Film Easter ISP

The Fallen Angels Question didn’t work for some reason, so here it is:

Section D: Film movements – Experimental film (1960-2000)

62) To what extent is the film you have studied recognisable as the product of an auteur? [20]

Fallen Angels is very recognisable as the product of the auteur Wong Kar-wai. For example, his recognisable use of film form. One of the main examples is his use of non-diegetic pop songs throughout the movie, not for ironic purposes, but to connote certain feelings to the audience. Another main example is his use of rain, which he uses to bring characters together in Fallen Angels, furthering the themes of loneliness and togetherness. The mise-en-scene of rain is also used in his other films like ‘The Grandmaster’. Furthermore, he has a specific use of editing in terms of time manipulation to convey meaning. Such as, the use of step printing, like during the assassination sequence, which to partially used to connote a sense of coolness to the character. He also uses slow motion, like the slow motion of the train dirivng past during the opening, which has a sense of lonliness. Simialrly, his use of cinematography also does this. His use of wide angle lens and deep depth of field shots create the sense of sepeartion, as the character at the front is distant from those behind them, creating the sense of lonliness and need for connection with other human beings. These themes can also be seen in his film ‘Chungking Express’, which is the sister film to Fallen Angels, which was initially the third part to the movie. Another connection between these movies are the actors. Interestingly, the same non-actor was used in both, which is an experminetal attitude to film making.  

Narratively, Wong Kar-wai’s work tends to be experimental, which is part of his auteur signature. Such as, instead of the narrative focusing on plot and explantaion, it focuses on character, themes like lonliness and connection, and emtions, as he uses expermintal narrative devices and narrative structure to convey very real human emotion. Such as, the narrative device during the opening of narrative repeition of two characters following the same path through the station, then both picking up the same key (close up) and enetring the same house but at different times highlights their lonliness and lack of close connection. This is instead of narrative devices being used for expostion, which most films have during the opengn equilibrium, but Fallen Angels does not. Throughout, instead of explaining who the charcaters are, and why they do what they do, like why the man assisinates people, Wong Kar-wai doesn’t tell us, and instead focuses on the emotion. This could be why the ending equilibrium is open instead of a closed ending, as the two characters on the same bike, with her holding on to him, is suggesting a closness between the two, even if momentary, which in a way sums up the themes of the films and the emotions of the film rather than any plot. During this ending, the lighting in the tunnel is green, and green lighting was also iused earlier when the son was spying on his dad watching the footage he filmed. As Wong Kar-wai doesn’t foolow traditional colour theory, it can be hard to intepret the exact connotations and meaning of his colour choices, but they are picked intentionaly and for emotional meaning. It’s possible due to both times that green lighting was used that it represents closeness between the characters.