Fallen Angels

Fallen Angels (1995)

Written, Directed and Produced by: Wong Kar-wai
Streaming on MUBI.

What you take back after watching a Wong Kar-wai film is the feeling the film leaves you with. It's almost like an abstract painting. The feeling that a Wong Kar-wai film leaves you with is a bit similar to the feeling a Murakami book leaves you with, although Murakami uses story too to elicit the same feeling and Wong does that purely with imagery and sound. Fallen Angels is a film that leaves an effect on you, not with its characters, emotions or the story, but with the kind of imagery that the film uses throughout. Wide angles, handheld camera, rapid movements of the camera, fast cuts, neon lighting, the cityscape of Hong-Kong - it's an extremely visual film. The camera play is so dynamic, and it's so rare to see such movement of camera in the films in the 90s. Now, we see such camera work because of fluid cameras, but back then it was rare. 

Wong's usage of voice over is beautiful. It's almost like you are listening to a bed time story, irrespective of how dark or adult, the themes are. Just like Chungking Express, I'm only left with the residue of the story and characters in my memory - it's so vague. I'm just consumed by the imagery. Perhaps In The Mood for Love, was the only Wong film where I remember so much about the characters. I think it's because his world in itself is so rich to experience, that I get lost in the aesthetics of the film and the craft. It's so tough to achieve a kind of trust from the audience where irrespective of the story - you would be invested in a film just to experience the director's craziness and Wong has undeniably achieved that with his work.