With Wong Kar-wai being one of the names that are always mentioned when people all around the world refer to Asian cinema, we thought it would be interesting to do another ranking, and having his movies, a number of which are definitely masterpieces. As such, we asked AMP writers who have seen at least 8 of his features to rank them from worst to best. Notably, the two first titles got the same amount of votes and the third had just one vote less. In case you are wondering, the number one was the one who got most first places in the vote. Here is what the votes of Adriana Rosati, Rhythm Zaveri, Rouven Linnarz, Panos Kotzathanasis, Andrew Thayne and Jean Claude resulted in.
11. My Blueberry Nights (2007)
A young lonely woman takes a soul-searching journey across America to resolve her questions about love while encountering a series of off-beat characters along the way. WKW’s English-language debut was a definite failure, which is why it got next to no points in our vote…
10. Ashes of Time Redux (2008)
A trimmed down version of the original (from 100 to 93 minutes version of the original) which seems to follow the usual tactics of WKW and his producers, of continuously rereleasing his titles. Still better than “My Blueberry Nights” though.
9. The Grandmaster (2013)
Fighting for fighting’s sake sucks in films. But when you do it for a good reason, well, all you need to do is add a dash of originality and you’ve got a winning formula. At one point, I thought Kar Wai Wong had nailed it. Around the 25-minute mark, there’s a brilliant sequence of fights where Yip Man gets tested by his friends and comrades. I seriously thought at that point that I was in store for something absolutely amazing. To wrap it up, on one hand, I’m glad that those scenes and the ending were solid. Unfortunately, a couple of flashes of brilliance is not enough to make a great movie. And no one is more disappointed about that than me.
8. Ashes of Time (1994)
The film tells the story of Ouyang Feng, who abandoned his house when the woman he loved chose to marry his older brother. Since then he lives in the desert where he works as an intermediate between individuals who seek revenge and potential killers for hire.
Leslie Cheung plays a melancholy and detached character, whose only concern is making a profit. He has no interest in moral values, feelings, and relationships with other people, with the only thing left that still tortures him is the memory of the loss of the only woman he ever loved. His missed chance for happiness seems to follow him, thus resulting in him accepting his predetermined fate without any effort to avoid it, even forcing it to happen. Tony Leung plays a master swordsman who is slowly turning blind. He agrees to defend a village from thieves in order to afford to return home and meet his spouse before his eyesight fails completely. Although Leung was not among the protagonists, he nevertheless performed competently and at the same time, he presented a sample of his skills in action scenes
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7. 2046 (2004)
Yearning for love is a basic human emotion that has always been a consistent theme in Wong films. Even when doing action/biography films like “The Grandmaster”, the film ends up more or less about love. “2046” portrays the chaos of lost souls who are looking for love from all the wrong places and their suffering when they can’t let go of the love they found or get hold of. Like every Wong film, “2046” is also at its best when the visual and musical motifs lead the viewers to feel what the characters are going through. (Jithin Mohan)
6. As Tears Go By (1988)
In many ways, “As Tears Go By” feels quite close to the brand of HK action made by directors such as John Woo. Considering the environment and the characters of the feature, there is a distinct proximity, but at the same time a certain style which is unique and frequently transcends the action genre. One of the most significant aspects is how Wong Kar-wai portrays people torn between two lives, which will develop into one of his most prominent themes throughout works like “Chungking Express” or “Fallen Angels”. Wah, Fly and Ngor are somewhat undefined as people, meaning they have not found their way in life, or simply cannot decide which path to take, which can be observed, for example, in the beginning that might give the impression Andy Leung’s character is more of a slacker, staying in bed all day and not answering calls. To go even further, the decision to be a gangster, a brother or start a serious relationship, defines his character’s conflict, and eventually his fatal dilemma. (Rouven Linnarz)
5. Fallen Angels (1995)
One of the recurring themes in Wong Kar-wai’s filmography is the concept of the journey. Supported by the cinematography by Christopher Doyle along with the editing by William Chang and Ming Lam Wong, we get to meet characters and encounter places which have become disconnected from a specific cultural, social or political context because their meaning is defined through the eyes of the camera, the narrative and through various images, even flashbacks. Thus, the characters have become free agents, void of any definitive roots or, like Ho and his father, disconnected from them. Their journey through the streets, similar to the characters in movies made by the directors of the French New Wave, creates this new meaning, these new associations and connections, making each encounter and also viewing quite unique. Even the most mundane of places, such as a fast-food restaurant with its row of empty chairs changes into the possibility of romance or at least an unforgettable encounter. (Rouven Linnarz)
4. Days of Being Wild (1990)
Similar to the characters in “As Tears Go By”, the inability or unwillingness to connect with others is both a blessing and a curse. Even though someone like Yuddy seems to feel at ease within the streets of Hong Kong, its nightclubs and other venues, his actions are also motivated by a certain emptiness in his life, one he connects to the identity of his mother which he has yet to know. At the same time, the emotional distance, this unwillingness to connect, destroys others, such as Li-zhen, Mimi and Zeb, one of Yuddy’s neighbors, played by Jackie Cheung, leading them to self-destruction or a lack of orientation. Highlighted by Doyle’s cinematography and the editing by Patrick Tam and Kai Kit-wai, the urban sphere seems to perfect habitat for these people, a mirror to their feelings of loneliness and self-loathing, especially in Yuddy’s case. (Rouven Linnarz)
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3. Chungking Express (1994)
The vast majority of Wong’s characters are lonely entities living in their own world, and their solitude is so vast that it can neither be understood or satisfied. Their other feelings are repressed by this sense of loneliness, to the point that emotional tensions are created, which usually result in the characters not being able to commit or, in some cases, ending up abandoned when they least expect it. In “Chungking Express”, he focuses on four lonely, separated, antisocial and daydreaming characters, who desperately try to share their desolation, with the megalopolis being the link that connects their stories. At the same time, however, the particular setting and the people that inhabit it, despite their density, is where the loneliness of the characters also derives from, as in this chaos, they cannot find the “space” to connect to anyone and end up alone, at least sentimentally. WKW gives a romantic hypostasis to his loneliness, but the fact remains. (Panos Kotzathanasis)
2. In the Mood for Love (2000)
Even though we only see the two apartments of the building the two characters live in, their working places and a few alleys in the vicinity of their homes, the idea of the city is one of the most significant features within the cinema of Wong Kar-wai. Similar to “Days of Being Wild” or his masterpiece “Chungking Express” the director refrains from showing “tourist” landmarks of the city which would make it easily identifiable for any viewer while still maintaining what makes this space unique and specifically Asian, or rather Hong Kong. Supported by Christopher Doyle’s cinematography, Wong Kar-wai presents his own mapping of the city, a reflection of the changes the city goes through, which again is a mirror of the changing emotional state of the characters. For example, the repeated images of the crowded, noisy apartment and the intersecting alleys emphasize the idea of the maze, a state of confusion, perhaps while also underlining the concept of loneliness, another theme which influences all of Wong Kar-wai’s films. (Rouven Linnarz)
1. Happy Together (1997)
As with many films by Wong, plot isn’t the defining factor. Metaphor is what drives “Happy Together”. The relationship between Lai and Ho and its complicated nature represents the uncertain times ahead for Hong Kong, with high anxiety among the populace. Lai, a homosexual man, represents the social freedoms available to those in Hong Kong. The alluding to the difficult relationship with his father, China, is in hope that the two nations can live side-by-side in the future. Hong Kong is the runaway son on the other side of the world, but now must return and reconcile his differences with old-fashioned China. (Andrew Thayne)
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