Fallen Angels

Every once in a while, you will watch a film that hits at just the right time and hits just right so that you say "fuck yeah, that's why movies are made" and for me that was this film today. This is by far my favorite film I've seen by Wong kar wai which sounds like blasphemy since this is the man who literally made one of the greatest romance films with in the mood for love. But this film is something else! The film follows a hitman who's wanting to get out of the business, his partner who yearns for him despite never meeting him, and a mute ex-con who decides he's going to become an entrepreneur. Already this is a wild setup for a film but it works so well. It blends three genres so seamlessly that it truly is all three with those being comedy, noir, and romance. The film will literally go from the hitman killing someone to the ex-con forcing a guy he met on the street to eat ice cream. The comedy is honestly hilarious and while the action may not be up to par with modern action movies like John Wick, is still really impactful using a lot of the usual camera tricks that WKW is known for. Speaking of cameras, this film has one of the most unique visual looks of any film I've seen before! After doing some research, it looks like it was filmed with a 9.8 mm lens which is genuinely absurd! Using such a wide lens gives the city such a unique feel with everything seeming so vast and unending. When we get close up of characters, the area around them feels so empty truly showing how lonely they feel despite their surroundings. I love how each of WKWs films have such a distinct color grading, with in the mood for love being red, Chungking express being blue, and this film being green, it just gives the film such a beautiful style. There rarely feels like there is any use of a tripod here in the film with most of the time the camera is constantly moving and shakey which makes you feel like your right there with these characters. The romance of the film hits really hard with how the film deals with falling in love, longing for someone, and loss. I felt the film captured that feeling of a fleeting love so perfectly, the kind of love that happens when you listen to a song, watch a film, or drive with someone. The kind that you know will fall away when the moment is gone, so you try and cherish that moment for as long as you can, hoping that the song or movie us just one minute longer, or that you want to make a wrong turn so that car ride will last just a little longer. Ugh, I could talk about this film for HOURS! Also, the scene where the ex-con watches the video of his father TOOK ME OUT! "The road wasn't that long, and I knew I'd be getting off soon. But at that moment I felt such warmth. This movie made me want to ride a motorcycle while smoking a cigarette, fucking hell. Small edit here because I can't stop thinking about this movie after watching it yesterday so I went on a deep dive online about the film and found some interesting things. The film was originally one of the stories for Chungking express before becoming it's own offshoot and is now a sister film! It turns out that cinematographer Christopher Doyle also used an adapter for the 9.8 mm lens which converted it into a 6.8 mm lens which is genuinely absurd! That's so fucking wide, but it really does help create that unique feel of Hong Kong. Also, something I meant to mention before but didn't, was the beautiful neon glow of the entire city! It really made the city come to life as the film takes place entirely at night and really makes it feel like the city that never sleeps. I'm absolutely in love with the visual style of this entire film!