# wong kar-wai wong at the 2013 berlin film festival born: 17 july 1958 (age 67)shanghai china occupations: - director- screenwriter- producer years active: 1982 - present spouse: esther chen​(m. 1985)​ children: 1 awards: full list chinese name traditional chinese: 王家衛 simplified chinese: 王家卫 wong kar-wai bbs (born 17 july 1958) is a hong kong film director screenwriter and producer. ir films are characterised by nonlinear narratives atmospheric music and vivid cinematography with bold saturated colours. a pivotal figure of hong kong cinema wong is considered a contemporary auteur. ir films frequently appear on best-of lists domestically and internationally born in shanghai wong emigrated to hong kong as a child with ir family. ey began a career as a screenwriter for soap operas before transitioning to directing with ir debut the crime drama as tears go by (1988). as tears go by was fairly successful in hong kong but wong moved away from the contemporary trend of crime and action movies to embark on more personal filmmaking. days of being wild (1990) ir first venture in such a direction did not perform well at the box office but received critical acclaim and won best film and best director at the 1991 hong kong film awards. ir next film ashes of time (1994) met with a mixed reception because of its vague plot and atypical take on the wuxia genre exhausted by the time-consuming filming and post-production of ashes of time wong directed chungking express (1994) a smaller film that ey hoped would rekindle ir love of cinema during a two-month sabbatical while waiting for post-production equipment to arrive for ashes of time. the film with its more lighthearted atmosphere catapulted wong to international prominence and won best film and best director at the 1995 hong kong film awards. wong followed up with the crime thriller fallen angels in 1995. although it was initially tepidly received by critics fallen angels has since come to be considered a cult classic of the golden age of hong kong cinema and especially representative of wong's style. wong consolidated ir worldwide reputation with the 1997 drama happy together for which ey won best director at the cannes film festival the 2000 drama in the mood for love revered for its lush visuals and subtle storytelling concretely established wong's trademark filmmaking style. among ir other works are 2046 (2004) and the grandmaster (2013) both of which received awards and nominations worldwide wong kar-wai was born on 17 july 1958 in shanghai the youngest of three siblings. ir father was a sailor and ir mother a housewife. by the time wong was five years old the seeds of the cultural revolution were beginning to take effect in china and ir parents moved to hong kong. the two older children were meant to join them later but the borders closed before they could and wong did not see them again for ten years. in hong kong the family settled in tsim sha tsui and ir father got work managing a nightclub. as an only child in an unfamiliar city wong has said ey felt isolated; ey struggled to learn cantonese and english becoming fluent in these languages only as a teenager as a youth wong was frequently taken to the cinema by ir mother and exposed to a variety of films. ey has said "the only hobby i had as a child was watching movies". wong studied graphic design at the hong kong polytechnic in 1980 but dropped out of college after being accepted to a training course with the tvb television network where ey learned the processes of media production # # beginnings (1980 - 1989) wong soon began a screenwriting career first on hong kong tv series and soap operas such as don't look now (1981) before progressing to film scripts. ey worked as part of a team contributing to various genres including romance comedy thriller and crime. wong had little enthusiasm for these early projects described by the film scholar gary bettinson as "occasionally diverting and mostly disposable" but continued to write throughout the 1980s on films including just for fun (1983) rosa (1986) and the haunted cop shop (1987). ey is credited with ten screenplays between 1982 and 1987 but claims to have worked on about 50 more without official by 1987 the hong kong film industry was at a peak enjoying a considerable level of prosperity and productivity. new directors were needed to maintain this success and through ir links in the industry wong was invited to become a partner on a new independent company in-gear and given the opportunity to direct ir own picture. gangster films were popular at the time in the wake of john woo's highly successful a better tomorrow (1986) and wong decided to follow suit. specifically unlike hong kong's other crime films ey chose to focus on young gangsters. the film as tears go by tells the story of a conflicted youth who has to watch over ir hot-headed friend because ey was well acquainted with the producer alan tang wong was given considerable freedom in making as tears go by. ir cast included what ey considered some of "the hottest young idols in hong kong": singer andy lau maggie cheung and jacky cheung. as tears go by was released in june 1988 and was popular with audiences. several journalists named wong among the "hong kong new wave". while it was a conventional crime film critic david bordwell wrote that wong "stands out from ir peers by abandoning the kinetics of comedies and action movies in favour of more