Few administrators have ever made longing look this good. Wong Kar-Wai is clearly identified for the way his movies look—actually, each body might grasp in a gallery—however he’s additionally identified for the way they really feel.
His tales float by time, swirl with reminiscence, and bleed with unstated emotion. His characters don’t all the time say what they imply. Typically, they barely converse in any respect. However by glances, gestures, and people ever-present cigarette drags, they are saying every little thing.
Wong’s cinema isn’t in a rush. It’s moody, musical, and deeply inner. Whether or not it’s a neon-lit noodle store or a rain-soaked alley, his worlds are locations the place heartbreak lingers within the air. His soundtracks—Nat King Cole, The Mamas & the Papas, Faye Wong—superbly accompany the scenes, and even hang-out them. And in some way, even when time jumps or narratives drift, it by no means feels such as you’re misplaced. You are simply floating by somebody’s recollections.
For this rating, we broke issues into two elements. First: the ten movies Wong each wrote and directed. These are judged as full works—how his storytelling blends together with his visible poetry, pacing, and emotional tone. Second: 5 movies he solely wrote. In these, the highlight’s on the screenplay—its characters, dialogue, and themes—separate from how the administrators executed them.
The Director’s Chair: Rating All 10 Wong Kar-Wai Movies
10. My Blueberry Nights (2007)
Wong’s first (and solely) English-language movie follows Elizabeth (Norah Jones), a heartbroken lady who takes a soul-searching street journey throughout America. Alongside the best way, she meets a collection of equally misplaced souls: a gambler (Natalie Portman), a drunk cop (David Strathairn), and his estranged spouse (Rachel Weisz). It’s a story of heartbreak and therapeutic, performed out in diners, motels, and empty highways.
Visually, the movie retains Wong’s dreamy aesthetic: gradual movement, tight closeups, and meals as emotional metaphor. However the script lacks the nuance of his earlier works. The dialogue feels self-conscious, and the characters are thinly sketched. It’s extra of a phenomenal floor than a deep nicely—like watching somebody attempt to translate a poem however dropping the rhythm.
That stated, it’s nonetheless a case examine in Wong’s obsession with distance, emotional and geographical. For filmmakers, it reveals the problem of carrying an auteur fashion throughout cultures and languages. Typically it clicks. Typically it’s simply blueberry pie.
9. The Grandmaster (2013)
This martial arts epic follows Ip Man (Tony Leung), the legendary Wing Chun grasp who skilled Bruce Lee. However don’t anticipate a conventional biopic. This model weaves by many years of political upheaval, romantic pressure with fellow grasp Gong Er (Zhang Ziyi), and a meditation on legacy.
Battle scenes, choreographed by Yuen Woo-Ping, are beautiful and unfold like ballets. However the narrative feels fragmented, doubtless resulting from a number of cuts for various markets. At instances, it’s exhausting to inform what issues emotionally and what’s simply superbly shot filler.
Nonetheless, this movie highlights how Wong approaches style: not by embracing its guidelines, however by bending them into one thing lyrical. For storytellers, it’s a lesson in mood-driven construction—and a reminder that enhancing could make or break an bold script.
8. As Tears Go By (1988)
Wong’s debut movie stars Wah (Andy Lau), a low-level triad member torn between defending his risky good friend Fly (Jacky Cheung) and pursuing a young romance together with his cousin Ngor (Maggie Cheung). It’s a gangster flick on the floor, however there’s a quiet disappointment operating beneath.
In comparison with his later work, that is surprisingly typical—there’s motion, battle, and an easy arc. However you’ll be able to see the seeds of his fashion: emotionally fractured males, doomed love, and the ache of issues left unsaid.
What’s helpful right here for younger filmmakers is seeing how a voice begins. The fashion isn’t absolutely shaped but, however the themes are. You don’t have to begin completely. You simply have to begin with one thing true.
7. Ashes of Time (1994)
This reimagined wuxia story follows Ouyang Feng (Leslie Cheung), a bitter swordsman-for-hire who lives in isolation, haunted by his previous and the folks he’s cherished—or failed. Different warriors drift out and in, every with their very own regrets.
The movie is nonlinear, disorienting, and laced with philosophical monologues. Visually, it’s painterly and surreal. However narratively, it’s exhausting to seize onto. Many discovered it baffling on launch, and even the 2008 “Redux” model didn’t absolutely clear up the readability concern.
That stated, it’s a terrific examine in mood-driven writing. The script evokes as an alternative of explaining. For screenwriters, it’s a lesson in letting your construction take a backseat to sensation, however coherence nonetheless issues.
6. 2046 (2004)
A quasi-sequel to Within the Temper for Love, 2046 follows Chow Mo-wan (Tony Leung) years after his doomed love affair. Now a jaded author, he drifts between lodge rooms, girls, and recollections—some actual, some fictional. The movie blends sci-fi, eroticism, and melancholia.
It’s visually beautiful, full of Wong’s signatures: cigarette smoke, mirrored glances, whispered regrets. But it surely’s additionally indulgent and, at instances, emotionally opaque. The story-within-a-story framing provides layers however not all the time readability.
