TSPDT - Wong Kar-Wai

Wong Kar-Wai

TOP 100

21ST CENTURY TOP 50

Ranked 14th on The Guardian's 2004 List of the World's 40 Best Directors

►501 Movie Directors: A Comprehensive Guide to the Greatest Filmmakers

See Also

Michelangelo Antonioni

Olivier Assayas

Lèos Carax (external link)

Jean-Luc Godard

Kieslowski, Krzysztof

Tran Anh Hung

Zhang Yimou

Director / Screenwriter / Producer

1958 -

Born in Shanghai, China

Key Production Country: Hong Kong

Key Genres: Romantic Drama, Drama, Romance

Key Collaborators: Christopher Doyle (Cinematographer), William Chang (Production Designer/Editor), Tony Leung (Leading Player), Maggie Cheung (Leading Player), Leslie Cheung (Leading Player), Jacky Cheung (Leading Character Player), Carina Lau (Leading Character Player), Kit-Wai Kai (Editor), Frankie Chan (Composer), Brigitte Lin (Leading Player)

Highly Recommended: In the Mood for Love (2000)

Recommended: Days of Being Wild (1990), Happy Together (1997), 2046 (2004)

Links: [ IMDB ] [ TCMDB ] [ All-Movie Guide ] [ Senses of Cinema: Great Directors ] [ Senses of Cinema Feature (2001) ] [ Wong Kar-Wai.net ] [ Asia Studios Interview ] [ Wikipedia ] [ Kinema Article ] [ Brisbane Times Article (2007) ] [ Scotsman Article (2008) ] [ indieWIRE Article (2008) ]

Books: [ Wong Kar-Wai ] [ Wong Kar-Wai: Auteur of Time ] [ Wong Kar-Wai (Contemporary Film Directors) ] [ Wong Kar-Wai ] [ Wong Kar-Wai on Wong Kar-Wai ] [ Films and Dreams: Tarkovsky, Bergman, Sokurov, Kubrick, and Wong Kar-Wai ]

DVD's: [ Amazon ]

1,000 Greatest Films: Days of Being Wild (1990), Chungking Express (1994), Fallen Angels (1995), Happy Together (1997), In the Mood for Love (2000)

21st Century's Most Acclaimed Films: In the Mood for Love (2000), 2046 (2004)


	"Wong’s avant-garde filmic aesthetic is composed of elliptical storytelling through the use of deeply drenched tones, slow motion, jump cuts and fragmented images. Although the notion of auteur is not entirely customary in Hong Kong where films are often shot quickly and marketed via their accessibility as popular entertainment, Wong’s status as auteur marks his position within Hong Kong cinema’s industrial environment and signifies his complete creative freedom and control of every facet of his films’ production." - Elizabeth Wright (Senses of Cinema)

	"While a product of the fertile Hong Kong filmmaking community of the '90s, writer/director Wong Kar-Wai did not traffic in the over-the-top action blowouts favored by the likes of John Woo and Tsui Hark. Instead, his films took their inspiration from the seminal work of Jean-Luc Godard and the French New Wave, painting idiosyncratic and romantic tales of the young and disenfranchised uniquely representative of the myriad cultural influences which distinguish his native land." - Jason Ankeny, All-Movie Guide

	"Few modern directors display as much ambition and promise, and none is as thrillingly alert to the enduring poignancy of the passing moment or to the ever-fresh resonance of memory and unrequited desire." - Geoff Andrew (The Director's Vision, 1999)