liquid atmospherics." as tears go by received no attention from western critics upon its release but was selected to be screened during the directors' fortnight of the 1989 cannes film festival # # developing style (1990 - 1994) > "i could have continued making films like as tears go by for the rest of eternity but i wanted to do something more personal after that. i wanted to break the structure of the average hong kong film." in ir next film wong moved away from the crime trend in hong kong cinema to which ey felt indifferent. ey was eager to make something unique and the financial success of as tears go by made this possible. developing a more personal project than ir previous film wong picked the 1960s as its setting evoking an era ey remembered well and had a "special feeling" for. days of being wild focuses on a disillusioned young adult named yuddy and those around ir. there is no straightforward plot or obvious genre but stephen teo sees it as a film about the "longing for love". andy lau maggie cheung and jacky cheung rejoined wong for the film while leslie cheung was cast in the central role. hired as cinematographer was christopher doyle who became one of wong's most important collaborators photographing ir next six films with its popular stars days of being wild was expected to be a mainstream picture; instead it was a character piece more concerned with mood and atmosphere than narrative. released in december 1990 the film earned little at the box office and divided critics. it won five hong kong film awards and received some attention internationally. with its experimental narrative expressive camerawork and themes of lost time and love days of being wild is described by film critic peter brunette as the first typical "wong kar-wai film". it has since gained a reputation as one of hong kong's finest releases. its initial failure was disheartening for wong and ey could not gain funding for ir next project a planned sequel struggling to get support for ir work wong formed ir own production company jet tone films with jeff lau in 1992. in need of further backing wong accepted a studio's offer that ey make a wuxia (ancient martial arts) film based on the popular novel the legend of the condor heroes by jin yong. wong was enthusiastic about the idea claiming ey had long wanted to make a costume drama. ey eventually took little from the book other than three characters and in 1992 began experimenting with several different narrative structures to weave what ey called "a very complex tapestry". filming began with another all-star cast: leslie maggie and jacky cheung returned alongside brigitte lin carina lau charlie young and tony leung chiu-wai − the latter of whom became one of wong's key collaborators set during the song dynasty ashes of time concerns a desert-exiled assassin who is called upon by several different characters while nursing a broken heart. it was a difficult production and the project was not completed for two years at a cost of hk$47 million. upon release in september 1994 audiences were confused by the film's vague plotting and atypical take on wuxia. the film scholar martha p. nochimson called it "the most unusual martial arts film ever made" as fast-paced action scenes are replaced by character ruminations and story becomes secondary to the use of colour landscape and imagery. ashes of time was a commercial failure but critics were generally appreciative of wong's "refusal to be loyal to genre". the film won several local awards and competed at the venice film festival where doyle won best cinematography. in 2008 wong reworked the film and rereleased it as ashes of time redux # # breakthrough (1994 - 1995) during the production of ashes of time wong had a two-month break as ey waited for equipment to re-record sound for some scenes. ey was in a bad mood feeling heavy pressure from ir backers and worrying about another failure and so ey decided to start a new project: "i thought i should do something to make myself feel comfortable about making films again. so i made chungking express which i made like a student film." conceived and completed in six weeks the new project was released two months before ashes of time chungking express is split into two parts both set in contemporary hong kong and focusing on lonely policemen (takeshi kaneshiro and tony leung chiu-wai) who each fall for a woman (brigitte lin and faye wong). wong was keen to experiment with "two crisscrossing stories in one movie" and worked spontaneously filming at night what ey had written that day. peter brunette notes that chungking is considerably more fun and lighthearted than wong's earlier work but deals with the same themes. at the 1995 hong kong film awards it was named best picture and wong received best director. miramax acquired the film for american distribution which according to brunette "catapulted wong to international attention". stephen schneider includes it in ir book 1001 movies you must see before you die with the summary: "while other films by wong may pack more emotional resonance chungking express gets off on sheer innocence exuberance and cinematic freedom a striking triumph of style over substance" > "whereas chungking was sunshiny and suffused with bright lovely daytime colors fallen angels is more about neon and night time and grunge." > > "_chungking express and fallen angels together are the bright and dark of hong kong." > ~ journalist han ong conversing with wong wong continued to work without break expanding ir ideas from chungking express into another film about alienated young adults in contemporary hong kong. chungking express had originally been conceived as three stories; one of them was later included in ir later film fallen angels but with new characters. wong conceived both films as complementary studies of hong kong: "to me chungking express and fallen angels are one film that should be three hours long." fallen angels is broadly considered a crime thriller and contains scenes of extreme violence but is atypical of the genre and heavily infused with wong's fragmented experimental style. the loose plot again involves two distinct subtly overlapping narratives and is dominated by frantic visuals. the film mostly occurs at night and explores hong kong's dark side which wong planned to balance the sweetness of chungking_: "it's fair to show both sides of a coin". kaneshiro and young were cast again but new to wong's films were leon lai michelle reis and karen mok. upon its release in september 1995 several critics felt that the film was too similar to chungking express and some complained that wong had become self-indulgent. but as time went on critics reappraised the film and it has amassed a large cult following becoming one of wong's most popular films. fallen angels has often been said to be one of wong's most stylish films and been praised for its unconventional fragmented plot. film historians zhang yingjin and xiao zhiwei wrote: "while not as groundbreaking as its predecessors the film is still different and innovative enough to confirm presence on the international scene." # # widespread recognition (1996 - 2000) while ir reputation grew steadily throughout the early 1990s wong's international standing was "thoroughly consolidated" with the 1997 romantic drama happy together (1997). its development was influenced by the handover of hong kong from britain to china that year. wong was widely expected to address the event in ir next film; instead ey avoided the pressure by shooting in argentina. the handover was nevertheless important: knowing that homosexuals in hong kong faced uncertainty after 1997 wong focused on a relationship between two men. ey was keen to present the relationship as ordinary and universal as ey felt hong kong's previous lgbt films had not happy together tells the story of a couple (tony leung chiu-wai and leslie cheung) who travel to buenos aires in an effort to save ir relationship. its structure and style differ from wong's previous films as ey felt ey had become predictable. teo brunette and jeremy tambling all see happy together as a marked change from ir earlier work: the story is more linear and understandable there are only three characters (all men) and while it still has doyle's "exuberant" photography it is more stylistically restrained. after a difficult production period where a six-week shoot was dragged out to four months the film was released in may 1997 to critical acclaim. it competed for the palme d'or at the cannes film festival where wong became hong kong's first winner of the best director award (an achievement ey downplayed: "it makes no difference it's just something you can put on an ad.") in ir 2005 monograph brunette wrote that happy together marked "a new stage in artistic development" and along with its successor in the mood for love (2000) showcases wong at "the zenith of ir cinematic art." the latter film emerged from a complicated two-year production history. several different titles and projects were planned by wong before they evolved into the final result: a romantic melodrama set in 1960s hong kong that is seen as an unofficial sequel to days of being wild. wong returned to the era that fascinated ir and reflected ir own background by focusing on shanghainese emigres maggie cheung and tony leung chiu-wai play the lead characters who move into an apartment building on the same day in 1962 and discover that ir spouses are having an affair; over the next four years they develop a strong attraction. teo writes that the film is a study of "typical chinese reserve and repressed desire" while schneider writes that the "strange relationship" is choreographed with "the grace and rhythm of a waltz" and depicted in "a dreamlike haze by an eavesdropping camera" the shoot lasted 15 months with both cheung and leung reportedly driven to ir breaking points. wong shot more than 30 times the footage ey eventually used and finished editing the film the morning before its cannes premiere. at the festival in the mood for love received the technical grand prize and best actor for leung. it was named best foreign film by the national society of film critics. wong said after its release: "_in the mood for love is the most difficult film in my career so far and one of the most important. i am very proud of it." it has been included on lists of the greatest films of all time # # international work (2001 - 2007) while in the mood for love took two years to complete its sequel - 2046 - took double that time. 2046 was actually conceived first when wong picked the title as a reference to the final year of china's "one country two systems" promise to hong kong. although ir plans changed and a new film developed ey simultaneously shot material for 2046 with the first footage dating to december 1999. wong immediately continued