Are you a bit sick of seeing only kung-fu fighting or wire special effects in Chinese movies? Not all Chinese movies (obviously) are made up of those clichés. Rather, Chinese films at first became world-known for their use of colors, unique camera angles, depth, and so on. Wong Kar-Wai is one of those directors famous for such artistic works, and his films are going to be lined up from April 8 through 14 at the Brattle Theatre.
Wong Kar-Wai won the best director prize at the 1997 Cannes Film Festival for 1997’s Happy Together, and since the appearance of his first film, 1988’s As Tears Go By, he has directed nine films-including a short movie, Six Days, and his latest film, 2046, now nominated for the 24th Hong Kong Film Awards in 12 categories including Best Director, Best Actor and Actress, Best Art Direction, and Best Costume and Make Up Design. This film series will present all of his works so far, except the short movie and his latest 2046. This series is not only a great introduction for no-kung-fu, no-wire-action Chinese cinema, but also a precious opportunity to have a close look at Wong Kar-Wai’s unique style of filmmaking.
Because this Brattle Theatre series tries to go through seven films in a week, the schedule is tightly packed. On the first two days, they will show Days of Being Wild (1990), Wong Kar-Wai’s first collaboration with cinematographer Christopher Doyle that served as the real start for his cinematic career. Then, As Tears Go By (1988) and Ashes of Time (1994) will follow on the next day, Sunday, April 10.
The following Monday and Tuesday, the Brattle Theatre will offer a double feature: Chungking Express (1994) and Fallen Angels (1995). This type of double feature is unique to the Brattle Theatre; they play two films on the same night, and the price of one ticket admits you to the second film. So, with a $7.50 student discount ticket, we can watch both Chunking Express and Fallen Angels. The following Wednesday, April 13, the award-winning film, Happy Together (1997), will be showing, followed by the last film of the series, In the Mood for Love (2000), on Thursday, April 14.
The films will be played three times in a day around 5:30, 7:30 and 9:30 p.m., so this may give you a chance to see all of them. However, if you don’t have time for all of them, at least be sure to see In the Mood for Love, which has been praised by The New York Times as, “dizzy with a nose-against-the-glass romantic spirit that has been missing from the cinema forever.” Set in 1960s Hong Kong, Tony Leung plays a newspaper editor who has moved into a new apartment with his wife. At the same time, Maggie Cheung moves in next door with her husband. The story begins in a situation where the spouses of both Leung and Cheung are always away from the new apartment, and the two find common interests between them.
If you like films with a bit more action, then you may prefer seeing Chungking Express and Fallen Angels instead. The former film features two cops, Cop 223 (Takeshi Kaneshiro) and Cop 663 (Tony Leung), and balances the storyline between the lives of the two central characters. The latter film, which was originally conceived as a sequel to Chungking Express, turns Leon Lai into a cool-as-ice hit man. In both films, in addition to the story, we can enjoy the fruits of the breathtaking cinematographic collaboration of Wong Kar-Wai and Christopher Doyle.
If you’ve seen Hero then you may remember a technique where each story was distinguished by a certain color, and when a sword goes through someone’s body, the splash of blood was expressed by turning yellow leaves all into red ones. In Wong Kar-Wai’s films, you can enjoy similar artistic style without being interrupted by those wire-assisted kung-fu moves. If you are looking for Chinese films without all the hackneyed distractions, this show of Wong Kar-Wai’s work will be a great introduction to the genre.
The Brattle Theatre is located at 40 Brattle St. near Harvard Square in Cambridge. For more details go www.brattlefilm.org.