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Reviews
Fa yeung nin wah (2000)
A Flawed Beauty
Wong's "Cheung King Express" and especially "Fallen Angels" are beautiful and possess great stories and characters. "In the Mood. . ." is by far his most beautiful film, reminiscent of paintings by the great french Nabi painters Pierre Bonnard and Jean-Edouard Vuillard. However, "CK express and "Fallen Angels" are packed with events, while "In the Mood" basically stretches one event, i.e. the love between two people married to others, over a lengthy period. The pace is incredibly slow, and those raised on MTV (most Americans) will have difficulty enjoying the film.
I am reluctant to criticize Wong and the editor's slow-pacing because almost all movies today are paced MTV-style, using this method to keep the viewer on edge rather than using good acting or a good story. However, this time, Wong may have let the visual elements taken precedence over the story. If the story is great but the picture bad, people will still enjoy the film; if the picture is great but the story is so-so, reactions will be mixed.
Se7en (1995)
The McDonald's of Horror Films
Wow. There are a lot of bad films out there, but even with the worst of the worst there is some redeeming quality, like that neato big wave in the Perfect Storm. But Se7en? The acting is flat (Brad Pitt's opening lines seem like they're coming from someone acting for the first time, his moaning at the end, when he gets his special gift, just seemed pathetic); the script is not at all inventive and unsuccessfully covered up by hyperbolic special effects and redundant gore. The "twist" at the end is hardly disturbing because the writer/ director have been shoving gimmicky horror effects down the our throats for the entire movie.
People who like this film- the dark, urban atmosphere, the pseudo-noir elements: please watch some David Lynch films and see how this should be created, i.e. not by using video game titles, not by relying heavily on special effects, make-up, and yet ANOTHER plot with biblical references, but instead by a careful selection of actors, beautiful cinematography, and incredibly original stories.
Stop funding this director so that he will go back to making TV commercials instead of two hour long theater commercials.
Doh laai tin sai (2000)
urban aesthetic at its best
Wong Kar-Wai captures the urban aesthetic perhaps better than any other director today that comes to my mind. In fact, the only other director who makes films as visually stunning as Wong is David Lynch. In "Fallen Angels" Wong's aesthetic is in full effect, and I felt the story is stronger than the earlier "Cheung King Express" (please forgive spelling). "Fallen Angels" is a must see for anyone who loves visually driven films or the style of the French New Wave directors of the '60's like Goddard and Truffaut.