My Blueberry Nights

[MacGuffin]

Hong Kong auteur Wong Kar-wai finds success easier abroad

Chinese director Wong Kar-wai has proved a revelation in a Hong Kong cinema scene known for its gangster and martial arts flicks, yet his unique style has won him more fans overseas than at home.

The 48-year-old auteur, who this week becomes the first Chinese filmmaker to open the Cannes film festival with "My Blueberry Nights," his debut English-language work, has won praise for his visual style and sensual art films as well as a clutch of international awards.

Wong was the first Chinese director to head the jury at last year's Cannes festival and the first to win the best director award there in 1997 for "Happy Together", the tale of a strained relationship between two Chinese gay lovers living in Buenos Aires.

But it was his later film "In The Mood For Love," released in 2000, which earned him wider international plaudits. It was nominated for a Palme d'Or at Cannes and went on to earn some 2.7 million dollars at the US box office.

Despite global recognition, Wong's films are not box-office hits back home, where the media prefers to dwell on his reputation for being eccentric and laborious, working without a script or sometimes even a plot outline.

"Wong Kar-wai's films aren't box office hits here because they don't suit the taste of the Hong Kong people. Most of the movie-goers are attracted to commercial movies with strong visuals," film critic Lam Keeto said.

"The mainstream audience in Hong Kong don't understand the deeper meaning of his movies. Some of them would even find it boring," he said.

Born in Shanghai, Wong moved to Hong Kong when he was five. Despite no formal training, he enrolled in a television drama training programme after graduating from a local college in graphic design in 1980.

He later worked as a production assistant before becoming a TV scriptwriter.

Wong made his directorial debut in 1988 with "As Tears Go By" which was shown in Cannes. His 1990 follow-up "Days of Being Wild" regularly tops local critics' polls of the best films ever made despite being a financial failure.

International praise was heaped on the 1994 "Chungking Express", a quirky romantic comedy that Quentin Tarantino liked so much that he selected it as the first product of his Rolling Thunder distribution company.

Lam said Wong knows how to appeal to the Western audience with carefully crafted strategies.

"You can see Wong Kar-wai is very calculated in his market strategies -- in the whole filmmaking and in casting. He uses actors who appeal to the international market. His film scores are always in European style," he said.

Wong, who is always seen in his trademark dark glasses, is highly regarded for his ability to bring out the best in his actors, making international stars out of Tony Leung Chiu-wai and Maggie Cheung.

His partnership with cinematographer Christopher Doyle has been another key to his success.

"You can see how Tony Leung can have a mediocre performance with some directors but with Wong Kar-wai, he is very different," Lam said.

Former beauty queen Cheung won best actress at Cannes in 2004 for her role as a junkie rock star in ex-husband Olivier Assayas's "Clean".

Actors, however, temper their praise of Wong with frustration over his methods. After it took five years to complete the futuristic love epic "2046", which was shown at Cannes in 2004, star Leung described the process as torture.

Still, that has not put off multiple Grammy-award winner Norah Jones, who stars in "My Blueberry Nights," and Hollywood heavyweight Nicole Kidman, who will appear in "The Lady from Shanghai".

[pete]

"Wong Kar-wai's films aren't box office hits here because they don't suit the taste of the Hong Kong people. Most of the movie-goers are attracted to commercial movies with strong visuals," film critic Lam Keeto said.

"The mainstream audience in Hong Kong don't understand the deeper meaning of his movies. Some of them would even find it boring," he said.

I think I've read this quote before, and I've probably commented on it already, but lemme ask again--do the mainstream American audience, or the mainstream audience anywhere else, understand the "deeper meaning" of Wong KarWai's movies?  Which self-loathing prick wrote this load of self-loathing bullshit? 

[modage]

10 pics: http://www.ropeofsilicon.com/stills.php?id=3227

i find it hard to believe chris doyle didnt shoot this.

[Ghostboy]

Trailer!!!

It's really weird to hear Wong Kar Wai dialogue in English.