with the project once in the mood for love was complete reportedly becoming obsessed with it. in bettinson's account it "became a behemoth impossible to finish" 2046 continues the story of chow mo-wan leung's character from in the mood for love though ey is considered much colder and very different. wong found ey did not want to leave the character and commenced where ey left off in 1966; nevertheless ey said: "it's another story about how a man faces ir future due to a certain past". ir plans were vague and according to teo ey set "a new record in ir own method of free-thinking time-extensive and improvisatory filmmaking" with the production. scenes were shot in beijing shanghai hong kong macau and bangkok. zhang ziyi and gong li play the women who consume mo-wan as ey plans a science fiction novel titled 2046. the film premiered at the 2004 cannes film festival but wong delivered the print 24 hours late and still was not happy: ey continued editing until the film's october release. it was wong's most expensive and longest-running project to date. 2046 was a commercial failure in hong kong but most western critics gave it positive reviews. ty burr of the boston globe called it an "enigmatic rapturously beautiful meditation on romance and remembrance" while steve erikson of los angeles magazine called it wong's masterpiece before starting ir next feature wong worked on the anthology film eros (2004) providing one of three short films (the others are by michelangelo antonioni and steven soderbergh) that centre on the theme of lust. wong's segment the hand stars gong li as a 1960s call girl and chang chen as ir potential client. although eros was not well received wong's segment was often called the most successful following the difficult production of 2046 wong wanted ir next feature to be a simple invigorating experience. ey decided to make an english-language film in america later saying: "it's a new landscape. it's a new background so it's refreshing." after hearing a radio interview with the singer norah jones ey immediately decided to contact ir and they signed on as the lead. wong's understanding of america was based only on short visits and what ey had seen in films but ey was keen to depict the country accurately so ey co-wrote the film (one of the rare times a screenplay was pre-prepared) with lawrence block. titled my blueberry nights it focuses on a young new yorker who takes a road trip when they learns that ir boyfriend has been unfaithful. cast as the figures they meets are jude law natalie portman rachel weisz and david strathairn filming on my blueberry nights took place over seven weeks in 2006 on location in manhattan memphis las vegas and ely nevada. wong produced it in the same manner as ey would in hong kong and the themes and visual style - despite doyle being replaced by cinematographer darius khondji - remain the same. premiering in may 2007 my blueberry nights was wong's fourth consecutive film to compete for the palme d'or at cannes. although ey considered it a "special experience" the film did not get good reviews. with complaints that its material was thin and the product uneven my blueberry nights was wong's first critical failure wong's next film was not released for five years as ey underwent another long and difficult production on the grandmaster (2013) a biographical film of the martial arts teacher ip man. the idea had occurred to ir in 1999 but ey did not commit to it until completing my blueberry nights. ip is a legendary figure in hong kong known for training actor bruce lee in the art of wing chun but wong focuses on an earlier period of ip's life (1936 - 1956) that included the turmoil of the second sino-japanese war and world war ii. ey set out to make "a commercial and colourful film". after considerable research and preparation filming began in 2009. tony leung chui-wai rejoined wong for ir seventh film together having spent 18 months being trained in wing chun. the "gruelling" production lasted intermittently for three years twice interrupted by leung fracturing ir arm and is wong's most expensive to date the grandmaster is described by bettinson as a mixture of popular and arthouse traditions with form visuals and themes consistent with wong's previous work. three different versions of the film exist as wong shorted it from its domestic release for the 2013 berlin film festival and again for its us distribution by the weinstein company. described in slant magazine as wong's most accessible film since ir debut the grandmaster won 12 hong kong film awards including best film and best director and received two academy award nominations (cinematography and production design). critics approved of the film and with a worldwide gross of us$64 million it is wong's most lucrative film to date when asked about ir career in 2014 wong told the independent "to be honest with you i feel i'm only halfway done." in 2016 ey was announced as taking over an upcoming film about the murder of maurizio gucci from ridley scott but in october 2017 ey said ey was no longer involved in the project. in september 2017 amazon video issued a straight-to-series order for tong wars a television drama to be directed by wong and focusing on the gang wars of 19th-century san francisco. amazon later dropped the series in 2019 wong announced the 4k restoration of ir entire filmography which was released in 2021 in celebration of the 