Preservation of Unique Hong Kong Charm: Steering Clear of Globally Influenced Aesthetics Eroding Local Identity
A Fresh Spin on Emotional Landscapes:
There's something compelling about revisiting In the Mood for Love – it feels like a political statement in a city where cultural reminiscence has become a subtle form of protest. But Wong's film isn't about the colonial past; it's all about the raw emotions of the present. That's what makes people love Wong's work – it's not about nostalgia, but the feels, the atmosphere, or that leisurely, contemplative pace of life.
A significant portion of In the Mood for Love was shot in Bangkok. Why Bangkok, you ask? Not for historical accuracy, but because it stirs up memories of a Hong Kong that no longer exists physically. That decision speaks volumes – Wong isn't preserving the past; he's capturing its emotional essence and lingering memories of transient spaces.
Wong's upcoming film, Blossoms Shanghai, delves deeper into the emotional terrain of Shanghai and Hong Kong. For him, these cities aren't just film sets, but emotional landscapes where he embodies the haipai style – a cultural mix flowing between Shanghai and Hong Kong. His films echo a rhythm that once connected the two cities, carried by migration, commerce, and memory.
As for the powerhouses China Merchants and Jardine Matheson, their historical ties to Shanghai and Hong Kong add layers to Wong's narrative of displacement, hybridity, and nostalgia.
Shedding Light on Shanghai's Emotional Tapestry:
In Wong's work, Shanghai represents a lost homeland and cultural roots, reflecting his personal history. Born in Shanghai in 1958, Wong moved to Hong Kong in 1963, a journey shared by many Shanghainese families post-revolution. His upcoming film, Blossoms Shanghai, revisits the city's mid-20th-century cultural milieu, painting it as the third part of In the Mood for Love and 2046. This series investigates Shanghai's haipai essence – a mix of cosmopolitanism, modernization, and traditional Chinese aesthetics – through characters navigating societal shifts from the 1960s Cultural Revolution to the 1990s economic reforms.
The emotional weight of Shanghai, often symbolizing unresolved longing, mirrors Wong's own displacement. With Blossoms Shanghai, Wong vows to visually express his love for his birth city, suggesting a deeply personal journey with his roots.
Hong Kong: A Transient Identity and Cultural Discord:
Hong Kong, Wong's adopted home, appears as a limbo where characters grapple with transience and cultural unease. Films like Days of Being Wild and In the Mood for Love depict Hong Kong's cramped tenements and neon-lit streets to evoke a sense of temporal dislocation and emotional isolation. In his early works, such as As Tears Go By, he captures Hong Kong's restless vitality through pulsating slow-motion sequences and broken narratives, reflecting the Shanghainese diaspora's struggle to assimilate into Hong Kong's Cantonese-dominated culture.
Haipai as Cinematic DNA:
The haipai aesthetic manifests in Wong's visual style with its:- Nostalgia: Peter Pau's cinematography in Blossoms Shanghai employs rich colors and languid pacing to evoke vanishing cultural eras. Christopher Doyle's work on In the Mood for Love accomplishes a similar effect.- Hybridity: Wong's fusion of Shanghai's romance with Hong Kong's frenetic energy mirrors the haipai tradition of merging Western modernity with traditional Chinese sensibilities.
Both cities serve as psychogeographic anchors, grounding Wong's personal history onto themes of memory and desire. As he bridges Shanghai's repressed past and Hong Kong's uncertain future, his films become explorations of identity in flux.
- Wong's film, Blossoms Shanghai, mirrors the financial powerhouses China Merchants and Jardine Matheson, as it explores the economic landscape of Shanghai, adding depth to his narrative of displacement, hybridity, and nostalgia.
- With Blossoms Shanghai, Wong aims to embody the 'haipai' style in his films, not just as a representation of the cities, but as an embodiment of the emotional landscapes themselves – a blend of entertainment, politics, and finance.
- The upcoming Hong Kong film archiving project, 'Movies-and-TV-Archiving-Project', promises to preserve the essence of Wong's work, as it captures the raw emotions, leisurely pace, and unresolved longing that embodies the city of Hong Kong.
- The entertainment industry, with its charismatic stars and blockbuster films, reflects the dynamic financial market of the city, much like the movies themselves mirror the emotional and political landscapes of Shanghai and Hong Kong.
- As Wong delves further into the emotional terrain of Shanghai and Hong Kong, his work serves as a political statement, much like his masterpiece In the Mood for Love – a testament to the power of art and cinema, embodying the spirit of resistance and cultural preservation in a city where business and politics intertwine.