[MacGuffin]

Dialogue: Wong Kar Wai
Source: Hollywood Reporter

CANNES -- The Festival de Cannes' best director award winner in 1997 for "Happy Together" and president of the Competition jury in 2006, Wong Kar Wai returns to the Croisette today to open the 2007 festival with his first English-language film, "My Blueberry Nights." Starring Jude Law and singer Norah Jones in her first big-screen role, "Nights" took Wong -- who has long worked from his home base in Hong Kong -- nearly all the way across America, from New York to Tennessee to Nevada. Busy editing the film, Wong pulled away over several days to catch up with The Hollywood Reporter Beijing bureau chief Jonathan Landreth.

The Hollywood Reporter: What drew you to the "Blueberry Nights" story in the first place?

Wong Kar Wai: After spending five years on "2046," I felt like doing something entirely different. I also wanted to make a film about distance and see how I would work in a new environment. It was a personal challenge and also an excuse to see the real America.

THR: Music has been a powerful part of the feel of films of yours like "Happy Together," and now you're working with a famous singer as an actress. What music features in "Blueberry Nights"? Will any of Norah Jones' or her father's music be in the soundtrack, and, if so, is it original?

Wong: I'm not using any of Norah's music in the film. We both agreed that we want the audience to see her as Norah Jones, the actress. Music plays a large role in the film, but I don't want to spoil it for you.

THR: Do you fall in love with your leading ladies, and are you in love with Jones? What about her finished acting onscreen is different from your early expectations?

Wong: I love all my actors. There would be no reason to work with them otherwise. Norah truly defied my expectations. She is a very natural actress with great emotional instincts.

THR: What are your feelings on Cannes? Do you look forward to returning? What's your favorite place in the city? A bar? A theater? A certain stretch of beach? A restaurant?

Wong: Cannes is always an interesting experience for me. Last year I was the jury president, and two years before that I was rushing to the festival with the print of "2046." Fortunately, this year, the opening-night slot guarantees I will be there early. Either that or the organizers are just taking an incredible leap of faith. I have a favorite Chinese restaurant in the area. Do I really have to give you the name?

THR: What does the title of the film refer to?

Wong: The meaning is actually quite literal.

THR: Now that it's done, how do you rate this film in relation to your previous works? What about in relation to other recent films, both from Hong Kong and elsewhere?

Wong: Personally, I like it very much. I consider it a sort of homage to the American cinema and literature that influenced my decision to become a filmmaker. It's very different from "Spider-Man 3."

THR: Did your basic directing process change much in directing your first wholly English-language film? How? Was it harder? A welcome challenge?

Wong: It was definitely interesting and a concern at first since I was working with a different language and in a new landscape. But I fortunately discovered that certain emotions transcend words.

THR: What's next film-wise? Life-wise? Jones-wise? Will you work with her again?

Wong: I have a few projects in development, but it'll be a while before I make any final decisions. I'd love to work with Norah again. I'm curious to see the road she takes as an actress.

THR: Compare for us working with your longtime cinematographer Chris Doily to working with Darius Khondji. What's new, different? How did Khondji change your working style? What did he see that you might have missed? Do you miss Doyle and plan to work with him again?

Wong: Chris used to be a sailor, so he's a very rough-and-tumble "man's man." Darius, on the other hand, is more of a European gentleman. We drank a lot of tea together during the shoot. It was a nice change of pace. If the right project came along and the timing is right, I would love to do something with Chris again.

THR: Why is the Weinstein Co. the right company to sell this film in the U.S.? How are they going to do it and do you care to have much say in that side of the business?

Wong: Harvey Weinstein had released my earlier film "Chungking Express" under their Rolling Thunder banner with Quentin Tarantino. They did a brilliant job marketing it and introducing me to American moviegoers. I'm sure they will do another amazing job with the new one.

THR: In November, it was reported that Jude Law steals a lingering kiss from Jones in a scene that took many takes, and that you then were considering adding a second such kiss. Did you and did it make the final cut?

Wong: (laughs) You have done your homework. The answer to your question may still happen. I'm still in the editing room.

THR: Please describe working with Law while pretending that nobody ever would read what you said. Quick, first words that come to mind, please.

Wong: Talented and sophisticated. He was my first choice, and I couldn't have imagined anyone else in his role.

THR: Could you ever live in Memphis and why or why not? What's your favorite Tennessee Williams work and why?