Nonetheless, for storytellers, this movie is a masterclass in nonlinear construction and emotional recursion. Characters echo one another. Time loops. Recollections distort. It’s messy—however deliberately so.
5. Days of Being Wild (1990)
Set in Sixties Hong Kong, the movie follows Yuddy (Leslie Cheung), an enthralling however emotionally hole drifter who strings alongside two girls—Su Li-zhen (Maggie Cheung) and Mimi (Carina Lau)—whereas trying to find a way of id. In the meantime, a lonely cop (Andy Lau) nurses a quiet crush, and everybody’s caught circling across the ghost of affection they’ll’t fairly maintain.
That is the place Wong’s voice actually takes form. Gone are the shootouts and plot-heavy setups of his debut—right here, it’s all about temper, reminiscence, and missed connections. Christopher Doyle’s cinematography casts a hazy, nostalgic glow over each shot, and the pacing appears like a gradual dance with remorse. It was additionally the start of what would turn out to be his casual trilogy with Within the Temper for Love and 2046.
This movie teaches persistence. It’s much less about what occurs and extra about the way it lingers. For filmmakers, it’s a lesson in creating environment by character silence, digicam motion, and emotional pacing, not plot.
4. Fallen Angels (1995)
This Hong Kong noir options two loosely related tales: a hitman (Leon Lai) making an attempt to interrupt away from his mysterious companion (Michelle Reis), and a mute delinquent (Takeshi Kaneshiro) who hijacks folks’s lives for enjoyable. It’s a movie about disconnection—how folks transfer by the identical areas with out ever actually seeing one another.
That is Wong at his most stylized and chaotic. Fish-eye lenses distort already cramped areas. Music blasts. Neon floods each body. The enhancing is jagged, impulsive. If Chungking Specific was romantic chaos, Fallen Angels is city loneliness cranked as much as eleven. Some critics known as it disjointed; others known as it genius.
It’s the form of film that makes you need to decide up a digicam and begin experimenting. If you happen to’re a filmmaker, this one’s about daring selections—don’t simply imitate Wong’s fashion; work out what temper you are chasing, then bend your type to match it.
3. Blissful Collectively (1997)
Set in Argentina, this movie follows a turbulent romance between Ho Po-Wing (Leslie Cheung) and Lai Yiu-Fai (Tony Leung), two Hong Kong expats making an attempt to flee their previous—or at the very least one another. Their relationship swings from intimacy to volatility, and their environment really feel as alien as their feelings.
It’s one among Wong’s rawest, most intimate movies. The cinematography (once more by Christopher Doyle) is looser and fewer composed, reflecting the messiness of the characters’ lives. The hand-held digicam captures breakdowns, tenderness, and lengthy silences. Wong doesn’t over-explain. He lets it sit there, unresolved.
This one’s a blueprint for writing actual, advanced queer characters. It additionally reveals how a director can use geography and emotional dislocation as narrative instruments. Don’t be afraid of tales that harm, and don’t rush to repair the ache.
2. Chungking Specific (1994)
Cut up into two unrelated love tales, the movie facilities on two lonely cops: Cop 223 (Takeshi Kaneshiro), who obsesses over expired pineapple cans and a mysterious drug smuggler (Brigitte Lin), and Cop 663 (Tony Leung), whose life will get quietly rearranged by an eccentric snack bar employee, Faye (Faye Wong). The tales are mild on plot however wealthy in feeling.
That is the movie that made worldwide critics fall head over heels for Wong. The colours pop. The soundtrack pulses. Time slows down and hurries up. There’s a looseness to the construction that feels improvised, but each scene lands. It is humorous, unhappy, and bursting with feeling—like a mixtape for the heartbroken.
Watch this movie if you wish to perceive methods to make small tales really feel big. It’s proof that you just don’t want huge stakes to make one thing unforgettable—you simply want characters you’ll be able to’t cease occupied with.
1. Within the Temper for Love (2000)
Mr. Chow (Tony Leung) and Mrs. Chan (Maggie Cheung) are neighbors who suspect their spouses are having an affair. As they attempt to course of their betrayal, they develop shut, sharing dinners, walks, and lengthy silences. However they by no means cross the road. As a substitute, they float in an area of what-ifs and nearlys.
That is Wong’s most well-known movie and likewise his most emotionally exact. Each body consists like a reminiscence. The digicam lingers in hallways. Costumes repeat like rituals. Nat King Cole’s “Quizás, Quizás, Quizás” loops like a heartbeat. It is a movie the place nothing occurs—and every little thing occurs.
You need to be taught screenwriting? Research this. It’s about restraint. About methods to say extra with much less. About how pressure doesn’t want drama, simply quiet. Writers typically overwrite emotion. Wong underwrites it—and that’s what makes it hit tougher.
The Author’s Pen – Rating 5 Movies Wong Kar-Wai Solely Scripted
5. Chinese language Odyssey 2002 (2002)
Directed by: Jeffrey Lau
On this genre-bending romantic comedy, Princess Wushuang (Faye Wong) swaps locations along with her maid to flee royal life, solely to fall for a poor innkeeper, Ah Lengthy (Tony Leung). There’s mistaken id, kung fu slapstick, and time-traveling shenanigans—plus some cheeky meta nods to basic Chinese language tales.
