Context (C3)

• Cinematographer?


  Chris Doyle (previous collaborator)
• Producer?


  Lau
• Editor?


  Chang (previous collaborator)
• Writer?


  Wong Kar-Wai
• Genres:


  Neo-noir

  Crime

  Comedy-drama
• Fallen Angels experiments with genre, post modernism and is an example of Hong Kong New Wave cinema  
• What happened between China and HK in 1848?

  China gave HK to the British for 99 years
• What happened in 1997?

  The lease expired and Thatcher organised 1 country, 2 systems for HK and mainland China which would last for 50 years
• Fallen Angels makes few deliberate political or social points on surface level, but on a deeper level...


  The mood created can be linked to the status of HK at the time 
• What does the transient, dislocated status of main protagonists reflect?

  Reflects the indistinct space of HK as in-between the UK and China 
• In contemporary Hong Kong, commodification has displaced community, weakened traditions, and produced isolated individuals who are unsure of their identities – human activities rely solely around money
• Wong constructs an image of HK that’s devoid of history and memory (the characters’ homes show no traces of the past –transitory and temporary) 
• Experimental film and new wave...
• What constitutes a film movement?

  -Distinctive body of films directed by auteur

  -Has a related body of critical writing

  -Thematic/stylistic innovations

  -Is a response to wider political/social or cultural changes in particular time/place 
• The East Asian film movements were less a reflection of national cinema and more a reflection of global phenomena 
• What are the five key developments in cinema from 1960-2000?

  1)Rise of auteur

  2) New waves

  3) Avant-garde political films

  4) Post-modernism

  5) Film-cultism
• What's the rise of the auteur?

  The director becomes a ‘star,’ their signature is actively promoted as a mark of quality
• What are the new waves?

  Different rebellions occurred against the conventional style, form, and mode of production of mainstream films
• What are avant-garde political films?

  Filmmakers realised the standard form of feature film was complicit with ruling order, reinforcing political, social norms which they felt could be contested 
• What's post-modernism?


  Post WW2 period – loss of faith in modernity, this manifested in an emphasis on playfulness, playing with genre and the above representing a collapse of confidence in reality 
• What's film cultism?


  1960s onwards – film began to be taught as a subject; cult films emerged – one that has a passionate following but doesn’t appeal to everybody
• What was the time span of the First Hong Kong New Wave?

  1979 --> 1984
• What happened to the HK film industry in the late seventies?

  Film industry suffered serious decline due to popularisation of TV
• What was the result of this/ how did the film industry respond?

  Studios were desperate to find solutions and were willing to innovate --> 30-40 new directors debuted
• What was different about these directors who debuted?

  They were technically superior to earlier films made by the studios and more contemporary in style/theme 
• Why were New Wave directors were influenced by Western filmmaking and culture?

  They had a Western-style education
• What can New Wave films be defined as?

  New wave films were creative explorations of social issues and cinematic traditions
• What did they utilise that set them apart?

  New technology (synchronous sound), new editing techniques, filming on location
• How could their style be defined?

  Combined glamorous visuals, fast editing, modern urban settings and shared a “Honk Kong-centred” sensibility  
• What occurred in the Mid 1980s?


  Because film industries financing came from a small number of companies, New Wave’s freedom from strict commercial demands ended
• What was the result of this?

  Hong Kong Second Wave was born - Second Wave films worked within confines of commercial system while continuing technological advances and social sensibility of First Wave 
• What contemporary issues in particular did Second Wave deal with?

  Those related to 1997 reunification of Hong Kong with China 
• What's the primary reason Second Wave filmmakers shared a nostalgia for the 1960s?

  They spent their pre-adolescent years growing up then 
• What's the secondary reason Second Wave filmmakers shared a nostalgia for the 1960s?

  It was a time economic growth prospered - living standards improved, job opportunities increased, notorious riots --> memorable
• By the 1990s, postmodernism is fully developed, especially in films now seen as cult classics - what do pm films attempt to do?


  Subvert mainstream conventions of narrative structure and characterisation, testing audience’s suspension of disbelief
• Postmodernism is interested in contradiction, fragmentation, instability, and destruction of hierarchies/boundaries 
• 5 key characteristics of postmodernism:

  1)Homage/pastiche 

  2)Meta-reference/self-reflexivity 

  3)Un-chronological stories 

  4)Bridging the gap between highbrow and lowbrow artistic styles

  5)Contradictions 
• What's homage/pastiche?


  Blending many fundamentally different genres and tones within the same film
• What's self-reflexivity?


  Calls the viewers’ attention to the fact that the movie is only a movie, sometimes using intertextuality - the films construction in relation to other media
• What are un-chronological stories?

  Deconstructing and fragmenting time to highlight that the film is constructed