Disappointed :( - Fa yeung nin wah (2001) Discussion

[–] ashhamari 14 years ago

this movie is very much influenced by the what time you watch it... i prefer to watch it alone in night time..
its one of my all time fav movie.. but hard to watch in day time or with someone...
so give it another try in different atmosphere..

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[–] s0s 14 years ago

I think it may also be a matter of in what order you see Wong Kar Wai's work. I, for one, watched 2046 and In The Mood For Love first, and Chungking Express, Days Of Being Wild and Happy Together after that.

The first two I mentioned above are, in my opinion, much heavier in tone, and more melodramatic, then the rest of his films. So I reckon it depends on your expectations.

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[–] chaos-rampant 14 years ago

I'm with you to an extent. WKW gives us intimate looks from upclose but somehow I expected them to be more intimate. I was also disappointed to see his amazing visual vocabulary be reduced to the slow tracking shot. Textures, colors, hues, he does well with these. The spark is there but I didn't feel it really light up something. It's my least favourite of his work so far.

-Ninja is supreme and you have doublecrossed it. Why did you do that?

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[–] thiagodebastos 14 years ago

I agree. I was recommended this movie by a friend. I found the style reminiscent of a few French films, mind you it is the first of KWW I've watched so I didn't know what to expect. I concluded with the same disappointment as yourself.
The movie in general was about what opportunities are lost when one is too afraid to act upon feelings and face one's reality. Even that I could deal with and somewhat relate to in a sense. But the ending seemed to go off into a random, anti-climatic tangent :(

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[–] thiagodebastos 14 years ago

I agree. I was recommended this movie by a friend. I found the style reminiscent of a few French films, mind you it is the first of KWW I've watched so I didn't know what to expect. I concluded with the same disappointment as yourself.
The movie in general was about what opportunities are lost when one is too afraid to act upon feelings and face one's reality. Even that I could deal with and somewhat relate to in a sense. But the ending seemed to go off into a random, anti-climatic tangent :(

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[–] 14 years ago

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[–] streetcar51 14 years ago

Wether i watched it day/night it works for me. imo not only this is WKW best work but aslo one best there is. this film is flawless...

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[–] jludwig1986 14 years ago

I had the opposite effect then some of the others mentioned here. Throughout the course of the film I did not fully connect with the characters. It was not until the scenes where they are stuck in the rain and the scenes after that, that the emotions connected and stayed with me. The ending was masterful to me with Wan whispering the secret of his undying love into the ancient ruins where it would stay forever. It had been a long time since the music within a film affected me that way.

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[–] legendlength 14 years ago

Me too I felt nothing unfortunately. I think it was just a straight-up matter of taste for me.

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[–] jaydubsky 14 years ago

Wow, I'm shocked at so many people not liking or connecting to this movie.

I think it's so melancholy, in each an every shot, the style itself is the feeling of the film:

We feel close to them, coming to sudden realizations, when they eat their first dinner together, and so disconnected afterwards... her visiting his hotel room when he moves overseas and when we glimpse that she now has a son...

The ending, with the temple, worn by time but still standing, still strong, and now filled with the man's secret... heartbreaking. Some things get worn down with time, the elements, but still they remain, as will the secret, contained within the wall with mud and grass.

"Death, you are my bitch lover!"

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[–] kokumaker 14 years ago

AlfNet, you do a fine job of encapsulating the aspects of Wong Kar-Wai's movies that can make them so beautiful and engaging, and, simultaneously, so intangible and frustrating. Sometimes you just have to be in the right mood at the right time for his movies to affect you in the right way. I know that sounds lame, but I believe he's a singular filmmaker in this way.

Oddly, if you're looking for more tangible emotional fulfillment out of this movie, I recommend picking up the Criterion Collection DVD and checking out all the deleted scenes. I particularly found the extended ending scene to provoke a response from me that I felt much more strongly than I did with the ending in the final cut. Just watching that deleted scene in the context of the rest of the film might help you find a bit more peace with the overall product.

I haven't watched it myself in several years, but that's the experience I remember having had with it, so hopefully this is a helpful suggestion!

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[–] Buxfilms 13 years ago

I also had the same feeling towards this film. I like you loved Chungking Express and Happy Together, but for some reason this film had something about it i didn't like. The only trouble is i'm not too sure what that is. I mean dont get me wrong, the sets are amazing, colours and the beauty of the film is really really good but i was annoyed because i should have liked it. I think i will have to give it another watch and see if anything changes

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[–] Ro-bust 13 years ago

HMmm I though this was a good film, my only criticism is that although we are interested in the characters we are still somehow kept at arms length from them. Maybe this leads to the disconnect people are feeling. I dont know if this is on purpose by the director but i think it is a direct result of having the characters be to quiet and subservient/polite/respectable. Its like you want to see a deep falling for each other and indulgence of forbidden love and all the dramas and problems that might bring, but they are too 'proper' for them to really allow themselves to do that. In 2046 and days of being wild, you saw more of what made the characters tick, saying that though i do think this is better than days of being wild, 2046 being the best out of the three.

just my op

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[–] Buxfilms 13 years ago

Yeah i guess that could be the problem, because the disconnect people have are really only to do with the characters. Even though we feel close to them, we dont know them well enough. I feel that ChungKing Express is his best film ive seen.

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[–] lamont-hard 13 years ago

You are correct with the film maker keeping the characters at arms length, and i became less interested in the movie as it wore on. This movie is a matter of taste. I wanted to see more of what truly happened as someone walking out the door and saying good buy instead of just constantly being used by there spouses. It just never gets of the ground for me.

I also get the feeling some posters are not being honest and came to believe that the film was more than it really was, but again it is a matter of taste.

I always find evidence of this when posters do not give much detail on the plot such as who was the father of the kid, How long was Chang gone, to some this means nothing to others it is yet another tool for the film not having much to say but when the scenery is great they feel it will carry the film when all it really is just a film with beautiful scenery and not much else.

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