Contemporary Film: Under the Influence of Wong Kar-wai
In May, the spotlight is on romantic neon melodramas directed by promising new Asian filmmakers.
La Casa Encendida pays tribute to the Hong Kong master of the romantic melodrama with a programme of contemporary Asian films inspired by the impossible love stories of the director of In the Mood for Love, and the signature neon-drenched nocturnal cinematography of his long-time collaborator Christopher Doyle.
The cycle “Under the Influence of Wong Kar-wai” features four neo-noir films about tormented individuals who haven’t gotten over the loss of their lovers, mothers, fathers, enemies or other creatures, whose absence will continue to haunt them until they are found. As in Wong Kar-wai’s cinematic creations, these four feature films—from Singapore, Taiwan, inland China and the Chinese coast facing Japan—portray the yawning chasm of memory, inducing a permanent reverie that drags the characters into a mental labyrinth where the past, the present and the projections of their own desire coexist.
