The Opening

• The Killer


  He is a symbol of HK itself.

  He introduces himself with 'i'm a lazy person, i like people to arrange things for me. thats why i need a partner.'

  His laziness with mercenary is a creative ploy to excuse murder.

  It is also a characteristic of what critics would claim postmodernism as. (lazy)
• The Killer

  He favours an existence that is organised by an external force rather than having to bear the burden of responsibility
• Fallen Angles epitomizes Hong Kongs identity crisis via its characters.
• The Agent and Killer

  Their relationship itself is fragmented: post modernist.

  The film spirals around their unconsummated relationship.

  The impression is that they are constantly on the verge of meeting yet they rarely are.

  Their proximity is actualized by sitting at the same seat, leaving clues, and communication is limited to the lyrics of a song played on the bar's jukebox.
• Killers introduction suggests he himself is an incarnation of HK itself.

  He states that peoples characters determin the jobs they fall into: stating 'i am a lazy person, i like poeple to arrange things for me. thats why i need a partner.'
• Killer = sloth
• In medias res canted, wide angle lens, his 'close but far' technique, of The Agent (Michelle) smoking besides The Killer (Wong) with a black and white filter (FNW)


  This shot is filled with WKW auteur features: 'raising questions not answering them' with his motif of cigarettes, improvised acting: Michelle shakes, and wide angle lens.
• Mis en scene: Wong's costuming = a black suit and white tank top, links to his VO monologue describing 'i am a lazy person, [he] likes people to arrange things for [him]', the basic suit removes a level of decision making from his life, laziness could reference critic Christopher Norris who claimed postmodernism was 'lazy.'

  Binary opp to Michelle's style of layered pieces that draw attention.
• When Classical Hollywood would have dialogue to establish the relationship between the characters, communication is removed when interrogative 'are we still partners?' immediately cuts from the diegetic voice to VO monologue from Wong, using his inner thoughts to allow the audience a deeper understanding
• Smash cut to the title: bright neon colours and the first play of Wong's leitmotif 'Karma coma': the lyrics well describe the killer and agents relationship, WKW auteur feature of music communication. An experimental film of the Hong Kong second new wave exploring the dynamic of isolation and unrequited love.
• MLS, tracking shot with pleonastic clicking of Michelle's heels alongside a crispy static sound standing out against the silence of nocturnal Hong Kong underground, self-reflexive of WKW loneliness when he first moved to HK as a child: the language barrier preventing him from communicating with the other children.
• Tracking Michelle in elliptical jump cut editing (Godard) travelling through the neon yellow (often having connotations of deceit and cowardice) underground, time is fragmented, WKW showing inspirations from post modernism and FNW, creating a disorientating effect for audience immediately as the film begins.
• Narrative parallels, WKW limits the locations to only a few, seen in the opening as Killer mirrors the journey taken by the Agent - although narrative ellipsis leaves the audience wondering the time difference between the parallel shots - leitmotif 'Cos I'm Cool' emphasises the cool, MTV aesthetic characterisation of The Killer, his smooth, floating performance adding to this.
• Cut to Michelle and the apartment, in wide angle canted, quick paced shots, a MS utilizes the flashing of a clock (Godard) revealing itself to the audience: a WKW obsession and motif symbol, the faulty clock acting as a metaphoric symbol setting up the fragmented and unreliability of time: and the characters struggles with it.
• After a series of canted angle, MS follow of Michelle cleaning the apartment, rewinding the clock: WKW challenging the idea of chronological time, furthered with the quick leitmotif LA shot of Wong in the underground: like a glitch.

  A wide angle MS shows her checking her appearance in the mirror, followed by her applying makeup, a focus on her appearance (male gaze) shows the external nature of her confident identity: her mask
• WKW comments on the transiency of life in a canted wide angle ECU of Michelle, 'i am not interested in knowing them either because i know they will soon disappear', through her inner thoughts and job role itself.

  Cross cutting between her and Wong, their individual descriptions of their jobs opposing one another: 'the best thing about my job is that there are no decisions to be made' , WKW representing the gender imbalance in their relationship.
• LS employs step printing as Wong travels through HK nightlife, the mis en scene of the neon signs conforming to the WKW aesthetic.

  SRS between Wong's eye-line matches and CU's as he smokes following traditional MTV aesthetic (editing and cinematography.)

  
  

  WKW romanticises The Killer as this nonchalant, careless and aesthetically appealing form of stylistic violence.
• In a step printed LA MS Wong pulls out two guns, his demeanour shifting into Killer mode, a pastiche to gangster symbolic codes and genre conventions, Hong Kong's God Father.

  Completing this sequence on a mass murder, holding back the audience with camera placed in a LA wide LS as Wong leaves the death-filled room: establishing FA's equilibrium.
• The camera weaves around Michelle as she walks through the subway as if flirting with her and taking on her unfulfilled passion. 
• Cinematographer Christopher Doyle shoots same location for Wong (Leon) weaving through the underground, in a series of quick static shot edits.

  Characterizing him with purpose and denial of the explicit romantic connection (mirrored with cinematography) between him and Michelle.
• Fallen Angels crafts a depressing, romanticised yet raw binary oppositions between the vision of love and lust, repression and regret.
• The bathetic ending of comedy in wide angle CU of Wong on the bus recognized by an old classmate contrasts the violence with comedy
• Opening is good for questions on cinematography, sound, editing, WKW auteur, narrative, and context. (everything), the opening is a perfect visual as WKW as an auteur working in the HK second new wave