Originally intended to be a third story in his now classic Chungking Express, Fallen Angels has emerged as what some critics have come to consider his “quintessential work.” Set in the neon-washed underworld of present day Hong Kong, Fallen Angels intertwines two exhilarating tales of love and isolation. First, there’s the unconsummated love affair between a contract Killer and the ravishing female Agent who books his assignments and cleans up after his jobs. When the Killer decides that he must move on, he leaves her with only a coin for the jukebox and instructions to play song number 1818. Ex-convict Ho stopped speaking at the age of five after eating a date-expired can of pineapple. He lives with his father, who runs a guesthouse where the Agent is in semi-permanent residence. Ho makes a living by re-opening shops that have been closed fort he night and intimidating customers into buying goods and services from him. After an awkward romance with a girl named Cherry, Ho finds himself all the more alone… Wong Kar-Wai brings these parallel storylines together in a blitz of ultra-hip style and classic cinematic sensibilities. A poet of modern alienation, Kar-Wai’s universe is populated with characters both dark and comic, magical and existential, Fallen Angels is both a vie at revolutionary cinema and an homage to a love for movies.
Directed by Kar Wai Wong | Starring : Leon Lai, Michelle Reis, Charlie Yeung, Takeshi Kaneshiro, Karen Mok | Presented at Toronto Film Festival, Berlin Film Festival, Oslo Film Festival, New York Film Festival, Thessaloniki Film Festival
Chinese Cinema 