Wong: I could live in Memphis. The summer there is very similar to Hong Kong. "A Streetcar Named Desire" is my favorite. I don't think masterpieces require an explanation.

[Pubrick]

THR: Music has been a powerful part of the feel of films of yours like "Happy Together," and now you're working with a famous singer as an actress. What music features in "Blueberry Nights"? Will any of Norah Jones' or her father's music be in the soundtrack, and, if so, is it original?

Wong: I'm not using any of Norah's music in the film. We both agreed that we want the audience to see her as Norah Jones, the actress. Music plays a large role in the film, but I don't want to spoil it for you.

isn't it all "The Greatest" like in the trailer?

THR: In November, it was reported that Jude Law steals a lingering kiss from Jones in a scene that took many takes, and that you then were considering adding a second such kiss. Did you and did it make the final cut?

Wong: (laughs) You have done your homework.

anyone who watches late night talk shows would know that.

10 pics: http://www.ropeofsilicon.com/stills.php?id=3227

i find it hard to believe chris doyle didnt shoot this.

publicity stills are not usually taken by the cinematographer, so i don't find it that hard to believe based on those pics.

i also find it easy to believe based on the trailer, as there are not a million things in the foreground.

[pete]

oh my god, chris doyle where are you.  fuck this movie.  and fuck them.  how dare they break up.

[Pubrick]

oh my god, chris doyle where are you.  fuck this movie.  and fuck them.  how dare they break up.

maybe wong wanted to work with someone gayer than a "sailor" for this film..

Wong: Chris used to be a sailor, so he's a very rough-and-tumble "man's man." Darius, on the other hand, is more of a European gentleman. We drank a lot of tea together during the shoot.

[MacGuffin]

Norah Jones jumps blindly into acting

Singer Norah Jones took a leap of faith when she agreed to star in Chinese director Wong Kar Wai's latest movie "My Blueberry Nights."

When she was approached about the part of Elizabeth in his first English-language movie, she had never seen any of Wong's films and was focusing on a tour.

But once she watched his acclaimed "In The Mood For Love" Jones agreed to try her hand at acting.

"I was not planning on making any kind of acting debut, and he knocked on my door and I hadn't a clue and just thought ... 'I'm on tour and I'm not an actress, so whatever'," Jones told reporters after the film was screened to the press in Cannes.

"My Blueberry Nights" is the opening picture at the 60th Cannes Film Festival, one of 22 movies in competition for the coveted Palme d'Or. It has its world premiere at a red carpet gala screening in the evening.

"I watched 'In The Mood For Love' and I thought 'Wow, that's just the most beautiful thing I've ever seen," Jones said.

"I thought, 'Let's have lunch, maybe he wants the music,' and he said: 'Do you want to be in a movie?'.

"I said: 'OK, you're amazing.' I really just jumped in with a good feeling of trust for him."

It was a risk for Wong too. He decided to cast Jones without having met her, attracted by her looks and cinematic voice.

LOVE LOST AND FOUND

Jones is a Grammy-winning artist who at the age of 28 has sold tens of millions of albums. She appears alongside British heartthrob Jude Law in a story of losing and finding love set in New York and across the United States.

Law plays New York cafe owner Jeremy from Manchester, England, who tells Elizabeth that her boyfriend has been cheating on her and they gradually become soul mates.

Elizabeth embarks on a journey where she encounters a policeman who drowns his marital sorrows in whisky (David Strathairn), his wife (Rachel Weisz) and gambling addict (Natalie Portman).

Wong said he was outside his comfort zone with the film, which critics in Cannes initially praised for its visual beauty and soundtrack more than the narrative or dialogue.

"The challenge of this film is it is in English, which is not my language," said Wong, the president of the jury in Cannes last year.

He said he had often found foreign directors' attempts to make films about China "very embarrassing," with characters distorted or too exotic.

"I always wanted to make a film in a different language, but I wanted to avoid this problem. I wanted to do justice to Americans, to the characters, which I expect from other films."

Asked why he had chosen blueberry pie for the title of the film, he replied:

"At the very beginning I decided it was blueberry pie. I asked Norah also what kind of pie you hate the most, and she said blueberry pie, so it's like a torture."

