WONG KAR-WAI TRILOGY

Maggie Cheung

Years ago when my life was carried away on an unyielding wave of melancholy, I sometimes abandoned myself into the ethereal world of Mr. Wong's cinematography. I watched some of his movies multiple times alone and with different people, but I always pretended that it was my first time with each viewing experience. As time progresses, specific details of each movie blur away, and only vague remnants of feelings associated with certain scenes follow me until this day. By chance, I discovered a collection of dialogues that I wrote down for Days of Being Wild (1990), In The Mood For Love (2000), and 2046 (2004). I tried to remember why I took these notes, but the past is something I could barely see and completely out of my touch. As I reviewed the notes and struggled to find the reasons, fragments of scenes from each movie and the mood they induced within my psyche came rushing back as if promptly awakened from soporific oblivion.

Days Of Being Wild

" I finally arrived at my mother's house, but she didn't want to see me. The maids told me she no longer lived there.

As I was leaving, I could feel a pair of eyes watching me from behind, but I was determined not to turn around. I just wanted to find out what she looked like.

Since she wouldn't give me that chance, I wouldn't give it to her either."

Maybe I still have some unresolved mommy issues that are still working their ways out. In reality, the ship I sail with my mother has reached calmer water. Even though I could still see that patch of dark cloud if I turned around, I choose to keep my eyes focused on the clear horizon ahead, and enjoy the present harmony of the ocean and the sky.

In The Mood For Love

"- In the old days, if someone had a secret they didn't want to share... you know what they did?

- Have no idea.

- They went up a mountain, found a tree, carved a hole in it, and whispered the secret into the hole. Then they covered it with mud. And leave the secret there forever.

- What a pain! I'd just go to get laid.

- Not everyone's like you."

If said tree falls down in the woods and there's nobody around to witness, would it nullify your secret as it falls? What if a lumberman chops the tree down and carves the wood into a flute, would the flute carry the anguish of your secret and darken the happiest of all melodies? 

2046

"Love is all a matter of timing. 

It's no good meeting the right person too soon or too late. If I'd live in another time or place... my story may have had a very different ending."

Sometimes, you meet the right person at the right time. However, all the time in the world you think you possess has its limit, and the person is good until they are not. Maybe I am in a cynical mood, but if you find this rant applicable to you, I urge you to enjoy and savor what you have and don't take anything for granted.

If you find this irrelevant, well, ranting is good for the soul.