Takeshi Kaneshiro In "Chongqing Forest", he was a rambler, number 223. In "Fallen Angels", Takeshi Kaneshiro became a mute who can't speak. He also has a number, which is also 223. However, This is his number when he was in prison.
From police to criminals, from babbling to speechless, although there is such a complete reversal, "Chongqing Forest" and "Fallen Angels" are still often intertwined in my movie viewing experience and cannot be separated. , Due to the similarities in narrative techniques, characters, story structure and lens grammar, "Fallen Angels" can almost be regarded as a derivative or avatar of "Chongqing Forest".
It's like Guy Ritchie's "Plunder" to "Two Smoking Guns", Ozu Yasujiro's to "Tokyo Story", you vaguely remember some storylines, or characters, but it is difficult to accurately Say where these elements come from.
Because of this, "Fallen Angel" is often regarded as a tasteless work in Wong Kar-wai's films, and is criticized as an uncreative copy of "Chongqing Forest".
In terms of creation time, "Fallen Angels" closely follows "Chongqing Forest", and thus habitually inherits all of the latter's film mechanics. If you arbitrarily criticize it for "copying", it seems to ignore Wong Kar-wai's good intentions.
"Chongqing Forest" is definitely a product of inspiration. It is a "fast food work" in the production process. At that time, Wong Kar-wai fell into a terrible time quagmire when filming "Evil and Poison in the West". , Investors are heartbroken, in this situation, Wong Kar-wai saw the needle, shot "Chongqing Forest" in a very short time, and achieved a classic.
Perhaps it was because the filming of "Chongqing Forest" was too hasty and the intentions were still unfinished. Wong Kar-Wai wanted to improve himself. He injected "Fallen Angels" into the expectation of the perfect, upgraded and demonstration versions of "Chongqing Forest". This is a perfectionist's expectation. common disease. Therefore, when shooting "Fallen Angels", his direction was more clear, the atmosphere of the film was made more poignant and sad, and the post-modern sentiment was made more labelled.
The result is very paradoxical, and the meticulously crafted "Fallen Angel" is often ignored intentionally or unintentionally in Wong Kar-wai's film pedigree.
Even with such "grievances", "Fallen Angel" still can't hide its unique charm, which is given by the image of Dawn's killer. Killers and related gangster characters are important symbols of Wong Kar-wai's early films. This may stem from Wong Kar-wai's early screenwriting experience. In the era of gangster-themed movies flying all over the sky, he was accustomed to using killers and other marginal characters in society to create personal movie expressions. However, after "Fallen Angels", he said goodbye to this "gangster system" and began to feel nostalgic. "In the Mood for Love" and "2046" will continue his legend.
In fact, "Fallen Angel" also hinted at his determination to "say goodbye to the killer". This hint is one of the most praised episodes of "Fallen Angel". The killer played by Dawn has just brutally and decisively killed people, and then I met elementary school classmates on the public bus. "Even if it is a killer, there are elementary school classmates."
This absurd setting is a deconstruction of the "killer theme". In addition, the opera ditty that permeates the entire film also seems to have extended to "In the Mood for Love".
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