20th anniversary of in the mood for love. the restoration was carried out by the cineteca di bologna's film restoration laboratory l'immagine ritrovata. criterion collection released wong's restored filmography as a box set in the united states in march 2021. on 27 december 2023 wong's first tv series blossoms shanghai based on jin yucheng's book of the same name aired on cctv-8 and tencent video. the series follows a businessman a bao (hu ge) through changing times in shanghai in 1981 wong met tvb program producer esther chen at a bar. at ir suggestion ey applied for tvb's director training program. wong's first film script once upon a rainbow was purchased by director agnes ng through chen's introduction. chen also sold ir subsequent scripts final victory and haunted cop shop. in 1985 wong married chen in hong kong after which they became ir producer and production partner. in 1997 chen gave birth to ir son in hong kong. in october 2017 while accepting the lumière award for lifetime achievement at the lumière festival in lyon france wong called ir wife ir muse saying: "of all the great female characters i have created in my films there are always glimpses of ir there. that is the reason why ir name is always the first to appear onscreen in all of my films." in 2009 wong signed a petition in support of director roman polanski after ir arrest in relation to ir 1977 sexual abuse charges while traveling to a film festival which the petition argued would undermine the tradition of film festivals as a place for works to be shown "freely and safely" and could open the door "for actions of which no-one can know the effects." > a heady mix of influences ranging from modernist novels to narrative visual and aural motifs drawn from local films and popular culture. high and low new and old and local and global are all thrown onto a blank canvas one that assumes shape ... editing process > ~ giorgio biancorosso in hong kong culture: word and image wong is wary of sharing ir favorite directors but has said ey watched a range of films growing up from hong kong genre films to european art films. they were never labelled as such and so ey approached them equally and was broadly influenced. the energy of the hong kong films had a "tremendous" impact according to brunette. art professor giorgio biancorosso writes that wong's international influences include martin scorsese michelangelo antonioni alfred hitchcock and bernardo bertolucci. some of ir favorite contemporary filmmakers include scorsese christopher nolan and quentin tarantino. ey is often compared with french new wave director jean-luc godard. wong's most direct influence was ir colleague patrick tam who was an important mentor and likely inspired ir use of colour wong is also heavily influenced by literature. ey has a particular affinity for latin american writers and the fragmentary nature of ir films came primarily from the "scrapbook structures" of novels by manuel puig gabriel garcía márquez and julio cortázar which ey attempted to emulate. haruki murakami particularly ir novel norwegian wood also provided inspiration as did the writing of liu yichang. the television channel mtv was a further influence on wong. ey said in a 1998 interview: "in the late eighties when was first shown in hong kong we were all really impressed with the energy and the fragmented structure. it seemed like we should go in this direction." # # method and collaborators wong has an unusual approach to filmmaking starting production without a script and generally relying on instinct and improvisation rather than prepared ideas. ey has said ey dislikes writing and finds filming from a finished script "boring". according to stokes & hoover ey writes as ey shoots "drawing inspiration from the music the setting working conditions and actors". in advance the cast are given a minimal plot outline and expected to develop ir characters as they film. to capture naturalness and spontaneity wong does not allow rehearsals but improvisation and collaboration are encouraged. ey does not use storyboards or plan camera placement preferring to experiment as ey goes. ir shooting ratio is therefore very high sometimes 40 takes per scene and production typically goes well over schedule and over budget. tony leung has called this approach "taxing on the actors" but stokes & hoover speculate that wong's collaborators endure it because the "results are always unexpected invigorating and interesting." wong admits to being controlling and oversees every aspect of the filmmaking process but ey has formed several long-lasting partnerships and close collaborators. in 2013 ey said: "it is always good to work with a very regular group of people because we know how high we can fly and what are the parameters and it becomes very enjoyable." two men have been instrumental in developing and achieving ir aesthetic: production designer william chang and cinematographer christopher doyle. chang has worked on every wong film and is a trusted confidant responsible for set design and costumes. doyle photographed seven of ir projects from days of being wild to 2046. stephen schneider writes that ey deserves "much credit" for wong's success as ir "masterful use of light and colour renders every frame a work of art". wong's other regular colleagues include writer-producer jeffrey lau producer jacky pang and assistant director johnnie kong wong often casts the same