Truly representing the pinnacle of Hong Kong film, recently his most famous film Days of Being Wild, together with nine other very famous Chinese films such as Xiao Cheng Zhi Chun and Yellow Earth, were chosen among the Ten Best Films in Chinese history by the Hong Kong Film Critique Committee (Zhong, nd.). Few Hong Kong film directors have achieved such high acclaim as he does. In this case, Wong has created his own special brand of Chinese art film. .
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What makes a Wong Kar-wai film so Wong Kar-wai? How did Wong Kar-wai become Wong Kar-wai? What is the significance of Wong Kar-wai? These are all the questions discussed in this article. The first section introduces the Hong Kong new wave of the early 1980s, which appeared just before Wong's career in directing and had an important influence on Wong's works. Then the major film-making skills, which are widely used in Wong's films and continue to surprise his fans, are examined, to show their special functions in the films. The third section discovers the inner world of Wong's films and explains what make them so outstanding and what he is really trying to express. Finally, a few arguments for and against his controversial films are presented, along with the discussion why Wong's films are appreciated by some but attacked by others. And Wong Kar-wai's contributions are explored as well by the end of the last section. .
HONG KONG NEW WAVE.
Wong Kar-wai was born in Shanghai in 1958 and moved to Hong Kong with his family at the age of five. When he graduated in graphic design from Hong Kong Polytechnic and began his drama and film career in the early 1980s, the rise of the Hong Kong new wave was ushering in a new age of film making. .
Prior to the appearance of the new wave, as with the films in mainland China and Taiwan, Hong Kong films were deeply influenced by the traditional Chinese feature films based in Shanghai that had been prevalent since the Second World War.