Food in the films of Wong Kar Wai

Nothing captures the particular flavour of Hong Kong coolness like the films of Wong Kar Wai. If you have ever wondered why someone would abandon North America for a life in Asia, watch Chungking Express and its pseudo-sequel Fallen Angels. Both of these films are early examples of the now formulaic structure of portraying the lives of several unconnected people whose paths cross in unexpected ways. Other examples of films that adopt this formula include Shortcuts by Robert Altman, Magnolia by Paul Thomas Anderson, Crash by Paul Haggis, and most recently, Babel by Allejendro Gonzalez Anarritu. Isn't it interesting that all of these films are of the highest quality. Perhaps this formula is suited to capturing the ungrounded isolation of the individual in the post-modern city, and how this collective isolation has become the defining trait of contemporary culture.

Both Chungking Express and Fallen Angels are masterpieces of late 20th century film. They are that rare species of film that can be watched over and over with new details and layers of meaning emerging with each viewing: The portraits of Hong Kong streets, buildings and interiors; the collection of subcultures and archetypes; the terse wit of the dialogue; the mix of languages; the costumes that drift into sexual fetish; the use of numerology; the soundtracks; and the groundbreaking cinematography of Christopher Doyle. One could write a thesis on any of these aspects of these two films. It is no surprise then, that even after repeated viewings, I failed to realize the thematic presence of food in both Chungking Express and Fallen Angels.

Much of Chungking Express takes place in a diner with a great segment of dialogue focusing on the boss convincing Tony Leung, playing a policeman, to buy both a club sandwich and a chef's salad for his girlfriend. He uses the reasoning that perhaps she would like the choice of something different. Leung later returns to the restaurant after being dumped by the girl in question, he notes that perhaps she really did like the choice of something different. Another two scenes have Faye Wong, playing a worker in the restaurant, interrupting Leung while eating his roadside lunch of charsui barbecued pork to help her carry a big basket of vegetables to the restaurant. She later breaks into his apartment and switches the labels on his canned food. Takeshi Kaneshiro plays a love-lorn detective that goes on a bizarre eating binge of canned pineapple, based solely on the expiry date of the cans. In each case, food is somehow connected to desire and loss.

Fallen Angels is even more focused on food. Scenes include Leon Lai (Li Ming), playing a hit man, eating a burger and fries in an empty 24hr McDonald's as Karen Mok, playing a half crazed woman with a blond wig, comes over, sits down and proceeds to pick him up. Not a word is spoken through the whole scene. This is by far the best advertisement for McDonald's ever made. Another scene has Michelle Reis eating noodles in a semi-stupor as a full out brawl goes on behind her. By far the most interesting and hilarious food scenes involve Takeshi Kaneshiro, as a mute petty thief, hassling people and amusing himself in a traditional market after closing time. Kaneshiro's silent slapstick recalls the comedic greatness of Charlie Chaplin or Buster Keaton. One scene has him giving a full massage to a pig carcass, in another he tries to force the sale of vegetables on an unsuspecting woman. He thrusts a skinny eggplant at the woman, and she evades the purchase by saying "I'm single, what would people think?" he then produces a massive melon instead. Later, he breaks into an ice-cream truck, kidnaps a man and forces him and his family to eat ice-cream as he happily drives around the city. We later find out that his mother was killed when she was hit by an ice-cream truck. This scene is neither sad nor maudlin, it is presented simply as part of the inexplicable course of events that make up our lives. In one of the final scenes, Leon Lai walks into a Japanese barbecue joint where Kaneshiro is now working. Kaneshiro's comedic genius shines again as he manages to make the act of cooking meat on a stick ridiculously funny.

Why the persistent references to food? As with the other aspects of life that Wong delightfully and poetically records, food is a reflection of culture. Food is as much a reflection of who we are as the buildings around us or the clothes we wear. And just as Wong's characters are romantic archetypes of film and culture: the policeman, the waitress, the hit man, the stewardess, the restaurant owner, the petty thief. So are the items of food that are depicted: the club sandwich, the chef's salad, barbecued pork, burger and fries, ice-cream. These are not so much specific items as food, as they are archetypes of food. Like Wong himself, they are ultimately romantic.

