Wong Kar-wai is arguably one of the most important and distinctive filmmakers in 1990s cinema, and this study aims to provide a critical and historically based analysis to his films, one that takes into account the complex processes of cultural negotiation operating at different levels of cinema. As such, it differs significantly from the auteurist and culturalist analyses prevalent in previous discussions of the director. A key contention here in this study is that the films of Wong Kar-wai exemplify what I call a “cross-filming” approach, drawing upon divergent forms and materials that seek to address diverse sectors of a global, cross-cultural audience. On one level, this eclectic approach can simply be seen as a pragmatic strategy for Wong to broaden his audience base, given that hi...[ Read more ]

Wong Kar-wai is arguably one of the most important and distinctive filmmakers in 1990s cinema, and this study aims to provide a critical and historically based analysis to his films, one that takes into account the complex processes of cultural negotiation operating at different levels of cinema. As such, it differs significantly from the auteurist and culturalist analyses prevalent in previous discussions of the director. A key contention here in this study is that the films of Wong Kar-wai exemplify what I call a “cross-filming” approach, drawing upon divergent forms and materials that seek to address diverse sectors of a global, cross-cultural audience. On one level, this eclectic approach can simply be seen as a pragmatic strategy for Wong to broaden his audience base, given that his films do not appeal to the mass audience, and that the 1990s downturn of the Hong Kong film industry has compelled local filmmakers to search for new outlets for their movies. But despite the eclecticism of his films, Wong remains committed to a personal cinema, reworking and reinventing the diverse materials to his own ends. The result, then, is a cinema which is at once local and cosmopolitan, experimental and rooted in popular forms, and poses a daunting challenge for us to rethink the issues of international recognition and cultural specificity in the age of intensifying global cultural flows.