[MacGuffin]

'Blueberry' greeted with 'quiet respect' from press
Source: Hollywood Reporter

CANNES -- "My Blueberry Nights" drew mixed reactions Wednesday from the world press corps attending the premiere of Hong Kong director Wong Kar Wai's first English-language film.

"Because I found it predictable, it was not like a typical Wong Kar Wai film," said Sylvia Toh, a reporter for Singapore's New Press. "Wong captured Americana well, and I enjoyed the film visually, but Norah Jones was a little self-conscious."

London Daily Mail columnist Baz Bamigboye said he liked the film but added that after all his years covering film festivals he could tell that many in the audience did not share his view. "There was a quiet respect for the film, but no love," he said. "Some people are giving Norah a hard time about it, but I thought she was lovely."

The packed screening at the Palais des Festivals was followed by a news conference at which Wong, Jones and co-star Jude Law fielded questions about working on a film of firsts -- singer Jones' first screen appearance and Wong's first film in English.

Wearing his trademark sunglasses indoors, Wong said that it was Jones' voice that attracted him to her in the first place, though she does not sing in the film.

"Norah's voice is cinematic, like a finely tuned instrument that evokes a story all its own," Wong said.

The American-set film, which Wong said is about the distance between two lovers, includes an unlikely soundtrack of songs from the likes of American R&B great Otis Redding and Shigeru Umebayashi, the Japanese composer who wrote the theme to Wong's previous film, "2046."

"Music has no nationalities," said Wong, adding that he chose the music with Jones' help by giving her still photographs from locations he scouted before shooting began and asking her to match music to the pictures.

Jones recalled how she had to suppress her nerves upon learning she would act opposite Law and how her voice cracked into a high squeal on the film's first take.

Jones credited Wong and the generosity of Law and co-stars Natalie Portman and Rachel Weisz for putting her at ease in the new medium. The collaborative nature of moviemaking struck Jones, she said, "as more like jazz than any other music."

Jones said she had not begun to plan working on a second movie as she has a long concert tour ahead of her.

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Review: My Blueberry Nights
By TODD MCCARTHY; Variety

As much a trifle as its title suggests, "My Blueberry Nights" sees Hong Kong stylist Wong Kar Wai applying his characteristic visual and thematic doodles to a wispy story of lovelorn Yanks. With pop music sensation Norah Jones floating through the episodic tale as a blank-page heroine striving to overcome the blues, beautifully embroidered pic generates increased interest as it travels from East to West and encounters Rachel Weisz and Natalie Portman along the way, but its ambition and accomplishment remain modest in the extreme. B.O. hopes, at least Stateside, rest much more with romantically inclined young fans of Jones than among Wong devotees.
"Blueberry" echoes the director's biggest hit, "In the Mood for Love," in its moody melancholy, claustrophic settings and highly decorative shooting style. But while the actors' dialogue delivery is perfectly natural, the aphoristic philosophical nuggets Wong favors sound banal and clunky in this context, leaving the film thematically in the shallow end of the pool. Additionally, the road movie potential of the film's second half feel significantly under-realized.

Wong and his co-scenarist, crime novelist Lawrence Block, dig themselves into a bit of a hole during a borderline contrived initial half-hour devoted to the first-stage shock felt by Elizabeth (Jones) after having been dumped by her two-timing boyfriend of five years. Beset by hurt, Elizabeth consoles herself with latenight sweets feasts provided by the obliging Jeremy (Jude Law), the instantly sympathetic British proprietor of a Gotham café.

The establishment's cramped quarters are made to seem even moreso by the shallow focus lensing, which places objects, window writing and anything else Wong and cinematographer Darius Khondji can think of between the actors and the camera, which customarily roves around in search of decorous minutiae. As always, Wong is able to transform anything within his field of vision into something worth looking at, although, strangely, the intense close-ups of blueberry pie and other desserts dripping with cream look more like gross anatomical snapshots than anything you'd want to eat.