Chinese film in the 21st century

 Still from Unknown Pleasures by Jia Zhangke

It is unfortunate that so much of the information we receive about China is in the form of critical news articles. Take a look at the donkey's quick links and you'll find a good collection of these. Of course, the majority of these negative headlines are directed at the Chinese Communist Party. A more holistic understanding of the complexity of contemporary Chinese culture can be gained by familiarizing oneself with the wide-range of excellent Chinese films that have been produced over the last ten years.

dGenerate Films recently released the results of a readers poll of the best Chinese language films of the 21st century. Wong Kar-wai's masterpiece In the Mood for Love comes in first, giving a pretty good indication of the quality of the list. Jia Zhangke's movies also feature prominently as do those of Taiwanese directors Tsai Ming-liang and Edward Yang. Happily, the list includes films that only got one or two votes, including the toe-curling satire Dumplings by Fruit Chan (Cinematography by the great Christopher Doyle) and Wang Kar-wai's epic 2046. Interestingly, the amusing but mediocre, Spring Scream inspired Cape No. 7 only got one vote, despite nearly sweeping the 2008 Golden Horse Awards. 


Many of these films are readily available for download online, some of the more obscure films can be rented or purchased in Taichung at 8 1/2 Cinema, 592, Hueiwen Rd. If you've never been by, it's a cafe downstairs with a massive collection of classic and alternative DVDs upstairs. It's best to bring along a list of the films you're looking for.













