Movie No. 59 (2013): FALLEN ANGELS

Fallen Angels (1995)
Director: Wong Kar Wai
Cast: Leon Lai, Takeshi Kaneshiro, Michelle Reis
In Chinese, with English subtitles

The film's two parallel story line is populated with unusual but interesting characters. There's this hit man who, at the cross road of his life, starts to feel boredom in his life as an assassin. Then there's this drifter with a fake blond hair who is desperately looking for his mysterious ex-boyfriend. Their lives intersect with a mute ex-con, who has his own unconventional ways to get attention, like breaking into restaurants or ice cream trucks and forcing people to buy goods.

The film's plot, if there is, is unclear. But I suspect that, as in the brilliant Chungking Express, the plot is not important; instead, the film's priority is the mood that it sets and sustains to the end. In addition to the fact that Chungking Express and Fallen Angels share the same style and mood, they also have same familiar characters, for example: a blonde and one that eats expired canned pineapples. The addition of two minor characters, such as the assassin's detached boss/partner and the mute's grieving father, make the assassin's and mute's characters richer. The cinematography makes the urban Hong Kong setting (as surreal as appears on screen) an integral character in the film.

Overall, the film is an exhilarating piece of sight-and-sound artwork.

Date seen: March 11, 2013

Rating: 3.5/4.0