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Wong Kar-wai, (Traditional Chinese: 王家衛; Simplified Chinese: 王家卫; pinyin: Wáng Jiāwèi; Cantonese Yale: Wòhng Gà Waih; Shanghainese Latin method: Wan Kawe; born July 17, 1958) is a Hong Kong-based film director known for his unique, highly visual style of romantic art films. An internationally renowned auteur, he often wears dark sunglasses in public.
Early careerBorn in Shanghai, he moved to Hong Kong with his parents at the age of five. Coming from the Mainland and speaking only Mandarin and Shanghainese, he had a difficult period of adjustment to Cantonese speaking Hong Kong, spending hours in movie theatres with his mother. After graduating from Hong Kong Polytechnic College in graphic design in 1980, he enrolled in the Production Training Course organized by Hong Kong Television Broadcasts Limited (TVB) and became a full-time television scriptwriter. In the mid-80's, he became a scriptwriter/director at The Wing Scope Co. and In-gear Film Production Company, the production houses owned by renowned Hong Kong actor /movie producer Alan Tang Kwong-Wing. Wong's current nostalgic artsy style took shape during his apprenticeship with Alan Tang Kwong-Wing, who invested in the first movie Wong directed, "As Tears Go By" (1988). Wong's career took off when he directed the film "Days of Being Wild" (1990), despite losing Alan Tang millions of invested dollars. Wong subsequently graduated to feature film work. He is credited with about ten scripts between 1982 and 1987, covering an array of genres from romantic comedy to action drama, but claims to have worked to some extent or another on about fifty more without official credit (Hoover and Stokes, 1999). He considers Final Victory (最後勝利, 1986), a dark comedy/crime story for director Patrick Tam, his best script. Work as directorFeature filmsImage:Wong Ka Wai DVD collection.jpg Cover of Wong Kar Wai DVD collection box set
His next film, Days of Being Wild (1991), a drama about aimless youth set in the early 1960s, established his trademark form: elliptically plotted mood pieces, with lush visuals and music, about the burden of memory on melancholy, misfit characters. Days was a box office failure but now regularly tops Hong Kong critics' polls of the best local films ever made. It has been described as a sort of Cantonese Rebel Without a Cause. He also established his own independent production company, called Jet Tone Films Ltd. in English. His partner in the company is Jeffrey Lau, a director and producer who tends to work closer to the populist vein of mainstream Hong Kong film. Wong went on to direct several more feature films in the 1990s produced by Jet Tone, which allowed him to work at his own pace. Among these were Chungking Express (1994), which follows the lives of two love-struck cops in Hong Kong and the mysterious women they meet and fall in love with. Originally intended to be a distraction piece for him to get his mind off of the heavily delayed Ashes of Time, it ended up being one of his most popular, if not the most popular, films. Fallen Angels (1995), was originally intended to be the third act of Chungking Express, but when the tone didn't fit with the other two parts, he cut it out and made it a standalone movie instead; it is seen as a semi-sequel to Chungking Express as is a neo-noir film about on a disillusioned killer trying to overcome the affections of his partner, a strange drifter looking for her ex-boyfriend, and a mute trying to get the world's attention in his own ways, all set against a sordid and surreal urban nightscape.
