may sound hokey when spoken but seems perfectly fine when read....

FA, I had a similar reaction to The Life Aquatic that you had to MBN. I thought that Wes Anderson was exploring, both visually and philsophically, the same themes that he had already rung dry in hsi previous three films. More than a year later, it was playing at a bar I was at. It looked great. I made a mental note to check it out again, but I still haven't. That said, I loved The Darjeeling Limited. I think it's Wes Anderson' s best film. While critics and viewers may criticize Anderson for exploring the same things again and again, I think he is taking the long view; history will ultimately judge his work favorably. Expectations are so much more different now than they were fifty, sixty years ago. Filmmakers like Hitchcock, Bergman, and Ozu obsessively explored the same themes again and again and it's as much their oeuvre that is lauded as their individual films. I think the films of Wong Kar-wai should be viewed in a similar light.

I saw 2046 at a theater in New York in 2005, and I found it confusing and frustrating. I was tired when I saw it, and the movie, while only two hours long, seemed interminable. I also had not seen a WKW film for several months before my watching 2046, so I didn't have any of his movies fresh in my mind. Later, I successively watched Days of Being Wild, In the Mood for Love, and 2046, and 2046 was a revelation. It was amazing. I've seen it twice motr since, and it's gotten better with each subsequent viewing. This is true of every WKW film I've ever seen (although maybe not As Tears Go By, which I've seen only once). So while MBN may not have the depth of WKW's best films, I imagine it's comparable in depth and scope to Chungking and Angels (although with worse actors).

I hope I don't end up eating crow pie when I finally see it! But I'm willing to give it three viewings.

[fallen angels]

i agree and i'm totally okay with him repeating his signature themes, i'm a huge fan of his work for the reason that all his films shared similar themes and i really appreciated them at the time i saw them (and how the films got better with each viewing). what i meant to say about Blueberry Nights is that the delivery of those themes werent as well crafted and the film lacks that alluring atmosphere found in WKW's previous works. after watching Chungking Express and Fallen Angels, i thought to myself "wow!", unfortunately i didnt get that same reaction out of MBN. if you asked me, i'd tell you MBN was a little sub par in wkw standards, and personally i didnt think it matched the scope and depth of CKE or FA. but thats just one person's opinion, you're going to have to see for yourself!

i'm glad to see you liked 2046. a lot of people didnt like it, but i think thats mostly because they didnt truly understand it. if you watch Days of Being Wild and In the Mood for Love first, then 2046 is like a perfect end-cap, and in my opinion, another masterpiece. its true, wkw films get better with each viewing as you understand the story better and notice/appreciate little details. Maybe i'll like MBN a little more after watching it again, but comparing first-viewings to first-viewings, i got a better first impression from his other stuff. that being said, this movie doesnt sway my opinion of him as a director, and i will still always be excited for all of his future works, i have a lot of faith in that guy.

like i said, you're going to have to watch it first. i look forward to hearing your thoughts after you see it.

[landho]

I found out that it's actually showing in Austin now! I am working late at the office, but maybe I'll just say, "Fuck it," and catch a late showing tonight.

[landho]

Saw My Blueberry Nights tonight. Actually liked it quite a bit. It's WKW's most accessible movie since As Tears Go By, which is fine. It's a minor work, but entirely enjoyable and well made. It certainly doesn't push any boundaries, but neither did The Hand (his short film for the Eros anthology). (In many ways, it's kind of like Death Proof.)

That Christopher Doyle wasn't invovled with MBN certainly made it feel different from WKW's other films, but that's not necessarily a bad thing. Doyle is so adept that WKW would have been able to accomplish all the things that he is accustomed to doing in this films--the long takes, the long tracking shots, etc. Without Doyle's camerawork, MBN feels more "American," i.e., more typical and therefore more accessible.

One thing that struck me immediately was the amount of cutting in conversation in this movie--tons reaction shots and rapid cutting back and forth between speakers. I wonder whether this was done to mask Norah Jones's relative inexperience as an actor. In WKW's other films, dialogue is usually done in a series of long takes, but then again, in his other films he is working with world-class actors (Tony Leung, Maggie Cheung, Leslie Cheung, et al.). Norah Jones's acting seemed almost amateurish when compared with Jude Law's, David Strathairn's, and Natalie Portman's (which it is), but then again, that is her character to a T--someone who's a little lost and trying to find her way, who's in over her head, and who's naive but stubbornly good and optimistic. I think WKW did a great job directing her. Rachel Weisz may have overacted a little, but then again, maybe Sue Lynn was a drama queen. It's hard to say, but obviously WKW believes in very natural performances, so it's hard to give him too much credit. I don't recall a bad performance in any of his previous movies (although, granted, he had much freer rein on those movies), so I tend to think that everything was purposeful.