Jeremy's almost oversensitivity to Elizabeth's plight and his hyperactive eagerness to please gets old pretty quickly. But interlude ends in a hushed kiss --Jeremy can't resist the intimate possibilities of removing some lingering cream from a sleeping Elizabeth's lips with his own --that removes any doubts of his own interests and sets up Elizabeth's subsequent casual postcard correspondence with Jeremy from various spots on her future journey.

Working as a diner waitress by day and a barmaid by night in Memphis, Elizabeth becomes a sounding board to alcoholic cop Arnie (David Strathairn), who patronizes both establishments, and witness to the death throes of his marriage to Sue Lynne (Rachel Weisz), a faithless floozy who makes a point of flaunting her adultery, but ultimately pours out (in a long single take impressively put over by Weisz) her marital past and true feelings to Elizabeth.

Wong clearly delights in photographing Weisz in glamorized states of sultry disarray, but this proves just a warm up for his treatment of Natalie Portman, who pumps sass and energy into her portrait of a young, frosted-haired gambler who takes Elizabeth, now working as a Nevada casino waitress, for an emotional, financial and automotive ride. Leslie, who learned everything she knows from her gambler father, prides herself on her ability to read her opponents around a poker table and decides Elizabeth has a lot to learn about not taking people at face value. Predictably, the young women find they have something to learn from one another.

After all the effort expended upon elaborating the interior scenes, the film disappoints when it hits the great outdoors of the American West. Frequently speeding up the action of the women tooling around in Leslie's Jaguar convertible and allowing the scenery to flit by fleetingly, Wong seems to take no interest at all in settings that have provided great inspiration to many filmmakers. Reacting accordingly, Elizabeth returns to New York for an innocuously romantic wrap-up.

For all its insubstantiality, "My Blueberry Nights" does provide some catnip allure that will be to some tastes. Best served will be those willing and able to embrace the general void of Elizabeth's character and place themselves within it. Jones proves agreeable but bland company in the role; she's attractive, but lacks mystery, emotional vitality and that something special behind the eyes. As if to make up for this in their scenes together, Law starts off in overdrive and only rarely downshifts; he's more effective when he does so. Cult singer Chan Marshall has a tasty scene as Jeremy's ex back for a quick visit.

Visual beauty is a given in Wong's films, as is the use of pop songs and old standards, and nothing has changed on those counts here.

Camera (Technicolor, Kantana Labs prints, widescreen), Darius Khondji; editor, William Chang Suk Ping; music, Ry Cooder; production designer, Chang; costume designers, Chang, Sharon Globerson; sound (Dolby Digital), Drew Kunin; supervising sound designer, Claude Letessier; line producers, Alice Chan, Pamela Thur-Weir. Reviewed at Cannes Film Festival (opening night, competing), May 16, 2007. Running time: 111 MIN.

[Pubrick]

i also find it easy to believe based on the trailer, as there are not a million things in the foreground.

the shallow focus lensing, which places objects, window writing and anything else Wong and cinematographer Darius Khondji can think of between the actors and the camera,

haha, i stand corrected.

"Wong Kar-wai's films aren't box office hits here because they don't suit the taste of the Hong Kong people. Most of the movie-goers are attracted to commercial movies with strong visuals," film critic Lam Keeto said.

"The mainstream audience in Hong Kong don't understand the deeper meaning of his movies. Some of them would even find it boring," he said.

I think I've read this quote before, and I've probably commented on it already, but lemme ask again--do the mainstream American audience, or the mainstream audience anywhere else, understand the "deeper meaning" of Wong KarWai's movies?  Which self-loathing prick wrote this load of self-loathing bullshit? 

the delusion continues:

B.O. hopes, at least Stateside, rest much more with romantically inclined young fans of Jones than among Wong devotees.

who in their right mind was ever expecting a film starring Jude Law, Natalie Portman, Norah Jones and Rachel Weisz to be appealing ONLY to "wong devotees"??? of course, i forgot The Holiday made millions based solely on nancy meyers' auteuristic integrity.. the first and foremost quality americans and cinemagoers worldwide look for in a film.

it's fun to actually read these articles sometimes. more of you should try it.

[polkablues]

it's fun to actually read these articles sometimes. more of you should try it.

Pass.

[MacGuffin]

New Teaser

[MacGuffin]

New Teaser

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New Trailer