Fallen Angels (1995)

Duo luo tian shi

Unlike most of Kar Wai Wong's works, this is just all over the place and a bit too bizarre for my taste. As usual the cinematography and style interpreted between him and Christopher Doyle is often very beautiful, and also the soundtrack works very well.

My problem is with the many parts of the story that are dull, weakly acted and/or too far fetched. It's overall just too uneven and unfocused, even for this director. The stronger points of the characters portrayed are quite interesting, but it can never overshadow all the pitfalls.

I'll take Chungking Express any day over this.

In the Mood for Love (2000)

Fa yeung nin wa

I like the idea behind it; following the two halves being cheated at, rather than following the usual path of these kind of stories. It also takes giant steps to distance us from the cheating halves of these couples as well, excluding them from shots and hiding them.

Some of the angles taken by director Kar Wai Wong reminds me of those he took in Chungking Express, but this movie is much more focused on the story at hand. I'm just not convinced it actually benefits from that focus.

It played some strings well, but overall I didn't quite feel like singing its song. I do however think this is one of those movies that benefit from a revisit, and I'll probably give it another go in a decade or so.