Favorite Directors; #6

I got lazy and stopped posting here so I haven't been updating this blog. The reason I'm all of a sudden jumping to number 6 is due to demand of a couple of people on IMDB.

6. Wong Kar-Wai - The most exciting director since Godard launched the French New Wave? His films have resemblance to many directors, the primary one being Godard. They both encompass minimal plot use, fantastic style, and a general exciting edge. Chungking Express is the Hong Kong version of Godard's Breathless. It's the film people believed to have influenced the Hong Kong new wave and a general interest in a new style of entertainment more aimed toward modern audiences.

The very first movie I saw from him was In the Mood For Love. Some people have tried to label this as a modern version of Brief Encounter. I am here to say that they could not be more wrong. In Brief Encounter, Lean's primary focus was on Celia Johnson's character; the narrations give her character layers; it makes us familar of the surrounding situations, and the before and aftermaths of her affair. So it can be said that Lean's intentions was as much on developing her character as it was on the romance. The male character is just her lover, entirely explained through her eyes where the perspective of him is regarded more from her point of view than hers. We don't know anything about him, the movie makes him purposely enigmatic; he is completely described by her. So in short, you can say that Brief Encounter was more of a single character movie with the love affair as a backdrop rather than a sappy romance.

Mood can be characterized as a simple love affair movie, because in essence that's what it is. Leung's character is the focus, since Wong decided to continue with 2046 with emphasis on Leung, but unlike Brief Encounter, Mood is not told through the eyes of any character. It's a love story and the impact of it on two characters. The difference of Mood to American movies; the Hanks/Ryan movies in general is that it does melodramatize their situation. Rather than putting everything on the plot and at the same time contriving all logical situations, Wong gives his characters the edge... he makes his aware that they are sensitive, moral, and at times empty people. He puts the focus on Leung and makes him the product of emptiness; it's for the continuation purpose of 2046... his character must be defeated, his emotional turmoil is caused by his past relationship, thus it's Cheung who will not admit to her love for him. If Cheung actually did give up everything for Leung, then 2046 serves no purpose and the result of Mood is a happy ending rather than sad.