THE GENIUS OF WONG KAR WAI
TOP 3 ELEMENTS THAT MAKE WONG KAR WAI MOVIES SO GREAT
You cannot call yourself a fan of international cinema if you haven’t seen Wong Kar wai’s movies and have not admired the beauty of lonely people being shown in neon cities. Today, we are going to break down some aspects of his movies that make them what they are
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1.CINEMATOGRAPHY
Whenever we talk about movies of Wong kai war, Cinematography is always one of the prominent features everyone talks about so this one’s obvious but still why is it so great that it is mesmerizing ?!
Well first of all, The movies does not feel real, what I mean is that they are often dream like and makes us feel like we are in other world. This can be seen in almost all of his movies, the distorted lights surrounding the characters The consistent color profile throughout makes his movies so unique and give them their signature visuals which can never go unnoticed and the equal credit goes to to Christopher Doyle who is the cinematographer in most of his movies and has given us the pioneering noir movies and a new pinnacle of cinematography. Along with that one other pattern that can be seen throughout his movies is the use of bold colors where the subject is often represented in a primary and really bright color contrasting with dull colors which makes them pop out hence resulting in that aesthetic look of his movies.
ㅤ 2.Unconventional ㅤ ㅤㅤ ㅤ directing style
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Now his direction is also one of the most innovative thing about his films and here are some of my favorite things about direction style:
Close up shots: Which are found in abundance in his movies, if we take some of the most iconic shots from his movies many of them will include faces of characters from a really close distance while masterfully curated with his color schemes. So they are bound to look awe-inspiring.
Stuttering Motion: Now next thing is stuttering motion which is also one of his signature elements This can be seen in movies such as Fallen Angels, 2046,Chungking Express and also in others which is really trippy but helps in pronouncing that dream like feel in his movies and portray the intensity of certain scenes .
Super weird shots: There are several shots taken from really strange angles and have helped in only enhancing the the beauty of these movies. For example: in, In the mood for love ㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤfaces of some characters are never shown and whenever their voice is heard it is followed by camera panning on a wall while showing only the face of one of the main characters.
ㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤ3.Loose connectionsㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤbetween movies
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While many movies with loose sequels and connections seems like cash grabs but as for Wong Kar Wai its different The loose connections between two movies seems more like easter eggs and help in building a deeper connections with the on screen and off screen characters For Example: 2046 which is so different form its loose prequel (In The Mood For Love) in the way it depicts its story but there are continuous references to the previous movie that it makes the ending and the events of In The Mood For Love even more heart wrenching and tragic as compared to taking the movies individually which makes these connections feel nostalgic and connected to you on a personal level and nostalgia for us human beings has always been one of the most strong emotion.
Now I could talk about a lot more about his movies but I think thats enough for now and next time I’ll be writing about my personal favorite movie of his which is 2046. –Gurkaran Singh (Author)