Wong Kar-Wai Latest Celebrity News & Gossip

If you’re anything like me, you are still reeling, not over, and have not forgiven Hong Kong filmmaker Wong Kar-Wai for what he did with his Criterion Collection 4K boxset remasters of all his original films (he may be an auteur, one of the true grandmasters of cinema, but his aesthetic revision there is akin to a cinematic crime that rivals what George Lucas did with the “Star Wars” prequels, worse actually).

Veteran Hong Kong actor Tony Leung passed through the Tokyo Film Festival this afternoon, where he led a masterclass session following a screening of 2046, his sixth collaboration with filmmaker Wong Kar-Wai. 

Every Tuesday, discriminating viewers are confronted with a flurry of choices: new releases on disc and on-demand, vintage and original movies on any number of streaming platforms, catalogue titles making a splash on Blu-ray or 4K. This twice-monthly column sifts through all of those choices to pluck out the movies most worth your time, no matter how you’re watching.

As we’ve discussed in the past, Hong Kong filmmaker Wong Kar Wai (“In The Mood For Love”) is something of a man of mystery, and you never know exactly what’s coming when. Couple that with the lost in translation news out of China to America, and it can be a game of telephone.

When you talk about film fans, much like any sort of fandom, there are multiple “levels.” You have casual fans that enjoy going to the cinema and watching the latest features. Then you go another step and find the folks that will seek out specific works by filmmakers and follow storytellers regardless of what their latest project might be.

We’re only in April, but 2021 has already turned into a big year for filmmaker Wong Kar-Wai. Not only has a number of his films been digitally restored in 4K and added to The Criterion Collection in a recent box set, but this year marks the 30th anniversary of the creation of Jet Tone Films, the filmmaker’s production company.

This is Wong Kar-Wai‘s world, we’re just living in it. Despite not directing a feature since 2013’s “The Grandmaster,” the filmmaker has stayed pretty busy the past few months, and now Kar-Wai is back on the director’s chair with a new short film that feels far bigger and more visually stunning than any trailer or ad from last night’s Super Bowl.

Wong Kar-Wai‘s romantic epic “In the Mood for Love” is not only one of the greatest films of the 21st century, it also has a phenomenal soundtrack by Michael Galasso. Now that the film is celebrating its 20th anniversary, we are living in Wong Kar-Wai’s world.

When it was announced that acclaimed filmmaker Wong Kar-wai was going back to restore all of his films in 4K, people were ecstatic. This is a director that has released some of the very best films of the past several decades, including what some consider a couple of the best films of all time.

Despite what many people, and the digital edition of the new generation of consoles would want you to believe, it’s a great time to be a fan of physical media. Even more so than director’s cuts brought upon by relentless fan campaigns, 4K restorations are allowing filmmakers to tweak their films in more meaningful ways than adding CGI rocks in the foreground in the special edition of “Star Wars.” The latest filmmaker to take advantage of these restorations is Wong Kar-Wai.

To many, the works of Wong Kar-wai are some of the best the film medium has ever seen. For example, “In the Mood for Love” is often considered one of the best films of all-time, showing just how masterful Wong is at creating heart-wrenching drama and beautiful sensuality.

You know, it if it wasn’t for that stupid pandemic, 2020 could have been a banner year for legendary filmmaker Wong Kar-wai. Not only are some of his best features getting 4K restorations and limited theatrical release this year, but the filmmaker was also set to begin work on a TV series and film, both based on the story “Blossoms.” But with the pandemic hitting, things have been delayed and 2020 isn’t such a prolific year for Wong.

“The director that shakes me and moves me most is Wong Kar-wai.

Tom Grater International Film ReporterHong Kong filmmaker Wong Kar Wai has set an adaptation of Jin Yucheng’s novel Blossoms as his first series project.Created and produced by Wong, Blossoms Shanghai will be an homage to his birthplace, Shanghai, by exploring its massive economic growth in the 1990s.