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Editorial Reviews
Amazon.com
Fallen Angels was originally planned as one section of director Wong Kar-Wai's best-known film, Chungking Express, but eventually it grew into its own distinct and delirious shape. In many ways, Fallen Angels may be the better film, a dark, frantic fun-house ride through Hong Kong's nighttime world. Part of the film is a love story between two people who have barely met: a young, ultra-hip hit man (Leon Lai) and the dreamy operative (Michele Reis) who plans his jobs. Much of the movie is given over to a very strange subplot about a manic mute (Takeshi Kaneshiro) who goes on bizarre nocturnal prowls through a closed food market--like almost everything else in Wong's films, this is antic, stylish, and oddly touching, all at the same time. It must be said that, also like Wong's other films, Fallen Angels is fragmented and oblique to the point of occasional incomprehensibility…but then suddenly something wild or wonderful happens, such as the moment when the killer leaves the scene of a spectacular shooting and is promptly waylaid by a cheerful old school chum on a public bus. These coups--whether lyrical, violent, or simply "how on earth did they get that shot?"--are tossed off by Wong and cinematographer Christopher Doyle with all the cool of the hired killer, as though the movie were a cigarette dangling from a pair of oh-so-casual lips. This is exactly why so many otherwise calm critics fell all over themselves in hailing Wong Kar-Wai as one of the most exciting filmmakers of his generation. --Robert Horton
Review
An exhilarating rush of a movie. Go-for-broke visual bravura. --Kevin Thomas, The Los Angeles Times
Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
29 of 30 people found the following review helpful
Format:DVD
Wong Kar-Wai has become my favorite director. He's as talented as Kurasawa, Fellini, Wells, Antonioni, Bergman or Altman. My favorite of his films, maybe because it is the last one I (re)viewed is "Fallen Angels". Wong Kar-Wai has a way of expressing longing that is neither cloying nor sentimental. His films are touching in a deeply profound manner. "Fallen Angels" is the double story of a hitman and his partner and a mute man with a unique business sense. Hilarious and over the top violent at the same time, Wong Kar-Wai pulls this off without a single misstep.
Visually stunning, this film looks like no other, save perhaps "Chungking Express" (which I plan to re-watch this afternoon). It's "Chungking Express" at night. Planned originally as a third episode of "Chungking Express" this film stands alone as a masterpiece of Kar-Wai's art. There are minor illusions to "Chungking Express" which allow the viewer to feel a continuity of spirit and theme. For instance, the mute midnight shop clerk played by Takeshi Kaneshiro mentions in voice-over that he lost his ability to speak after eating a tin of expired pineapple. This will resonate with viewers who have seen "Chungking Express" and bring to mind the character he played in that film. These are blood brothers. Variations of the same love-sick, lonely man.
Kar-Wai's films remind me of Altman in the 70's. You watch his films and wonder why all other directors are so unimaginative and pedestrian. Why does he seem to be the only director doing anything new and unique while even the most celebrated directors just recycle the same old [stuff] you've seen a hundred times before? He's an original. The look, the emotional feel and the grammar of his films belongs to no one else.
Any synopsis of his storyline can only diminish their scope and complexity, so I won't even try. It is enough to know his film resonate for days after viewing. They stick in your mind like something experienced first hand. They are fizzy, giddy, forlorn and hopeful. The final scene of "Fallen Angels" brings tears to my eyes everytime I see it, even though I know what is coming. It is a testament to the complexity and honesty of his vision that an emotional response is assured in the viewer. His characters are so honestly portrayed you wish you knew them in life. You want to call them on the phone and meet for a drink in a smokey, neon lit bar found only in a Wong Kar-Wai film. You end up feeling very protective of these characters, as you would with people you know and cannot quite reach. Cannot quite assure they are alright and worth loving. Cannot assure they deserve happiness.
Visually stunning, this film looks like no other, save perhaps "Chungking Express" (which I plan to re-watch this afternoon). It's "Chungking Express" at night. Planned originally as a third episode of "Chungking Express" this film stands alone as a masterpiece of Kar-Wai's art. There are minor illusions to "Chungking Express" which allow the viewer to feel a continuity of spirit and theme. For instance, the mute midnight shop clerk played by Takeshi Kaneshiro mentions in voice-over that he lost his ability to speak after eating a tin of expired pineapple. This will resonate with viewers who have seen "Chungking Express" and bring to mind the character he played in that film. These are blood brothers. Variations of the same love-sick, lonely man.
Kar-Wai's films remind me of Altman in the 70's. You watch his films and wonder why all other directors are so unimaginative and pedestrian. Why does he seem to be the only director doing anything new and unique while even the most celebrated directors just recycle the same old [stuff] you've seen a hundred times before? He's an original. The look, the emotional feel and the grammar of his films belongs to no one else.