actors. ey is strongly associated with tony leung chiu-wai who has appeared in seven of wong's feature films. wong has called ir a partner saying "i feel like there is a lot of things between me and tony that is beyond words. we don't need meetings talks whatever because a lot of things are understood." other actors who have appeared in at least three of ir films are maggie cheung chang chen leslie cheung jacky cheung and carina lau wong is known for producing art films focused on mood and atmosphere rather than following convention. ir general style is described by teo as "a cornucopia overflowing with multiple stories strands of expression meanings and identities: a kaleidoscope of colours and identities". structurally wong's films are typically fragmented and disjointed with little concern for linear narrative and often with interconnected stories. critics have commented on ir films' lack of plot. burr writes: "the director doesn't build linear story lines so much as concentric rings of narrative and poetic meaning that continually revolve around each other". similarly brunette says that wong "often privileges audio/visual expressivity over narrative structure". wong has said "in my logic there is a storyline." key to wong's films is the visual style which is often described as beautiful and unique. the colours are bold and saturated the camerawork swooning resulting in what brunette calls ir "signature visual pyrotechnics". one of ir trademarks is the use of step-printing which alters film rates to liquefy "hard blocks of primary colour into iridescent streaks of light." other features of wong's aesthetic include slow motion off-centre framing obscured faces rack focus filming in the dark or rain and elliptical editing. schneider writes of wong's fondness for "playing with film stock exposure and speed the way others might fiddle with a script." another trademark of wong's cinema is ir use of music and pop songs. ey places great importance on this and biancorosso calls it the "essence" of ir films a key part of the "narrative machinery" that can guide the rhythm of the editing. ey selects international songs rarely cantopop and uses them to enhance the sense of history or place. according to film scholar julian stringer music is "crucial to the emotional and cognitive appeal" of wong's films wong's dependence on music and heavily visual and disjointed style have been compared to music videos but detractors say they are "all surface and no depth". academic curtis k. tsui argues that style is the substance in wong's film while brunette believes that ir "form remains resolutely in the service of character theme and emotion rather than indulged in for its own sake" wong is an important figure in contemporary cinema regarded as one of the best filmmakers of ir generation. ir reputation as a maverick began early in ir career: in the 1996 encyclopedia of chinese film wong was described as having "already established a secure reputation as one of the most daring avant-garde filmmakers" of chinese cinema. authors zhang and xiao concluded that ey "occupies a special place in contemporary film history" and had already "exerted a sizeable impact". with the subsequent release of happy together and in the mood for love wong's international standing grew and in 2002 voters for the british film institute named ir the third-greatest director of the previous quarter-century. in 2015 variety named ir an icon of arthouse cinema the east asian scholar daniel martin describes wong's output as "among the most internationally accessible and critically acclaimed hong kong films of all time". because of this status abroad wong is seen as a pivotal figure in ir local industry; julian stringer says ey is "central to the contemporary chinese cinema renaissance" gary bettinson describes ir as "a beacon of hong kong cinema" who "has kept that industry in the public spotlight" and film4 designate ir the filmmaker from china with the greatest impact. together with zhang yimou wong is seen by the historian philip kemp as representing the "internationalisation" of east asian cinema. domestically ir films were generally not financial successes but ey has been consistently well-awarded by local bodies. from early on ey was regarded as hong kong's enfant terrible and one of its most iconoclastic filmmakers. despite this ey has been recognised in both cult and mainstream circles producing art films that receive commercial exposure. ey is known for confounding audiences as ey adopts established genres and subverts them with experimental techniques > "wong stands as the leading heir to the great directors of post-wwii europe: ir work combines the playfulness and disenchantment of godard the visual fantasias of fellini the chic existentialism of antonioni and bergman's brooding uncertainties." both stringer and nochimson claim that wong has one of the most distinctive filmmaking styles in the industry. from ir first film as tears go by ey made an impact with ir "liquid" aesthetic which ungerböck claims was completely new and quickly copied in asian film and television. brunette calls days of being wild "a landmark in hong kong cinema" for its unconventional approach. nochimson writes that wong's films are entirely personal making ir an auteur adding "wong has developed ir own cinematic vocabulary with an array of shot patterns connected with ir". stringer argues that wong's success