MovieChat Forums > My Blueberry Nights (2007) Discussion > Anyone else feeling strange about the no...

Anyone else feeling strange about the non-Asian cast?

posted 17 years ago by dkarantoniss
31 replies | jump to latest

Hi to all,
i am a big fun of Wong Kar Wai movies (Fallen Angels is my favourite) and Asian movies in general.

During the film, i could not get out of my mind that something didn't fit. I wasn't really comfortable in watching a non-asian cast on a WKW's film.
So, after watching it, i started thinking of the movie, but this time with Tony Leung instead of Jude Law, Zhang Zigi instead of Norah Jones and Li Gong instead of Natalie Portman!

Anyway, the movie was good, the photograph was excellent, but with an asian cast the movie could be great (just my opinion)!

regards

[–] ladybutterfly30 17 years ago

I personally can not wait until the film screens here in the US. I'm so excited about it.

[–] ahhitsalvin 17 years ago

I think that it is very intriguing for an American cast to be played in this film by Wong Kar-Wai, it is certainly something new and different in which is quite interestingly fascinating.

I haven't seen the film as of yet and I am anxiously waiting for its premiere.

[–] SDockorockerty 17 years ago

I didn't know it was many asians until the credits came up and then I said to myself "So this was why the Chinese government allowed this film to be released here!". Since I have arrived in China 6 American films or so have been released to cinemas, its killing me!

[–] chilledmail 17 years ago

they release something like 17 foreign films a year in China. maybe you should have moved to cuba instead.

[–] takeavaiium 17 years ago

I don't know much about Asian films (I'm Asian but didn't grow up watching Asian cinema), but I could see this type of film working in foreign countries. It certainly would be an interesting experiment.

[–] xmonn 17 years ago

Why is it so hard to imagine an Asian filmmaker directing non-Asian actors? Ever heard of Ang Lee? His BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN and THE ICE STORM are classics.

[–] 17 years ago

[deleted]

[–] Lu_tz 17 years ago

I think the only reason to say you would prefer an Asian cast is because you find Asian movies more "culturally exotic".

[–] the_wobbble 17 years ago

yes.

when i saw this i was just like oh man.....a lot of the lines sound very cheesy and awkward.
i am chinese and i realized how easily i could translate that into chinese and it would work fine. but somewhere somehow, it's lost in the translation and the result is unsatisfactory.

apart from that, the film was also disappointing.

[–] Lu_tz 17 years ago

I would agree that the movie is no In The Mood For Love or 2046 but compared to WKW's other films I think it stacks up nicely. I think it is better written/visually and overall a more coherent piece of work than something like Days of Being Wild or Fallen Angels. It is nice to see WKW taking what he has learnt and applying it to make a nice easy feeling film. The only complaint I had was that I thought there should have been another road stop before she went home. I rate My Blueberry Nights below 2046, In The Mood For Love and Happy Together but above the rest of his films.

[–] dkarantoniss 17 years ago

Hi to all,

first of all thank you all for giving feedback conerning this question.

I would like to remind you that it is just a personal opinion (the fact that i prefer the asian cast for this specific film and director). Though, i am a bit suprised that none else has agreed with me, so, maybe i am just ...weird.

Hi xmonn, i see your point (about Ang Lee), but i didn't say that asian directors should never shoot movies with non Asian cast. I just said that for the specific director (and his style) it seemed strange to my eyes to have a nonAsian cast. I could reverse your argument and ask you what would you think if Emir Kusturica shot a movie similar to the "Time of the Gypsies" with Leonardo di Caprio, Jude Law and Monica Bellucci? Don't you think that it would seem a bit strange?

Hi Lu_tz. Do you really rate this movie above "Fallen Angels"?

regards

[–] Lu_tz 17 years ago

I rate it above Fallen Angels for consistency. There are parts in Fallen Angels that are better than My Blueberry Nights but I find a lot of Fallen Angels annoying and forced. I love the cleaner and his cleaner story but I really don't like the entire Takeshi Kaneshiro plot of him opening other peoples stores at night. Despite the hilarious pay off I don't much care for the looking for blondie story or the story with the screaming OTT ADD blonde woman either. And despite the fact that the different stories are all finally woven together they still feel to me to be completely tonally different.

The start to the movie with no dialogue is beautiful and amazing and that really made me feel something but I don't empathise or feel with the characters much when they begin to talk and I get very annoyed with the farce of the movie very quickly.

So for me the entire Fallen Angels experience is very up and down. With My Blueberry Nights I think the movie has a very even pace and style that fits together to make a whole overall movie for me which Fallen Angels failed to do.

[–] dkarantoniss 17 years ago

Hi Lu_tz,

well put. I agree with most of your arguments.
And i also agree that My Blueberry nights has a more consistent plot. Also the music, the photograph and the atmosphere is excellent in both films.

