Fallen Angels (Duo luo tian shi)

Release Year: 1995

Director: Wong Kar-wai

Review: This was originally conceived to be the third story to 'Chungking Express', but was broken off into it's own film.  Wong Kar-wai doesn't so much tell a story as he does impress a feeling into you.  The plot doesn't matter much, but its roughly about a hitman who wants to end his semi-romantic, semi-professional, relationship with his female agent who he has never met.  In a parallel story line a mute man makes a living by taking over shops after hours and man-handles people into being his customers.  To say that this is what the movie is about, however, is completely missing the point.

The film is all about mood.  About feeling.  Wong Kar-wai douses his film in style, with every frame being packed with some kind of visual skew.  The narrative, if you can even call it that, is more a string of loosely connected vignettes with an overarching connecting theme.  Bathed in a gritty surrealist tone, Wong expresses insights into love, happiness and purpose in life.  The dialog is sparse in the film, but there are many insightful inner monolouges.  One such monologues explains that personality dictates what a person does for a living.  The hitman loves his job because he doesn't have to think, his decisions are made for him.  The mute is lonely, and works in other peoples stores illegally since he can't make friends or earn capitol with his condition.  Both seemingly happy with their lot in life don't initially see much reason to change.  Over the course of the film, more depth is revealed in their character, and they attempt to break free into a new life.  The struggle to obtain happiness and find ones way in life comes through strong and was the lasting impression on me.

The beauty of the film was power of individual scenes.  Countless scenes stick out and resonate through you, even if they don't quite seem to fit in at the time.  The blond running out into the rain, the force fed ice cream, the emotionally jarring home video, or countless other scenes.  They each have their own message, and leave their own mark.  That's how I enjoyed this film.  It's more of an overall experience than anything.  A flow of beautifully shot, often poignant scenes which somehow leave you reflecting back on it having gained a lot of insight into the lives of these characters and wanting to revisit them.

Rating: 4/5