Fallen Angels Directed by Wong Kar-wai
A film review by Chris Loar
In this beautiful, baffling follow-up to CHUNGKING EXPRESS, Wong Kar-wai has lapsed once again into near-total disregard for coherence and linearity, serving up instead something like a visual symphony. Structured more around allusion and image than character and event, ANGELS lacks the tight coherence of EXPRESS, which makes it at once astonishing and incredibly frustrating; viewers may find themselves transfixed by this vision of Hong Kong and its denizens, even as they're baffled by plotlines and elements of story that seem without purpose or direction. Not every moment of the film is compelling, but taken as a whole, Wong has once again provided a fascinating statement about memory, longing, and human relationships in the urban world.
FALLEN ANGELS borrows from CHUNGKING EXPRESS its essential structure; it tells us two stories, both centering on peculiar love affairs. The first shows us a detached gun-for-hire, Wong Chi-Ming (Leon Lai) and his partner, known only as the Agent (Michele Reis). Wong and the Agent rarely meet, communicating by beeper code and fax, but they have an intimate connection nonetheless: the Agent maintains Wong's base of operations, and takes his rubbish home with her to peruse in private. The second tale shows us the antics of one He Zhiwu (CHUNGKING EXPRESS's Takeshi Kaneshiro), a mute ex-con who makes a strange living by impersonating shopkeepers after hours and forcing passers-by to consume his goods and services. He develops a relationship of sorts with Cherry (Charlie Young), a young, possibly deranged woman recently dumped by her lover; He obviously cares for her deeply despite the fact that it's never clear that she's actually aware of his presence.
These stories, which sound like B movie fodder, are brought to luscious life by amphetamine-paced editing and cinematography that's almost too good to believe. Wong is using his usual cinematographer, Christopher Doyle (also noted for his work on the recent TEMPTRESS MOON); their work together is consistently distinctive and provocative, and FALLEN ANGELS is no exception. In fact, the filmmakers have outdone themselves; using a hand-held camera, a few wide-angle lenses, and complex, suggestive lighting, Wong and Doyle have provided us with a Hong Kong that evokes the longings and languishings of its inhabitants. And, unlike EXPRESS, which tells its two stories sequentially, ANGELS tells its tales virtually simultaneously, driving home the point that Wong always seems to be making about life in the postmodern city -- that the urban lifestyle does not destroy the cords that tie people to others and to their culture, but rather transforms them into something less recognizable -- something complex, beautiful, and tragic.
The film's visual style is so suggestive as to be almost domineering, and it would make it easy to overlooks some impressive performances by its principals. Fans of CHUNGKING EXPRESS will hardly recognize Takeshi Kaneshiro as he videotapes his father or attempts to forcibly shampoo an innocent bystander; his hair, his costume, and his demeanor bear no resemblance to those of the lonely, noble Cop 223. But the actor retains his appealing, youthful exuberance, and he brings a credible humanity to a part that threatens to collapse into caricature. Michelle Reis also deserves special mention; her stoic, detached demeanor dovetails nicely with her character's quiet, private obsessions.
FALLEN ANGELS certainly has its weak moments; Wong doesn't always seem to know the difference between the quirky and the trivial, and some of his subplots are more than a little tedious. Moviegoers who demand that their films make easy sense and tell an entertaining story will probably come away frustrated or bored, or both. But the film remains immensely valuable for its virtuoso style and its lusty embrace of urban life.
Copyright 1998 Chris Loar
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