Legendary Wong Kar Wai directed the visual masterpiece known as "Fallen Angels". The film takes the shape of many Wong Kar-Wai films by following a nonlinear narrative that is imbued by immersive and compelling cinematography, music, and undulating monologues/dialogues.
Still from Fallen Angels (1995)
Fallen Angels essentially follows two respective stories. One story focuses on Wong Chi-ming, a hitman, and the other on Ho Chi-mo, a prison escapee who breaks into people's businesses. Apart from a few characters, the two trajectories bear little correlation. However, they do inform each other through their parallel existence within the film. Concepts of love, loss, and desire function as three crucial concepts throughout the film and are rendered through the lens of its gangster depiction. The three ideas culminate in the more specific theme found in the film, which is about moving on. Whether it is a job, heartbreak, or death, moving on is a complicated task and it differs for each individual. Some find it easy, some find it life altering difficult, regardless there is always some form of change and the stakes are always high.
Still from Fallen Angels (1995)
Visually, the film is incredibly stylish as it features an innovative use of peculiarly shot angles paired with distinctive effects to brilliantly depict each scene. It is well worth a watch for both its conceptual and illustrative journey.