His first major international recognition was at the 1997 Cannes Film Festival where he won the Best Director prize for Happy Together (1997). A film that "uses gorgeous, saturated images set to an eclectic soundtrack of tango by Argentinian maestro Astor Piazolla, Brazilian singer Caetano Veloso and Frank Zappa instrumentals to chronicle the stormy affair of a gay couple living as expatriates in Buenos Aires." [1] In fact, tracing back to his early career, Wong did celebrate his success without being grateful to his mentor, Alan Tang-Kwong Wing.[citation needed] Wong mentioned Tang's name in his thank you speech at the award ceremony. Despite his background as a scriptwriter, one of Wong's trademarks as a director is that he works largely through improvisation and experimentation involving the actors and crew rather than adhering to a fixed screenplay. This has been a frequent source of trouble for his actors, his financial backers and many other people connected with his films, including sometimes himself. The filming of In the Mood for Love (2000) had to be shifted from Beijing to Macau after the China Film Bureau demanded to see the completed script. This was all in all a minor setback in the "very complicated evolution" of the project which goes as far back as 1997. It was Wong's intention to make two films, one of which would be titled Beijing Summer, the plot unclear at the time, but eventually taking form in Macau. Here Wong planned to call it Three Stories About Food, but saw it better to settle for only one story, A Story About Food, that centers on a writer. Together with scenes shot in Bangkok and Angkor Wat, the filming took as long as 15 months. This was an especially arduous time for lead actress Maggie Cheung whose hair and makeup reportedly took a daily five hours, and who appeared in different cheongsams in each scene. She famously compared the lengthy shoot to a cold she couldn't get rid of. Working without deadlines, the film's upcoming premier at Cannes nonetheless put some pressure on Wong to finish editing. Intending to name the film Secrets he was dissuaded by Cannes, and finally named it In the Mood for Love after Bryan Ferry's cover of the song "I'm in the Mood for Love" he was listening to. (Kaufman [2], Rayns [3]) Infamous for long drawn out shoots without any real regards to deadlines, it is now well known that a running joke amongst the crew of 2046 (2004), a film about capturing lost memories, was that he would finish in the year 2046. Future Plans (2006)In February 2006, Screen International reported that Norah Jones would be making her acting debut in Wong Kar-wai's first full English language film. It was reported that this project would be the Nicole Kidman vehicle The Lady from Shanghai[citation needed], but was later announced that his English debut would be My Blueberry Nights and that production would start in New York[citation needed]. It was reported that My Blueberry Nights will be co-produced by Wong Kar-wai's Jet Tone Productions and StudioCanal, whilst The Lady from Shanghai would be rescheduled for 2008[citation needed]. Short filmsWong Kar-wai has directed various short films, television commercials, music videos, or combinations thereof, all faithful to his style. CommercialsIn 1996 he made wkw/tk/1996@7′55″hk.net for Japanese designer Takeo Kikuchi, featuring Tadanobu Asano and Karen Mok; in 1998 he directed a commercial for Motorola also featuring Tadanobu Asano, this time with Faye Wong [4][5] [6] [7][8]; in 2000 he shot a commercial for Suntime Wine with Tony Leung Chiu Wai and Maggie Cheung [9], and one for JCDecaux, Un matin partout dans le monde, featuring different kinds of dawns in cities around the world shot by famous movie directors [10]; in 2001 he made the TV spot Dans la ville for the French mobile network company Orange France [11] and finally in 2002 he directed La Rencontre, a commercial for Lacoste featuring Chang Chen and Diane MacMahon [12][13]. In addition to this he shot the 2001 short-film The Hire: The Follow as part of the BMW films initiative. Music videosIn 2000 Wong directed a music video of Tony Leung's duet with Niki of a song from the In the Mood for Love soundtrack to be included in Tony Leung's CD by the same name and on the French DVD release of In the Mood for Love. In 2002 Wong made the music video Six Days for DJ Shadow featuring Chen Chang and Danielle Graham [14]. Short filmHis short film Hua Yang De Nian Hua is a montage of scenes from vintage Chinese films, most of which were considered lost until some nitrate prints were discovered in a California warehouse during the 1990s, set to a song from the soundtrack of In the Mood for Love, it was shown at the 2001 Berlin International Film Festival [15]. Filmography as directorImage:In the Mood for Love movie.jpg Movie poster for In the Mood for Love Feature films
Selected short films
Scriptwriter and producerAs already mentioned, Wong is officially credited with about ten screenplays while having worked on another fifty in one way or another before his directorial debut. He has yet to direct a feature based on a script other than his own (though Ashes of Time was adapted from a Louis Cha novel), which would be highly unlikely considering his method of improvisation. Wong, through Jet Tone, is also the producer of all of his own films since 1993 with the exception of Ashes of Time, a project that began much earlier. Through Jet Tone or otherwise, Wong has also produced various films, some directed by his partner in the company, Jeffrey Lau. Here are lists of films other than his own that Wong wrote screenplays for or produced: Writing Credits: Once Upon a Rainbow (1982), Just for Fun (1983), Silent Romance (1984), Chase a Fortune (1985), Intellectual Trio (1985), Unforgettable Fantasy (1985), Sweet Surrender (1986), Rosa (1986), Goodbye My Hero (1986), The Final Test (1987), Final Victory (1987), Flaming Brothers aka Dragon and Tiger Fight (1987), The Haunted Cop Shop of Horrors (1987), The Haunted Cop Shop of Horrors 2 (1988), Walk On Fire (1988), Return Engagement (1990), Saviour of the Soul (1992). Producer: Flaming Brothers aka Dragon and Tiger Fight (1987), The Eagle Shooting Heroes (1993), First Love: the Litter on the Breeze (1997), Chinese Odyssey 2002 (2002), Sound of Colors (2003). Awards
See alsoReferences
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