As a side note--WKW's filming of poker was amazing.

My positive reaction, of course, is due partly to the majority negative reaction that I've encountered, not only here but in a lot of reviews. I think that people who are intimately familiar with WKW's work were disappointed because MBN was such a minor and accessible work, while people who are not still found it meandering, difficult, and maybe even pointless. Mainstream reviewers have rarely gotten WKW, right, however; Ebert, the doyen of American film reviewers, gave 2046 two and a half stars, calling it confusing and denegrating the fact that it wasn't a standalone film. (Of course, it was not intended to be; it was, as Fallen Angels mentioned earlier, supposed to be the capstone to his other 60s movies [Days of Being Wild and In the Mood for Love].) I was not expecting much from MBN, and I got much more than I thought I was going to. I'm sure that MBN will reward reviewings, but not to the degree that Days of Being Wild, Ashes of Time, Happy Together, In the Mood for Love, or 2046 do. But there's nothing wrong with that. Artists can't always be pushing forward. In Rainbows doesn't really break any new ground, but it's still a masterpiece of craftsmanship. I wouldn't go so far as to call MBN that, but it's still very, very good.

[ken shinoda]

norah is no faye. not even close....

quoted the fucking truth. she ain't no multiple grammy winner. she's just some cranberry wanna be.

Honestly, I cant understand why everyone would get worked up over WKW's movies. I dont understand CKE or 2046 for that matter. Even though he's using an all star asian casts. The story and the characters are too pretentious and too predictable.

[dunkin deeznuts]

i'm glad to see you liked 2046. a lot of people didnt like it, but i think thats mostly because they didnt truly understand it. if you watch Days of Being Wild and In the Mood for Love first, then 2046 is like a perfect end-cap, and in my opinion, another masterpiece. its true, wkw films get better with each viewing as you understand the story better and notice/appreciate little details.

I agree 100%

WKW movies are all in the details......

[ken shinoda]

I agree 100%

WKW movies are all in the details......

I seriously do not understand the details or the art of photography in CKE, everything is so cliche and corny. The only HK movie I truly take my hats off is Zhang Yi Mou's House of Flying Daggers. Everything is done beautifully; be it the costumes, scenery and everything else for that matter.

[landho]

I seriously do not understand the details or the art of photography in CKE, everything is so cliche and corny. The only HK movie I truly take my hats off is Zhang Yi Mou's House of Flying Daggers. Everything is done beautifully; be it the costumes, scenery and everything else for that matter.

1. Zhang Yimou is not a Hong Kong director but a Chinese director; he's part of the Fifth Generation, graduating from the academy in Beijing.

2. House of Flying Daggers is by far the worst film Zhang Yimou has made in his distinguished career, one that has included such triumphs as Raise the Red Lantern, To Live, The Story of Qiu Ju, Not One Less, and Hero, among others. It contained all the style but none of the substance of Hero, and there was none of the psychology, emotion, or humanity present in his other works.

3. Zhang Yimou was so profoundly affected by Chungking Express that a few years later he made Keep Cool, which is very similar to Chungking Express in both

theme and methodology.

4. Wong Kar-wai is one of the best filmmakers in the world. If you don't like his films, that's fine, but you can't deny that they are good. People often mistake the like/dislike axis for the good/bad axis, and I think you've done so here.

[dunkin deeznuts]

House of Flying Daggers

oh brother

raise the red lantern was great....havent seen To Live or the Story of Qiu Ju

[landho]

raise the red lantern was great....havent seen To Live or the Story of Qiu Ju

I love them both. The Story of Qiu Ju is one of my favorite movies of all time.

[fallen angels]

I seriously do not understand the details or the art of photography in CKE, everything is so cliche and corny. The only HK movie I truly take my hats off is Zhang Yi Mou's House of Flying Daggers. Everything is done beautifully; be it the costumes, scenery and everything else for that matter

ahaha wow you dont even know what you're talking about, you clearly dont understand shit. HOFD wasnt even a HK film, and it was easily Zhang Yimou's worst film he's made. costumes and scenery were ok, but "everything else" was seriously shit. like what landho said in his second point.

the only good thing i got out of the movie is knowing what i'd name a strip club or whore house if i ever opened one. it'd be called House of Flying Titties.

[fallen angels]

oh brother

raise the red lantern was great....havent seen To Live or the Story of Qiu Ju

"Story of Qiu Ju" is good stuff..

"To Live" is great too, but i'd really recommend reading the novel by Yu Hua. one of my favorites books, way more affecting than the film.

[ken shinoda]

shit, had no idea you guys here were into it so deep. I apologize for my rookie remarks, seems that I still have a lot more to learn from you guys.

[sidneylo]

No shit sherlock.

Godamn March 2008 members.