However, i like Fallen Angels more, because of these extreme and incosistent stories and characters you mention. I don't think that WKW is famous for his consistent plots (2046, Days of being wild, etc...), but for the opposite. Fallen angels is something really different and odd (all the characters of the story are unique and far out). But again, this is just a personal opinion!

regards

[–] Lu_tz 17 years ago

Also I think it is mostly down to personal taste. I like the more conservative and sentimental nature of My Blueberry Nights. Fallen Angels and Chungking Express definitely catch the zeitgeist of the 90s which is maybe less fashionable at the moment. It is easy to see that WKW is pushing film further with those movies (and arguably every movie up to My Blueberry Nights) but I find it nice that he made a settled movie that has nothing to prove and can be a bit shameless.

[–] auntchovie22 17 years ago

YES! I completely agree with you dkarantoniss. And Fallen Angels is my very favorite WKW film too. Even though I haven't seen My Blueberry Nights yet, I was also dismayed when I saw that there were no Asian cast members. Even one Asian character would have added more visual interest for me. The actors chosen are all boring beautiful...no real character to their faces. So then the film takes on a more "mainstream", staid feel for me. I'm also just a huge fan of the Asian actors usually appearing in his films...more so than any of the American actors appearing in Blueberry. That said, I'm happy WKW is finally getting the attention of the American film industry and American public.

[–] RowdyWichman 17 years ago

I'd have to say I agree with you, Dkarantoniss.

I'm a huge Wong Kar-Wai buff, and I adore every one of his films. I fell in love with his style, and the distinct way he is able to turn his films into something so beautiful. I would have to describe watching a Wong Kar-Wai film as viewing a painting in motion. He's just a dam* genius!

But....I watched the trailer to this film and the same thing happened to me. It just didn't feel right. I started substituting Tony Leung, Maggie Cheung and other WKW regulars for the characters in my mind.

Now granted, I have not yet seen the film so I guess I will just have to wait and see.

[–] Xoop 17 years ago

Just in opposite, I'm soooo gald to see WKW directed a film with non-asia cast. Western elements shall perfectly integrate with his film style. It's expected to help WKW to transcend himself to the next level.

[–] jtaboada 17 years ago

Next level? I didn't really have any problem with the American cast, but it remains to be seen wheter WKW will keep doing movies in Hollywood or will come back to Hong Kong to make more films. You can come and go, this is not about levels, but interchange.

[–] sherylheartjude 17 years ago

I watched In the Mood for Love today for the first time...the first WKW movie I've seen, as I had not heard of WKW before MBN came along...and while watching Tony Leung, I can totally get why WKW chose Jude for his "Americanized" film, and after seeing Maggie Cheung, why he fancies Norah Jones...I think her look and her style of music combined together generate a kind of mood that fits in with his type of art.

I personally need to watch In the Mood for Love again because I could not really "follow" it, but what I eventually found I had to do was relinquish myself to the mood that was created by the visuals and the characters...to watch it like art. If that's wrong, then I totally missed it. But I do plan to see it again. And I suspect that watching MBN will be the same experience. If we expect a typical rom-com or predictable love story, then we will miss the boat.

As far as WKW working with a non-Asian cast, I know very little about the man except for what I've read in relation to My Blueberry Nights, which I am anticipating seeing in the theater soon...but what I question for those that begrudge his choices in this film is, why? If this is the film he wanted to make, the art he wanted to present, why feel strange about it and not just go with it, if you are indeed a fan? If he has given you what you have already come to expect from him, why not allow yourself to be taken somewhere else by him? Or if you can't accept it, just don't watch it, and wait for his next creation to come along. But personally, I'm glad he did this film in the way that he did because he chose a cast that I am familiar with and now it's led me to more of his work, which honestly I may not have sought out otherwise.

You're supposed to be the leading lady in your own life, for God's sake!

[–] rightwingisevil 17 years ago

Did you see Wang's porn movie, 'Killing Me Softly'?

[–] sherylheartjude 17 years ago

Hmmmm...no, sorry, I've missed that one...

You're supposed to be the leading lady in your own life, for God's sake!

[–] Xoop 17 years ago

To rightwingisevil,
"Killing Me Softly" isn't WKW's work. It's directed by CKG.

[–] nodiceslice 17 years ago

Wong Kar Wai is a great director.
He knows what he's doing.
He picked the right actors for the show.
Great Asian pride, but consider what is best for the film.

[–] cvilla81 17 years ago

I watched My Blueberry Nights a couple nights ago and I loved it. Everyone who isn't a WKW fan always complains about the jumping from different times in the story to another. People who love him talk about how he captures mood and emotion brilliantly therefore not needing a linear film.

Personally I don't care if there's no Asians in this movie. While Tony Leung, Maggie Cheung, Takeshi Kaneshiro are all great, they're not necessarily great all the time. WKW brings out amazing performances from his actors and he did so with this cast as well. Granted Norah Jones is a bit stale at the beginning, it is her FIRST movie and by the time she's in Memphis it she seems to fair very well against Rachel Weisz and the rest of the cast. Tony Leung wouldn't have made this movie any better, he really wouldn't. This is a movie about love and it doesn't need to be restricted to Tony Leung's sad eyes to make it soar. I heart this movie.

[–] 17 years ago

[deleted]

[–] 17 years ago

[deleted]