Wong Kar-Wai Director Research

Wong Kar-Wai is a Chinese director born in Hong Kong (1956) and is known for As Tears Go By, Chungking Express, In The Mood For Love, 2046 and The Grandmaster. Wong Kar-Wai is highly regarded as an auteur for his visually unique stylistic flair, and emotionally resonant work. A lot of his films are considered period pieces, set in 1960s Hong Kong. 

The Visual style and subject matter/content of Wong Kar-Wai's films is massively influential for me. He is a rare director who is concerned with the fundamentals of human behaviour and emotion. In both 'In the Mood for Love' and '2046' (often considered separate films, yet the same film) the narrative is slow burning, allowing us insight into the lives of the characters. Not only this but we feel for the characters, sometimes we love them, sometimes we loathe them. For me this is very important, and something I often aspire to achieve.

Below is a shot from '2046'. For me this shot speaks such high volumes. It's incredibly framed and so perfectly lit. A frame like this can tell us so much about a particular character, but more importantly their emotion at that point in time. For me this shot suggests a complication between the two characters in the frame. The woman in the foreground, despite being central to the frame, is out of focus. The emphasis upon the male in the background, achieved through focus, would suggest his importance over hers despite their positioning in terms of proximity to the camera. The mirrors also suggest something of utmost importance. There are two of each person in the frame. This has an outstanding effect, leading the audience to question the obvious distrust between the characters or their lack of affection toward one another. Noting the eyeliner of each character is equally significant and contributes to the overall effect of the shot. The female is looking away, looking down to the ground to suggest her vulnerability. The man is upright, strong and looking directly at her to suggest his sophistication and dominance. 

This shot is something I will be looking to replicate in terms of depth of meaning and the genuine strength of the composition. Every inch of the frame is filled, leading the eye of the viewer side to side and to top and bottom. 

This is another shot which shares likeness with the above shot from another Wong Kar-Wai film. In The Mood For Love. This film is often considered the prequel to 2046, but Kar-Wai himself refers to it as the same film, as they share so many similarities and distinct qualities, they are the same body of work. Kar-Wai once again uses the framing of his characters so wisely to depict their mindset and emotion. The shot shares similarities with the previously discussed shot due to the body language and facial expression of each character. As the females eyeliner is drawn away from the male to her left, weakness is heavily implied. On the other hand the strength of the male is reinforced as he looks onward. His strength is rejected at the same time, as he is only a reflection in a mirror. He does not physically exist within the shot, he is a mere reflection of his own physical form.

This is another stunningly captured shot of the main protagonist of Wong Kar-Wais '2046'. This shot for me perfectly portrays the feeling of fatigue. The slumped positioning of the character combined with the rising smoke give us the idea that this character is hard at work. What is more is that he looks tired. We can gather all of this simply through the use of dark lighting, character body positioning and framing, even though we do not see the facial expression of the character at all.