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Written by: Wong Kar-Wai
Directed by: Wong Kar-Wai
Starring: Leon Lai, Michelle Reis, Takeshi Kaneshiro, Charlie Yeung
Rated: [NR] PG-13
Watch the trailer
Plot
This Hong Kong-set crime drama follows the lives of a hitman, hoping to get out of the business, and his elusive female partner.
Verdict
It's artistic certainly, and it's a great example of Wong Kar-Wai's style. The problem is the movie is a bit obtuse, it's about mood and style over substance. This is a great movie for a film class, but it's not a traditional movie.
Skip it.
Review
I really like Wong Kar-Wai's
In the Mood for Love and Chungking Express, so I recently have watched Days of Being Wild and this movie.
Wong's movies have an overriding focus on style. This movie especially seems more esoteric.
From the start there's a lot of wide angle and Dutch angle shots. I guessed it was a way to relay information about these characters and their place in the world. Reading about the movie the shot framing is meant to convey the character's isolation from the world.
Wong's films often deal with loneliness. No one in this movie is happy, and interestingly, none of the characters interact. The contract killer is disillusioned with his job. His assistant is infatuated with him, but her feelings are reciprocated. The movie is about two couples and their strange dynamics. The contract killer bit seems to be about style and adding a cool factor to a movie that doesn't really need it.
This movie is mood and style above all else, almost to a fault. It's purposely obtuse as it doesn't always connect scenes. There's a lot of inference required to understand what's going on.
In writing this review and thinking about this story, I'm liking it more in retrospect than I did in the moment. That's been my experience with most of Wong's movies. It takes a while to digest them, but they linger in your mind.
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