Wong’s script is surprisingly playful right here. It’s mild on the poetry and heavy on parody, riffing on tropes and spinning them into fast-paced farce. However whereas it’s witty and peculiar in spots, it lacks the emotional depth or thematic resonance present in his greatest work. You possibly can see his fingerprints, however they’re smudged below all of the comedy.
Nonetheless, it’s a superb reminder that not every little thing needs to be profound. This script reveals how Wong can adapt his writing for mainstream comedy, and for writers, it’s proof that vary issues—even in the event you want melancholy over mayhem.
4. Closing Victory (1987)
Directed by: Patrick Tam
Bo (Eric Tsang), a loyal however bumbling man, is tasked with watching over his gangster brother’s two mistresses—Ping (Margaret Lee) and Mimi (Loletta Lee)—whereas the brother is in jail. What begins as a easy favor turns into an advanced net of affection, betrayal, and exhausting selections.
The writing is surprisingly sharp for early Wong. Themes of loyalty, emotional repression, and quiet sacrifice echo his later movies. The characters are layered, the tone vacillates between comedic and tragic, and the central emotional battle feels genuinely earned. It’s tough across the edges, however there’s depth right here.
If you happen to’re a screenwriter, this can be a nice script to check for balancing tonal shifts. Wong was nonetheless discovering his voice, however he was already writing about folks caught between obligation and need—one thing he’d later good.
3. Saviour of the Soul (1991)
Directed by: David Lai & Corey Yuen
Set in a futuristic fantasy world, this action-romance hybrid follows Ching Yan (Andy Lau), a masked vigilante, and his love curiosity, the mysterious Might (Anita Mui), as they battle assassins, robots, and their very own emotional baggage. It’s half superhero flick, half tragic love story, and half fever dream.
The writing is bonkers in one of the simplest ways. It’s style chaos—romance, motion, sci-fi, melodrama—all smashed into one screenplay. However below all of the spectacle, Wong’s themes of reminiscence, love, and id nonetheless sneak by. It’s like watching him play with toys he usually retains locked away.
This script is a playground for daring concepts. For writers, it’s a reminder that you would be able to nonetheless inject emotion and coronary heart into genre-heavy tasks—and that surreal doesn’t imply shallow.
2. Eros – Section: The Hand (2004)
Directed by: Wong Kar-Wai
This quick movie throughout the anthology Eros tells the story of Zhang (Chen Chang), a younger tailor’s assistant who turns into emotionally entangled with Miss Hua (Gong Li), a high-end name lady. Their interactions—formal, sensual, and quietly devastating—unfold over years, at the same time as they drift aside.
Although transient, the script is loaded with pressure and unstated longing. Each scene feels prefer it’s constructed on silence and suggestion. The emotional energy doesn’t come from huge moments, however from restraint. It’s Wong’s voice distilled: sensuality with out intercourse, need with out decision.
Writers ought to pay shut consideration to how this story unfolds. It’s quick, however the construction is hermetic. It proves that you just don’t want a full characteristic to devastate your viewers—you simply want honesty and precision.
1. Comrades: Virtually a Love Story (1996)
Directed by: Peter Chan
Li Xiao-Jun (Leon Lai), a naive mainlander, strikes to Hong Kong and kinds an unlikely bond with fellow immigrant Li Qiao (Maggie Cheung). They drift collectively and aside over a decade, falling out and in of affection, chasing desires, and lacking one another by inches.
This screenplay is heartache in gradual movement. Wong’s writing is emotionally wealthy, deeply empathetic, and filled with lived-in element. The best way he captures migration, cultural dislocation, and emotional compromise makes this one among his most absolutely realized scripts, even with out his directorial contact.
What’s most putting is how human this story feels. For writers, this can be a clinic in constructing advanced characters who really feel actual, not due to huge speeches, however due to tiny, constant truths. It’s arguably Wong’s most interesting work on the web page.
Conclusion
Wong Kar-Wai’s movies are filled with magnificence, however they’re by no means empty. His fashion would possibly seize you first—the gradual movement, the saturated colours, the enduring soundtracks—but it surely’s his storytelling that lingers. Whether or not he’s directing or simply writing, Wong understands that reminiscence, need, and heartbreak don’t observe a clear timeline. They echo. They repeat. They blur.
Even when another person is behind the digicam, his voice comes by—quiet, aching, and unmistakable. It’s not simply what the characters say. It’s what they nearly say, and what they really feel too deeply to place into phrases.
If you happen to’re new to his work, begin with Within the Temper for Love or Chungking Specific. If you happen to’re a author, learn Comrades: Virtually a Love Story. If you happen to’re a filmmaker, examine Blissful Collectively or Fallen Angels. And in the event you ever end up writing about heartbreak, time, or what might’ve been—simply know Wong’s most likely been there first, and he most likely wrote it higher.
