EWB Film Club

[Benjamin]

Well, that was part of it as well. Ah fuck it, Wong Kar-Wai it is! I'll just pick Miyazaki next time around

EDIT: Here's a list of his films: http://letterboxd.com/director/wong-kar-wai/ I'm eyeing In the Mood for Love, because I can't believe I haven't seen that! The Grandmaster is pretty awesome as well, though.

Edited June 22, 2014 by Benkid

[Jimmy]

I've seen three of his films, with Chungking Express being the one that absolutely blew me away. I liked In The Mood For Love and 2046 too. He's a very stylish director, will e interesting for people who have barely seen anything of his.

[Monkey D. Lars]

Haven't seen any movie of his. So should be good! Think I will go for Fallen Angels and the Grand Master.

Also Jimmy, you've forgot to add Black Rain to the Ridley one!

[Jimmy]

The Maltese Falcon was pretty good. It's got a really great cast, and Boggart's unsurprisingly brilliant, but I just don't think I love Film Noir all that much (except for Double Indemnity) because I really enjoyed it, but it never really seemed like it was going to go to the next level for me.

[Benjamin]

My favorite part of that movie is definitely the dialogue between Sydney Greenstreet and Humphrey Bogart. You can definitely see they're super comfortable with each other, which I really like.

[Benjamin]

In the Mood for Love was beautiful. It was like a painting, and Maggie Cheung really delivered, her performance was so sad and beautiful at the same time. Wong uses of color for Cheung and leaves everyone else kind of toned down really makes a beautiful, stark difference. The shot of her in Tony Leung's character's apartment was wonderful, I could watch that forever and think I'm seeing all different things.

[Jimmy]

I think I need to watch it again, because it didn't live up to the hype for me. It's beautiful, the cinematography is bloody brilliant, and it's so poetic, but it just didn't get me on an emotional level. I appreciated it so much, but it never connected with me. I'd love to see it in a cinema. Also, 2046 is the kind of sequel. It's a completely different film, but so worth watching. It can be kind of slow, but the contrasts to In The Mood for Love make it so memorable.

[Benjamin]

Oh, it's a sequel? Is it connected through Tony Leung's character's hotel room? I noticed it was numbered 2046, and thought it was an easter egg, but then realized that 2046 came out four years later

You'd recommend Chungking Express instead, though, yeah? I'm tempted to watch Fallen Angels as well.

[Monkey D. Lars]

I'm going with Fallen Angels, looks the most interesting!

[Jimmy]

It's connected through his character, but the room plays a big part. Oh yeah Chungking is my favourite of his work, it's so beautiful. Will probably do Fallen Angels as well actually.

[Benjamin]

Chungking Express was wonderful! It really develops well, and although I felt the two stories didn't flow into each other as perfectly as it should, mostly because I wanted to know more about He Qiwu and the woman in the blonde wig, the stories were both really beautiful and spoke a lot about how love can really make people crazy. The handheld camera scenes were awesome! It really gave that feeling of desperation that Kaneshiro's character had, and the blonde's one too.

It's really, really different from In the Mood for Love. The romance message is kind of similar, and yet the way it's delivered is different (In the Mood for Love is about betrayal of a loved one and finding solace and piece from it, and the recovery of being betrayed, this one deals more with the recovery trying not to hold on to that love after it's long gone) I don't know how I would recognize them both being pieces from the same director, except for maybe the way the characters are not really always the centre of the shot? I really can't see any other similarities. Then again I'm dumb, and I probably missed the real message of both movies.

[Monkey D. Lars]

So, this director likes to play wit hthe camera right? It was like watching a tripped up good mtv movie with Fallen Angels.

[Jimmy]

I couldn't get a copy of Fallen Angels in time for tomorrow, or Happy Together, so I ended up watching Days of Being Wild, which I'd suggest is worth skipping. Wong Kar-Wai's style is really great, but when it doesn't have any narrative substance, it's just a bit boring. All of the characters are unlikable and have little depth. He introduces a number of themes he'd go onto explore better in his other work, especially the way men treat women in 2046. You can tell this is one of his earlier films as it's all a bit rough, but it seems to have made him a much better director, as is clear with his later work.

That said, the film does have a number of favourable reviews, so maybe it wasn't for me. I openly admit I prefer films which completely suck me in through well developed characters or an interesting narrative. Still wanna see Happy Together and Fallen Angels at some point.

[Benjamin]

I'm three quarters into 2046, then my mum needed to borrow my laptop and now im just waiting for her to finish

I really like it, though, Tony Leung and Zhang Ziyi have really good characters, can't wait to see Leung 's conclusion.

I'd just like to say that Tony Leung looks so fucking sexy all the time, he's like the most dapper-looking man ever. He's always been a favorite, and him dressed in formal wear, especially 60's Hong Kong style, is so awesome.

[Monkey D. Lars]

Fallen Angels will not disapoint you JImmy!

[Benjamin]

Have you guys watched The Grandmaster? That one's awesome. Watch that one!

[Benjamin]

Loved 2046. It really is a show, not tell kind of movie. I loved how it discussed about how one recovers from the one that got away, how one tries to heal himself by throwing himself at other women, and his search for that intimacy once again. Wonderful. Gong Li was fantastic, I think her performance is one of her finest.

[Your Mom]

I'm skipping whatever this guy is. I'll catch the next one

[Jimmy]

Loved 2046. It really is a show, not tell kind of movie. I loved how it discussed about how one recovers from the one that got away, how one tries to heal himself by throwing himself at other women, and his search for that intimacy once again. Wonderful. Gong Li was fantastic, I think her performance is one of her finest.

It's quite slow, but I really liked it. It all seemed to come together for me at the end, which was really great. Yeah, the performances are wonderful.

[Jimmy]

Well, looks like it's my pick this week and I'm gonna go with Ingmar Bergman.

It'd be cool to get a few other people jumping back in. I know Srar's still about, but if we could get it up to just 5 or 6, that'd be cool. Enjoyed the discussion more this week, and hopefully Bergman's not too much after doing Kar-Wai.