Wong Kar-wai: Interviews

Conversations With Filmmakers Series

by Silver Wai-ming Lee (Editor), Micky Lee (Editor)

Fans and critics alike perceive Wong Kar-wai (b. 1958) as an enigma. His dark glasses, his nonlinear narrations, and his high expectations for actors all contribute to an assumption that he only makes art for a few high-brow critics. However, Wong's interviews show this Hong Kong auteur is candid about the art of filmmaking, even surprising his interlocutors by suggesting his films are commercial and made for a popular audience.

Wong's achievements nevertheless feel like art-house cinema. His third film, Chungking Express, introduced him to a global audience captivated by the quick and quirky editing style. His Cannes award-winning films Happy Together and In the Mood for Love confirmed an audience beyond the greater Chinese market. His latest film, The Grandmaster, depicts the life of a kung fu master by breaking away from the martial arts genre. In each of these films, Wong Kar-wai's signature style--experimental, emotive, character-driven, and timeless--remains apparent throughout.

This volume includes interviews that appear in English for the first time, including some that appeared in Hong Kong magazines now out of print. The interviews cover every feature film from Wong's debut As Tears Go By to his 2013 The Grandmaster.

Genres: Film

222 pages, Hardcover

First published August 7, 2017

Reviews

[Christopher · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a collection of interviews given by Hong Kong auteur Wong Kar-Wai between 1988 (when he had just released his debut As Tears Go By) and 2015 (when interviewers were interested in his recent The Grandmaster). Most of these interviews originally ran in Hong Kong or mainland China publication, so the editors have done a great service by having them translated into English and made available to an international audience.

The interviews are occasionally interesting. We get some biographical details about the director (though with some repetition, as these are mentioned again and again from one interview to another), and something of a filmmaker’s credo:

The greatest fun of films is you can live many lives; you can create a world in which you can put many characters. To say it inarticulately, it is like playing God–like in Greek myths, you put characters in them and see how the characters run and walk. In fact, you can jump into the characters to experience many lives.

I also appreciated the information given here on why Wong Kar-Wai released Ashes of Time and The Grandmaster in multiple versions, and what the differences between them are.

However, this collection is all in all rather mediocre. The interviews never quite get into the depth that a Wong Kar-Wai fan would like, and generally the interviewer is doing a by-the-numbers article covering the director’s latest film, while Wong Kar-Wai himself sticks to vague generalities.

[Pedro · Rating 5 out of 5]

Many, many insights.

[Karena Xu · Rating 3 out of 5]

a pure combination of previous interviews with Wai; no additional materials

[Carlita · Rating 4 out of 5]

el tío es un cachondo que se la pela tanto todo le quiero un montón