Hysterica Passio

Wah: People like us don’t have tomorrows.

- As Tears Go By, Wong Kar Wai 1988

Because the sincerest thing one could do is sleep on the other’s shoulder.

Photoset: 1st row - Fallen Angels, 2nd Row - Happy Together, 3rd Row - In the Mood for Love, 4th Row - 2046, 5th Row - Chungking Express; Wong Kar Wai

He Zhiwu, Cop 223: In May’s eyes, I’m no different from a can of pineapple. 

- Chung Hing sam lam (Chungking Express), Wong Kar Wai 1994

It is a restless moment.

She has kept her head lowered,

to give him a chance to come closer.

But he could not, for lack of courage.

She turns and walks away.

- Fa yueng nin wa (In the Mood for Love), Wong Kar Wai 2000

- Fa yeung nin wa (In the Mood for Love), Wong Kar Wai 2000

I’m rediscovering Wong Kar Wai’s In the Mood for Love and, wow, it really is breathtakingly beautiful. I just have to say that I believe this is his ars poetica - this is the movie where he ultimately defines his film-making identity. I believe all (or, more accurately, the ones I saw*) his films before this one are nothing but visual and literary experimentations - exploring the same narrative themes and visual motifs until he inevitably reached this movie. In In The Mood for Love, he  seems to have finally cohered the story he’s been wanting to narrate all along: the story of people trapped and enslaved in and by their own emotions. All his films after this movie and up to this point in time seems to do nothing but to reiterate and re-explore the venue which he has already conquered, ultimately exhausting it. (As in the case of the “whisper-your-secret-to-the-tree” motif in 2046.) The screen capture above best defines the genius of In the Mood for Love: the mis-en-scene - the cinematography, the lighting, the blocking, and the music all contribute to adding layers of meaning to the already well-defined narrative. ♥

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*The ones I haven’t seen being As Tears Go By and wkw/tk/1996@7’55”hk.net.

Su Lizhen: I always thought one minute flies by. But sometimes it really lingers on. Once, a person pointed at his watch and said to me, that because of that minute, he’d always remember me. It was so charming listening to that. But now I look at my watch and tell myself that I have to forget this man starting this very minute. 

- A Fei Zheng Chuan (Days of Being Wild), Wong Kar Wai 1991