World of Wong Kar Wai (Criterion Box Set) - Preliminary Thoughts

Erik, the Asian Movie Enthusiast presents:

A review of the World of Wong Kar Wai Criterion Blu Ray Set. I will briefly discuss the movies and special features.

[lilmovieperp]

love this guy. Days of Being Wild, Chungking Express, In the Mood for Love are my favorite....love those movies. Never saw his American movie or 2046.

[dionwynhughes]

Very nice indeed. Mine got shipped to the UK so I hope it survives. Hope you are well mate.

[fatyfarrell]

In the mood used to be my favorite... Now it's Fallen angels, Chunking express, Days of being wild, In the mood for Love and 2046.

[eplefjes]

Glad to know you will re-visit Wong Kar Wai and I hope it doesn't disappoint you! Kar Wai is probably my favorite director to put it simply, he was one of the first director to get me into Asian cinema. He is definitely style over substance, and I'm all for that. I remember watching an interview with Maggie Chueng and Tony Leung after the release of In The Mood For Love, and Cheung, it being her first movie with Kar Wai, was left a bit confused and disappointed in the way Kar Wai worked. There was barely a script, and what there was of one, he kept changing all the time, so Cheung found it hard to be prepared for the shooting. So while Cheung kept wanting to do a good job and being a bit stressed out not to be a disappointment to Kar Wai, Leung, who had worked with the director before, told her to relax, not to worry, everything will be alright, just take it easy, this is how he (Kar Wai) works. (This is just my interpretation of the interview/press event, and it should be available on youtube if you're interested in seeing it yourself!:)

Also, there is a behind the scenes movie from Happy Together (Called Buenos Aires Zero Degrees, I believe) where this is also commented on. There were days with no shooting because Kar Wai didn't know where he wanted to shoot, or what, so the crew ended up walking the streets of Buenos Aires days on end, without knowing how long they would be there, or how much money they would have at the end. So the crew ended up being almost in the same situation as Tony Leung and Leslie Cheung in the movie.

I appreciate the way Kar Wai and Christopher Doyle go about making movies, without much of a plan. I guess it's a hit or miss way of making movies, tho. I remember Doyle saying in an interview about his work with M. Night Shyamalan on the movie Woman in the Water, that he disliked this way of making a movie, with all the planning and storyboarding .. He'd rather just go out and shoot!

Enjoy re-visiting Wong Kar Wai!

[MasterChaosTV]

Holy crap, that is INSANE packaging! I’m grabbing mine at the summer sale. Did you grab Lucky Stars?

[swagikuro]

I also had mixed feelings about Days of Being Wild when I first saw it. But it has since become my second or even first favorite WKW film. I think what did it was perceiving it as a character study; I gained some new insights and all of a sudden Yuddy became almost endearing, felt sorry for him in the end.

[MemoContrerasf]

I love Wong Kar wai. And the film selection looks amazing. Im so jelous haha

[humbertougalde]

I’m super confused, too. I am contacting Criterion before I do anything to my copy.

[jnagarya]

Maggie Cheung was in a significant number of films before Wong Kar Wai -- mostly as eye candy. She subsequently said that she came to understand what acting is from working with Wong.

[VOAxInsanity]

More criterion collection reviews imo should be on YouTube, what would be your top 10 if you had to pick, sorry if you made a video discussing this already

[jonathanpoortman]

WKW is one of my favorite directors. My favorite film of his is Chungking Express. I have been known to pair it as a double feature with Lost in Translation. It feels like falling in love and then having it not work out somehow. Painfully beautiful.

[jeff]

I hesitated getting this when i read how he edited some of them, but when i saw that it would be delivered tomorrow if ordered in 50 minutes, i did it, i thought, jeez this is CRITERION, and the changes are by WKW himself, and i've only seen In the Mood for Love on the old Criterion DVD. Thanks for showing it in a detailed way, i feel more confident about my purchase (26% off!!!)

[travizng]

Wow, with a good restored version of WKW films, definitely rewarding for second rewatch 😉..In the Mood for love was the one that really established his style 😎

[jnagarya]

"The Hand, " in shorter version, was available in the US on "Eros, " with films by Soderbergh and Antonioni, as an import.

[ConTrollerNorth]

I gotta get that (if it ain't sold out already due to your endorsement). On the real!

[szewei]

Haha wonderful. Heard of the name but have not jump in its filmography yet.

[jnagarya]

Another Maggie Cheung that is good, even though she was still cast as eye candy: the comedy "A Fishy Story". But "Clean" is a must (in that she speaks English -- she was educated in England -- and French and Chinese in a Chinese restaurant in Paris). She made that and one other film, "Irma Vep, " with French director Assayas (sp?), and Criterion has released several others of his, though I don't have them.

"The Soong Sisters": biographical drama starring Maggie Cheung, Michelle Yeoh, and Vivian Wu. Maggie steals the film.

[myfasmarine]

WKW is one of my favorites just off of the three films of his I’ve seen and own, In the Mood for Love, Chungking Express, & The Grandmaster. I’ve been very anxiously waiting for this set to explore more of his work. It’s beautiful but I’m a bit disappointed in the book. The pages are awkward to flip through and you can’t see the pictures inside the folds so they’re useless in that way, plus it makes the book appear larger than it actually is. Also, it has just one essay. I was really hoping for something more comprehensive with more essays. Still since it’s all about the movies I’m sure that disappointment will fade as I explore this set. Cheers!

[jnagarya]

Ziyi Zhang, star of "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon".

[jnagarya]

"Fallen Angels" has some of Christopher Doyle's best cinematography.