Wong
Kar-wai
Director
Wong
Kar-wai is acknowledged as one of the most exciting and influential
directors in contemporary world cinema.
Born in 1958 in Shanghai, Wong moved
to Hong Kong with his parents when he was five years old. He obtained
a diploma in graphic design from Hong Kong Polytechnic School, and
became a television production assistant. He worked on numerous
TV series and entered the Hong Kong film industry as a screenwriter,
winning renown in the genres that were most fashionable in the early
1980s: he was commissioned to write several comedies, whodunits,
and "weepies," including The Final Victory (1987), which
his mentor Patrick Tam directed.
Wong
Kar-wai's directorial debut, As Tears Go By (1988), gave
him the opportunity to work with actress Maggie
Cheung [Man-yuk] for the first time. The film, which established
Wong's strong visual style, introduced him to the world film community
as an up-and-coming talent at the 1989 Cannes International Film
Festival, where it screened as a "Critics' Week" selection.
Wong
gathered together Hong Kong's most popular young stars (including
Maggie Cheung and Tony Leung [Chiu-wai]) for his next project, Days
of Being Wild (1991). The film, set in a vividly imagined 1960,
won five Hong Kong Film Awards, including Best Film, Best Director,
and Best Actor (Leslie Cheung). The project was planned as a diptych,
but the second part was never made.
In
1992, he convened another all-star cast of Hong Kong actors (who
again included Maggie Cheung and Tony
Leung) to make a period martial-arts drama, one which deliberately
went againest all the codes of the genre, in remote regions of China.
The shoot for Ashes of Time lasted nearly two years. The
film world-premiered at the 1994 Venice Film Featival.
During
a break in the post-production of Ashes of Time, Wong made
Chungking Express (1994), an up-to-the-minute comedy of longing
and romance. Tony Leung starred in the film, which became a huge
popular success in many countries.
Next from the filmmaker
came Fallen Angels, based on an idea for a sketch that was
written for Chungking Express but dropped at the last minute,
which premiered at the 1995 Toronto Film Festival to widespread
critical acclaim.
Happy
Together, a daring film telling the tale of two Chinese homosexuals
exiled in Argentina during the hand-over of Hong Kong to China,
was filmed on location (with pick-up shots done in Taipei). The
film world-premiered at the 1997 Cannes International Film Festival,
where Wong was awarded the Best Director prize.
In
the Mood for Love, reuniting Wong with two of his favorite actors
(Maggie Cheung and Tony Leung), was filmed in Hong Kong, Thailand,
and at Angkor Wat (in Cambordia). At the 2000 Cannes International
Film Festival, the film received two awards, including Best Actor
(Tony Leung).
Wong
Kar-wai is currently at work on 2046, his first science-fiction
film, which is being shot in various Asian countries with an international
cast (including Tony Leung, Faye Wong, Carina Lau Kar-ling, Takuya
Kimura, and Chang Chen).
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Related:
AC Interviews
Wong Kar-wai (In the Mood for Love)
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