>From Lawrence Block's latest newsletter:
"From Taipei we went to Shanghai, for a firsthand look at the
city where I'll be setting a film I'm going to be writing for
the brilliant Hong Kong director, Wong Kar-Wai. I'm not sure
how much I can tell you about this project, but I'll say
this: it's set in 1937, when Shanghai was arguably the most
interesting city in the world."
Now there's an intriguing collaboration. I am a big fan of
Wong's work. I'm currently enjoying seeing his past films
again at AFI's current showcase.
The NY Times' Caryn James described one of his early films,
"Days of Being Wild," as "a disquieting mix of 'Hiroshima Mon
Amour' and 'The Big Sleep.'" The "Big Sleep" comparison is a
bit of a reach. Only two of Wong's films are crime films
("Days" is not one of them) -- "As Tears Goes By" is kind of
an arty HK remake of "Mean Streets" and "Fallen Angels"
involves a hitman -- but they are far from orthodox,
certainly not mysteries. The few noir aspects are filtered
through the artier side of the French New Wave. In fact, many
HK film fans find his films boring for that very reason (at
least one HK film guide says they are
"like watching paint dry"). Tarantino helped him finally get
US distribution with "Chungking Express."
The films are populated by some very strange characters many,
if not most, of them very sad over broken, or breaking,
relationships. The stories are often very disjointed, with
jumbled chronology. A documentary on "Happy Together" reveals
just how loose Wong's storybuilding is. He went to Buenos
Aires with only the vaguest story in mind. (Granted, his next
film, "In the Mood for Love," is probably the most structured
of his plots.) So it should be very interesting to see how he
works with a script from as strong a plotter as Block.
Mark
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