Fallen Angels

Viewed on DVD, Friday July 1999

Watch Chungking Express before you see this.  To be honest I don't remember much of this film's uniqueness that I didn't find in Chungking Express.  A lot of cuteness, a lot of indeterminacy, a lot of night lighting.  I didn't find much in the hitman's relationship with his cleaning lady, though the young man who filmed his dad constantly was cute, and little more.  a lot of ideas that are sort of flying around, and some stick, some just make your head spin.  i liked the young man's persistence in getting customers, especially that one poor guy.  i think this concept was played mostly for laughs, but it does hit hong kong merchantilism pretty hard, though sort of in passing.  that's the thing with wong kar wai -- he seems to hit all his themes in passing, as if everything amounts to temporality.  When it works, you're left with a sweet sigh in your lungs, which is what I felt with Chungking Express.  This film put me half to sleep.

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