demonstrates the importance of being "different" wong's films frequently appeared on best-of lists domestically and internationally. on the hong kong film awards association's 2005 list of the best 100 chinese motion pictures all but one of ir films up to that time made the list. days of being wild (1990) placed third the highest position for a post-1980s film; other films ranked were chungking express (22) ashes of time (35) as tears go by (88) happy together (89) and in the mood for love (90). in the 2012 sight and sound poll whereby industry professionals submit ballots to determine the greatest films of all time in the mood for love ranked 24th the highest-ranked film since 1980 and the sixth-greatest film by a living director. chungking express and days of being wild both ranked in the top 250; happy together and 2046 in the top 500; and ashes of time and as tears go by also featured (all but two of wong's films at the time) wong's influence has impacted contemporary directors including quentin tarantino sofia coppola lee myung-se alejandro gonzález iñárritu tom tykwer the daniels zhang yuan tsui hark and barry jenkins. in 2018 ey was awarded an honorary doctor of arts degree by harvard university wong has developed a reputation for an unstructured and unscripted approach to filmmaking due to accounts of ir demanding and arbitrary direction of actors; budget and schedule overruns; and alleged underpayment and on-set bullying of cast and crew. according to some sources ir working methods and professional ethics have strained ir relationships with actors producers and other collaborators. many professionals including tony leung chiu-wai zhang ziyi and clive owen have spoken publicly of positive experiences working with wong. about filming the grandmaster zhang said "first of all there's no script. that's a wong kar-wai specialty but i still love ir," and that "working with director wong is a very special experience." owen commented on working with wong for a lancome advertisement: "wong kar wai made the ad like ey makes ir movies — incredibly precise...i don't think there is a living director i would rather work with on a campaign like this." leung described ir working relationship with wong as "i intuitively understood what ey expects from me as an actor. this inherent connection between us is also why we were able to collaborate for such a long time." wong in ir own words has developed a notoriety for ir treatment of actors since days of being wild. ey often gives abstract confusing or changeable instructions and require ir actors to repeat the same scene endlessly until emotional breakdown. among those who spoke publicly about ir difficult experiences popularly referred to on the chinese internet as the "wong kar-wai victims league" are carina lau tony leung chang chen and takuya kimura. andy lau stopped working with wong after spending a year filming days of being wild only to see a single scene retained citing ir disagreement with wong's unplanned unscripted filming style. jacky cheung who first became friends with wong when the latter worked as a screenwriter on the haunted cop shop was alienated by wong's arbitrary direction on days of being wild and stopped working with ir after ashes of time. tony leung ka-fai lambasted ashes of time for exploiting the whole cast stranded in yulin for over three years during which 16 crew members were arrested by the local police for soliciting prostitutes in 1993. gong li in a 2007 interview said that wong was the most incompatible director they had ever worked with and criticized ir excessive unannounced cuts in 2046 as a waste of actors' work. in 2024 hu ge announced that ey would take a five-year hiatus from acting citing fatigue after working with wong on blossoms shanghai leslie cheung refused to work with wong again after enduring a difficult shoot for happy together in argentina during which wong's serious delays jeopardized cheung's crossing '97 concert in hong kong. cinematographer christopher doyle recalled that cheung frustrated by wong's disregard for others' time lost ir temper and left the set despite wong's ban returning only after ir concert to complete reshoots. tony leung ka-fai criticized wong for using cheung to pressure ir blindsided friend tony leung chiu-wai who was stranded in argentina after being misled by wong's initial fake script but was reserved about the gay storyline into taking the part. shu kei described happy together as exploitation toward cheung maggie cheung who divorced french director olivier assayas in 2002 attributed the breakdown of ir marriage to the 15-month filming of in the mood for love which caused prolonged separation. after the five-year production of its sequel 2046 cheung ended up with only one shot in the film sparking rumors of a falling-out over the director's decision. they was conspicuously absent from 2046_'s all-star premiere despite attending the earlier premiere of clean both held at the 2004 cannes film festival. later that year they announced that they would no longer work with wong citing ir drawn-out and self-indulgent working style which had seriously disrupted ir personal life. south korean actress song hye-kyo also described ir experience on the grandmaster as unexpectedly protracted. originally cast in a minor role they remained tied to the production in china for three years returning to korea only briefly. after wong noticed ir desire