Hong Kong Cinema Through a Global Lens Final Analytical Paper

HONG KONG CINEMA THROUGH A GLOBAL LENS FINAL ANALYTICAL PAPER by [Name] Course Professor Institution Date Introduction As a visionary filmmaker, Wong Kar Wai is best known for his evocative use of cruel isolation and heartache, sometimes heavy and sometimes laid back against the urban landscape. In his 1995 neo-noir masterpiece Fallen Angels, Wong goes to the heart of the characters' fractured lives that inhabit the busy, faceless space of pre-handover Hong Kong. A city in flux, anxious about a cultural and political transition, the film reflects the real concerns of city residents. Wong creates a language through a cinematic language of distorted visuals, fragmented narrative structures, a hauntingly emotive soundtrack, and a visceral approach to portraying urban isolation and the human longing for access to others. Thus, to reflect 1990s Hong Kong's socio-political anxieties, Wong Kar Wai uses cinematic techniques—distorted visuals, fragmented narrative, emotive music—of urban isolation and human longings for connection to represent Hong Kong. Contextual Background In the 1990s, Hong Kong was a chronically uncertain place culturally and politically — one-step away from handing over from British to Chinese sovereignty in 1997. The transition engendered much anxiety, reflective of anxieties assailing identity, autonomy, and the protection of this island's idiosyncratic culture. Fallen Angels charts this transition moment, and the urban landscape is used as the symbol of the isolation and fragmentation of its characters. Wong Kar-wai is well known for his innovative filmmaking and tendency to explore themes of alienation and longing. Originally part of the Chungking Express narrative, Fallen Angels became its exploration of urban melancholy, it’s darker, nocturnal opposite to the earlier film's vivid, daytime imagery. Cinematic literature frequently mentions urban isolation, and in Fallen Angels, the city is already a character, mirroring the disarray of connections in its characters. This double-sided portrait of the characters also doubles as a larger metaphor for Hong Kong at that critical historical moment, a place at once uncertain and fragmented.[Fallen Angels (Kino International, 1995).] [Tatevik S. Karapetyan, “Alienage Issues in the Merchant of Venice,” International Journal on Studies in English Language and Literature 8, no. 7 (2020), https://doi.org/10.20431/2347-3134.0807001.] [Pinel, Elizabeth C., Anson E. Long, Erin Q. Murdoch, and Peter Helm. “A Prisoner of One’s Own Mind: Identifying and Understanding Existential Isolation.” Personality and Individual Differences 105 (January 2017): 54–63. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.paid.2016.09.024.] Analysis of Cinematic Techniques Visual Distortion and Wide-Angle Shots Fallen Angels is densely packed with visual exaggeration that would make Wong Kar-wai's work out on the world line. These high, distorted, wide-angle lenses lend a heightened sense of alienation and disconnection. The frame is warped with these shots, and the separation between the characters and their environment is exaggerated. Take Wong Chi-ming, for instance: he is framed alone in dark, cramped rooms, with stabbing beats that pulse to the streets of Hong Kong in neon glare. The visual technique of his isolation is underscored by his placing himself in opposition to the overwhelming chaos of the city. The distortion mirrors the socio-political alienation that Hong Kongers suffered in ...