The List
1. In the Mood for Love, Wong Kar-wai (28 mentions)
2. Tie Xi Qu: West of the Tracks, Wang Bing (25)
3.  Platform, Jia Zhangke (24)
4. Yi Yi, Edward Yang(23)
5. Still Life, Jia Zhangke (18)
6. Devils on the Doorstep, Jiang Wen (12)
7. Oxhide, Liu Jiayin (11)
(tie) Summer Palace, Lou Ye (11)
(tie) The World, Jia Zhangke (11)
10. Blind Shaft, Li Yang (10)
(tie) Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon, Ang Lee (10)
Top Directors (based on mentions of their films among all top ten ballots):
1. Jia Zhangke (63 mentions)
2. Wong Kar Wai (34)
3. Tsai Ming-liang (28)
4. Wang Bing (26)
5. Lou Ye (25)
6. Edward Yang (23)
7. Ang Lee (17)
8. Liu Jiayin (15)
9. Hou Hsiao-hsien (14)
10 Jiang Wen (13)
The rest of the results from the poll of Chinese-language films:
12. Goodbye Dragon Inn, Tsai Ming-liang (9)
13. Three Times, Hou Hsiao-hsien (8)
(tie) Suzhou River, Lou Ye (8)
(tie) What Time Is It There? Tsai Ming-liang (8)
16. Infernal Affairs, Andrew Lau & Alan Mak (7)
(tie) Lust, Caution Ang Lee (7)
(tie) Petition, Zhao Liang (7)
(tie) Unknown Pleasures Jia Zhangke (7)
20. Millennium Mambo, Hou Hsiao-hsien (6)
(tie) Spring Fever, Lou Ye (6)
22. Bing Ai, Feng Yan (5)
Hero, Zhang Yimou (5)
(tie) Wayward Cloud, The Tsai Ming-liang (5)
25. Nine films tied with four mentions:
Kung Fu Hustle, Steven Chow
Peacock, Gu Changwei
Oxhide 2, Liu Jiayin
Kekexili: Mountain Patrol, Lu Chuan
I Don’t Want to Sleep Alone, Tsai Ming-liang
Orphan of Anyang, The Wang Chao
2046, Wong Kar-wai
Other Half, The, Ying Liang
Survival Song, Yu Guangyi
34. Nine films tied with three mentions:
Along the Railway, Du Haibin
Crime and Punishment, Zhao Liang
Dr. Ma’s Country Clinic, Cong Feng
Though I Am Gone, Hu Jie
Delamu, Tian Zhuangzhuang
Looking for Lin Zhao’s Soul, Hu Jie
My Life as McDull, Toe Yuen
Beijing Bicycle, Wang Xiaoshuai
Timber Gang aka Last Lumberjacks, Yu Guangyi
43. 26 films tied with two mentions:
1428,Du Haibin
Before the Flood, Li Yifan and Yan Yu
Blind Mountain, Li Yang
Blue Gate Crossing, Yee Chin-yen
Buried, Wang Libo
Chinese Villagers’ Documentary Project, Wu Wenguang
Classmates, Lin Xin
Durian, Durian, Fruit Chan
Face, Tsai Ming-liang
Fuck Cinema, Wu Wenguang
Ghost Town, Zhao Dayong
Good Cats, Ying Liang
Grain in Ear, Zhang Lu
Jalainur, Zhao Ye
Little Moth, Peng Tao
Night Train, Diao Yi’nan
Outside, Wang Wo
PTU, Johnnie To
Quitting, Zhang Yang
Search, The,Wanma Caidan
Seafood, Zhu Wen
Seven Intellectuals in a Bamboo Forest, Yang Fudong
Springtime in a Small Town, Tian Zhuangzhuang
Taking Father Home, Ying Liang
Uniform, Diao Yinan
Wheat Harvest, Xu Tong
69. 84 films tied with 1 mention:
24 City, Jia Zhangke
And the Spring Comes, Gu Changwei
Aoluguya, Gu Tao
Ashes of Time Redux, Wong Kar-wai
Assembly, Feng Xiaogang
Bamboo Shoots, Jian Yi
Baober in Love, Li Shaohong
Betelnut, Yang Heng
Big Shot’s Funeral, Feng Xiaogang
Bimo Records, The, Yang Rui
Black and White Milk Cow, Yang Jin
Bodyguards and Assassins, Chen Desen
Breaking News, Johnnie To
Butterfly, Yan Yan Mak
Cape No. 7, Wei Desheng
Chicken Poets, Meng Jinghui
Chinese Odyssey 2002, Jeff Lau
Chongqing, Zhang Lu
City of Life and Death, Lu Chuan
Condolences, Ying Liang
Conjugation, Emily Tang
Cry Woman, Liu Bingjian
Dam Street, Li Yu
Destination Shanghai, Andrew Y-S Cheng
Disorder, Huang Weikai
Dong, Jia Zhangke
Dr. Zhang, Huang Ruxiang
Dumplings, Fruit Chan
DV China, Zheng Desheng
Everlasting Regret, Stanley Kwan
Exiled, Johnnie To
Extras, Zhu Chuanming
Fengming: A Chinese Memoir, Wang Bing
Floating Dust, Huang Wenhai
Fortune Teller, Xu Tong
Green Hat, Liu Fendou
History of Chemistry 2, Lu Chunsheng
How Are You, Gongliao, Cui Suxin
How Is Your Fish Today, Guo Xiaolu
I Love Beijing, Ning Ying
In Public, Jia Zhangke
Incense, Ning Hao
Infernal Affairs Trilogy, Andrew Lau and Alan Mak
Iri, Zhang Lu
Isabella, Pang Ho-Cheung
Juliet in Love, Wilson Yip
Karamay, Anonymous
KJ, Cheung King-wai
Lan Yu, Stanley Kwan
McDull, Prince de la Bun, Toe Yuen
Mid-Afternoon Barks, Zhang Yuedong
My Blueberry Nights, Wong Kar-Wai
Narrow Path, The, Cui Zi’en
Novel, Lu Le
Pangyau, Amir Muhammad
Perfect Life, Emily Tang
Perpetual Motion, Ning Ying
Pirated Copy, He Jianjun
Raised from Dust, Gan Xiao’er
Red Cliff, John Woo
Red Flag Files, The, Zhou Hongxiang
Riding Alone for Thousands of Miles, Zhang Yimou
River People, He Jianjun
Road, The, Zhang Jiarui
Rumination, Xu Ruotao
San Li Dong, Lin Xin
Shanghai Panic, Andrew Y.S. Cheng
Shaolin Soccer, Stephen Chow
Silent Holy Stones, Wanma Caidan
Sparrow, Johnnie To
Strange Heaven, Yang Fudong
Sun Also Rises, The, Jiang Wen
Sweet Food City, Gao Wendong
Tang Poetry, Zhang Lu
This Happy Life, Jiang Yue
Three Guns / A Simple Noodle Story, Zhang Yimou
To Live Is Better Than to Die, Chen Weijun
Trivial Matters, Peng Haoxiang
Triangle, Johnnie To, Tsui hark, Ringo Lam
Two Seasons, Zhou Xun
Us Two, Ma Liwen
Using, Zhou Hao
Warlords, The, Peter Chan
You Shoot, I Shoot, Pang Ho-cheung