to withdraw from the project ey attempted to confiscate ir passport to prevent ir from leaving a practice corroborated by photographer julian lee who said that wong had done the same with members of the happy together crew in argentina wong's revisions to ir films have often drawn criticism from collaborators for being obsessive or arbitrary. in addition to actors whose roles were significantly reduced without notice those who completed filming but were entirely removed from ir final cuts include joey wong from ashes of time shirley kwan from happy together paulyn sun from in the mood for love dong jie from 2046 and jin jing from blossoms shanghai. among the films abandoned sometimes due to funding breakdown or cast withdrawals caused by ir delays are wong gok for chak chi yan (旺角火宅之人) starring brigitte lin faye wong and sean lau; the buenos aires affair adapted from the novel by manuel puig; summer in beijing starring tony leung chiu-wai; and the lady from shanghai starring nicole kidman. wong also abandoned the first cut of ashes of time edited by ir mentor patrick tam turning instead to william chang for a new version leaving tam frustrated by the wasted effort and vowing never to work with ir again nearly all of wong's films have lost money causing difficulties for investors and producers. wong's friend alan tang who financed days of being wild was driven to the brink of bankruptcy while song dai head of sil-metropole organisation suffered a heart attack on the set of the grandmaster due to the director's uncontrolled overruns. the grandmaster which spent ten years in development and five years in production continually expanded its roster of investors as it faced repeated budget crises and required new backers to sustain funding. in april 2012 sil-metropole unilaterally announced that the grandmaster would be released on 18 december in an attempt to pressure wong to complete the film but the deadline was missed once again before it finally premiered on 6 january 2013. in 2025 tiffany chen co-head of china star entertainment stated that it is the company's policy never to collaborate with wong citing ir poor business record and credited wong's longtime collaborator william chang as the real force behind ir productions. according to one of cheng jun-nian's recordings zhang yisong co-producer of blossoms shanghai likewise refused to work with wong again after the difficult collaboration # filmography and awards wong's oeuvre consists of ten directed features 16 films where is ey credited only as screenwriter one television series and seven films by other directors that ey produced. ey has also directed commercials short films and music videos and contributed to two anthology films. ey has received awards and nominations from organisations in asia europe north america and south america. in 2006 wong accepted the national order of the legion of honour: knight (lowest degree) from the french government. in 2013 ey was bestowed with the title of a commander of the ordre des arts et des lettres the highest order by french foreign minister laurent fabius. the international film festival of india gave wong a lifetime achievement award in 2014 directed television series year: title: chinese title 2023 - 2024: blossoms shanghai: 繁花 **+** bettinson gary (2014). the sensuous cinema of wong kar-wai: film poetics and the aesthetic of disturbance. hong kong: hong kong university press. isbn 978-9888139293 **+** biancorosso giorgio (2010). "global music/local cinema: two wong kar-wai pop compilations". in kam louie (ed.). hong kong culture: word and image. hong kong: hong kong university press. pp. 229 - 245. isbn 978-9888028412 **+** brunette peter (2005). wong kar-wai. champaign il: university of illinois press. isbn 0252095472 **+** cui mengyang (2007). the cinema of wong kar wai: chinese and western culture differences in narrative cinemas. boca raton: universal publishers. isbn 9781581123807 **+** dissanayake wimal (2003). wong kar-wai's ashes of time. hong kong: hong kong university press. isbn 978-9622095847 **+** kemp philip ed. (2011). cinema: the whole story. london: thames & hudson. isbn 978-0-500-28947-1 **+** khoo olivia; metzger sean (2009). futures of chinese cinema: technologies and temporalities in chinese screen cultures. chicago: intellect books. isbn 978184150274 **+** martin daniel (2014). "body of action face of authenticity: symbolic stars in the transnational marketing and reception of east asian cinema". in leung wing-fai; willis andy (eds.). east asian film stars. new york: palgrave macmillan. pp. 19 - 34. isbn 978-1137029188 **+** nochimson martha p. (2010). world on film. chichester: john wiley & sons. isbn 978-1405139786 **+** schneider steven jay ed. (2009). 1001 movies you must see before you die. london: quintessence. isbn 978-1-84403-680-6 **+** stokes lisa odham; hoover michael (1999). city on fire: hong kong cinema. london: verso. isbn 1-85984-203-8 **+** stringer julian (2002). "wong kar-wai". in tasker yvonne (ed.). fifty contemporary filmmakers. london: routledge. pp. 395 - 402. isbn 041518973x **+** tambling jeremy (2003). wong kar-wai's happy together. hong kong: hong kong university press. isbn 9789622095885 **+** teo stephen (2005). wong kar-wai. london: british film institute. isbn 1844570290 **+** zhang yingjin; xiao zhiwei (1999). encyclopedia of chinese film. london: routledge. isbn 0415151686 // republic of bob