Podcast 44 – The Cinema of Wong Kar Wai with Anna Warren

It is assumed that genre films lack artistic merit, unoriginal in concept and lacking the vision of the auteur director but whether it is a gangster film or an examination of a Hollywood style romance, Wong Kar Wai takes the form of the genre and deliberately confuses us. Some describe him as a post-modernist filmmaker, others reject this label.

Reviving the European tradition of the director as auteur, he combines Western techniques with classical Taoist scroll painting.  His palette may be monochrome or may dazzle with saturated vivid colours from a more painterly palette.

He stresses location and examines these in great detail, bombarding us as observers with a multiplicity of perspectives and playing with our perception of time.  Music has been described as “activating” the visual brilliance of Wong Kar Wai’s films.

Looking mainly at In the Mood for Love and Fallen Angels, we will examine what some have described as the “mysterization” of everyday life.

Music has been described as “activating” the visual brilliance of Wong Kar Wai’s films. Looking mainly at In the Mood for Love and Fallen Angels, we will examine what some have described as the “mysterization” of everyday life.

Listen now on Youtube and Soundcloud