Any synopsis of his storyline can only diminish their scope and complexity, so I won't even try. It is enough to know his film resonate for days after viewing. They stick in your mind like something experienced first hand. They are fizzy, giddy, forlorn and hopeful. The final scene of "Fallen Angels" brings tears to my eyes everytime I see it, even though I know what is coming. It is a testament to the complexity and honesty of his vision that an emotional response is assured in the viewer. His characters are so honestly portrayed you wish you knew them in life. You want to call them on the phone and meet for a drink in a smokey, neon lit bar found only in a Wong Kar-Wai film. You end up feeling very protective of these characters, as you would with people you know and cannot quite reach. Cannot quite assure they are alright and worth loving. Cannot assure they deserve happiness.
29 of 31 people found the following review helpful
Format:VHS Tape|Amazon Verified Purchase
"We all need a partner, when will I find mine ?" seems to be the theme running through all of Wong Kar-Wai's films, as well as his other usual ingredients: Mind-bending speed, innovative camera work (by Christopher Doyle), a great soundtrack, and a gorgeous cast. He also manages to show the murky side of society while never losing touch with its humanity. We see that even a cold-blooded hit man can have a side that's endearing.
Takeshi Kaneshiro as the mute is the shining star of this film. He's brilliant and lovable. The "May 30th 1995, I fell in love" scene is one I adore. In slow motion black and white, the background moves at different speeds, fades in and out...it's a piece of pure magical art, a painting come to life.
Like "Chungking Express", it slows down during the second half, and to me, this is when it gets even better. There is so much to see in this film, I know I'll be viewing it many more times, and appreciating its inventiveness...and through the darkness, its sweet soul.
12 of 12 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
Stunning images, enigmatic stories -- an exceptional and exciting film about love and longing in Hong Kong
April 11, 2008
Format:DVD
Three individuals whose lives intersect and parallel form the core of this stunningly photographed, moody and intense cinematic masterpiece. A hitman who is getting tired of the messiness of his job; his partner, who plans everything out for him in meticulous detail but would really like to cross the line with him between business and pleasure; a mute, who breaks into other people's businesses at night and forces unwitting passersby to purchase his wares. They rarely ever meet, but they share the same spaces, and sleep the same hours. The film alternates between: the intensely cool portrayal of a hitman with all the style of a Hollywood badboy, and all of the mellow of a Spaghetti Western antihero -- the femme fatale lonely longing that simmers with an undercurrent of anger of his partner -- and the slapstick comic silliness of the mute. The faded neon lights, the eclectic and moody music, the kinetic and flowing camera -- this is unlike anything you've seen unless you've seen a Wong Kar-Wai film and if you have you know that he doesn't ever quite repeat himself. This film shares a good deal with the atmosphere of Chungking Express, but is darker and more moody, and in many ways more intense and exciting -- I love both films but this one has an edginess that you don't find in the other -- you might say that Chungking is the day film and this is the night. One connection between the films is that the mute in this film is played by the same actor as the pineapple-eating policeman in Chungking Express. Their characters share the same name, He Xiwu, and this one lost his voice as a result of eating bad pineapple from an expired can -- but they are not exactly the same as this one never was a policeman and allegedly lost his voice at age 5. A beautiful and exciting film -- definitely one to see for lovers of the art of film.
Most Recent Customer Reviews
2.0 out of 5 stars
cant believe i sat thru all of it
I thought this was pretty poor, not my cup of tea, "some" good camera angle and some violence was about all it had going for it. wouldn't watch again
Published 22 days ago by Roob
1.0 out of 5 stars
Didn't watch it all the way through
I sometimes LOVE foreign movies but this wasn't the movie and much to gory for me! Didn't have enough drama to keep my interest!
Published 24 days ago by Jessica
2.0 out of 5 stars
poor plot
I would not waste my time. It is quite boring. Story is hard to follow. At least the acting is acceptable.
Published 25 days ago by Sinbad
2.0 out of 5 stars
Crazy
No exact storyline to follow just a series of disjointed and random acts fo to very delusional characters on a collision couse to nowhere.
Published 2 months ago by Suzette
1.0 out of 5 stars
I don't get it
A deliberately obscure story with characters you don't care about doing uninteresting things. What is there to like? Read more
Published 2 months ago by Ramsey Campbell
2.0 out of 5 stars
This is not a 4 or 5 star movie
I rented this movie on the basis of the rating, you don't get the read the reviews on the blu-ray, what a mistake that was. Read more
Published 3 months ago by ZenDodge69
5.0 out of 5 stars
Gives me hope for film
The Unbearable Lightness of Being meets The Replacement Killers, with a bit of I'm An Android But That's Okay. Read more
Published 3 months ago by Mark Zieg
1.0 out of 5 stars
Total waste of time
Based on the overwhelmingly positive reviews on Amazon I rented this movie. However, it's not a, "masterpiece", as another reviewer hailed it, it's just plain bad. Read more
Published 13 months ago by KlaatuVerataNictu
5.0 out of 5 stars
15 years later, still a masterpiece!
I first watched this in 1997 and thought it was pretty good but it wasn't until the second viewing some 4 or 5 years later did it skyrocket to the list of my all time favorite... Read more
Published 16 months ago by Charles Pinady
5.0 out of 5 stars
It's been a long time since I've seen such a good movie
Incredible acting by everyone and even better visually! I highly recommend this movie to anyone who is a fan of the genre.
Published on December 6, 2010 by R. Del Russo
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