Movie Review – Fallen Angels
- lmwhk2
- 3月24日
- 讀畢需時 4 分鐘
The Hong Kong film Fallen Angels was filmed by Wong Kar Wai in 1995. It won the Best Cinematography award at the 15th Hong Kong Film Awards.
The lives of the hitman and the ex-convict intertwined. Even though both had their missions to accomplish, they all lost and wandered in the city. They chased for excitement like smoking cigarettes, riding motorbikes and playing mahjong. Their partners were not who they loved. Their minds were somewhere else.The main theme of the movies is to show the lost state of different people. It aims to convey the emptiness of urban citizens through the wasteful, decadent, but dreamy film visual language. Many scenes in this film create a sense of haziness through his lens. This film serves as a paradise for people to breathe, as people must encounter the phrase "lost and found" when living.
The style and forming of Wong Kar Wai in filming will be written below. The crew of Editor William Chang, cinematographer Christopher Doyle and director Wong Kar Wai forms Wong’s aesthetic filming. Without their contribution, his vision would not be alive.
Most of the scenes in Fallen Angels create a moody feeling with different color lighting and soft filters. The dazed lens shows the characters are at a loss. Some scenes are filmed using fisheye lenses. It creates a distortion effect through the lens. An extra wide angle is used on the appearance of Takeshi Kaneshiro and Michelle Reis when they are riding the motorbike in the Cross-Harbour Tunnel. It enlarges their hollow states and shows the hollow and lonely state of people in the big city. Another decaying example is that Michelle is lost in bed. The good use in colors creates several emotional feelings for the audience.
The American film theorist David Bordwell studies Wong Kar Wai’s films. His films are derived from popular genres. Fallen Angels and Chungking Express have mass policier and film noir ingredients. His works are part of the Hong Kong film culture. Dr Gary Bettinson who is a lecturer in film studies at Lancaster University also studied his body of work. In general, he mainly appreciates his poetics filming in his works. It unites people through the pop culture. He also pays attention to the film scoring in Fallen Angels. When the killer is going to execute his mission, the soft music starts. When the job is finished, the gloomy music follows. The tension between the visuals and the music is well-designed.
He started writing scripts for TVB at first. His aesthetic filming style makes a stand at different film festivals such as the most recognised Cannes Film Festival. He was born in Hong Kong. He forms his own aesthetic and postmodern style which is ahead of his time. It sets him apart from other directors in the 80s and it makes him unique. His way of filming seems to be very casual. He can film on set without a well-prepared script and lead the crew by instinct. This kind of collaboration may shake the faith of the new co-workers.
The movies directed by him tend to be more sentimental. The lines from most of his movies are like speaking the inner world of the characters. In Chungking Express, Cop 663(Tony Leung) talks to himself and his belongings when he is alone. It shows the mawkish side of a man. Usually, men do not speak up. When they suffer, they go to play basketball or football instead. They sing their mood out when singing karaoke. They appreciate songs that can speak to their moods. In Days of Being Wild, there are many monologues to show the mood of the characters. In Happy Together, Chang(Chen Chang) always carries the recorder to record his mood. He can always capture the complexities of human emotion. His filming style was influenced by Scorsese, Christopher Nolan, and Quentin Tarantino. Quentin Tarantino is famous for filming films about violence and fighting. When Wong Kar Wai films about martial arts such as The Grandmaster. It becomes an artwork and a masterpiece. Every scene is poetic framing.
In addition, many city sceneries in Hong Kong in the 1990s were filmed. Chungking Mansion is an iconic attraction for tourists. Many cinephiles know the attraction from the movie Chungking Express directed by Wong Kar-wai. Many ethnic minorities such as Indian and Pakistani gather in Chungking Express. Hong Kong people call them Acha which sounds like a prejudice to outsiders. Many ground local sceneries such as Cha Chaan Teng, the butcher shop in the wet market and many neon shop signs were filmed as well. The squared patterned floor tiles and slow-spinning ceiling fans in the Cha Chaan Teng are very traditional and old-style. Moreover, there are many neon shop signs In Wan Chai. Now, some of them have to be moved under regulations due to the safety. The theme of the Hong Kong movie A Light Never Goes Out is related to neon shop signs which is to preserve the city’s heritage. According to the article City of Neonlights: HK Neon Light Industry and some of its key players from The Industrial History of Hong Kong Group, In 1970, the Panasonic sign, made up of more than 4,000 neon tubes, was listed in the Guinness Book of World Records as the world's largest neon sign at the time. It shows the golden era of using neon signs in Hong Kong. However, time flies and the society keeps evolving. Many city views have been changed. The new audience may find a nostalgic feel in the film. Some people have never seen the old MTR train carriage before. In the modern age, people like to cross over with the old and new such as the clothing shop Clot. Youngsters consider it stylish and trendy instead of being old and outdated. The tanned letter box in the old building became an attraction for hipsters to do photo snapping.
To conclude, Wong Kar-Wai’s filming style made a stand in the global film industry. It makes him direct foreign actors in other films such as My Blueberry Nights. The collaboration among people who come from different backgrounds can spark more phenomenal thoughts.
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