In the late 1980s and 1990s, for many cinephiles across the world the cinema’s centre of gravity shifted from American and European cinemas...
In the late 1980s and 1990s, for many cinephiles across the world the cinema’s centre of gravity shifted from American and European cinemas to those of Asia. Iran and Taiwan had amazing ‘New Waves’ with films by auteurs like Abbas Kiarostami, Mohsen Makhmalbaf, Jafar Panahi, Hou Hsiao- Hsien, Edward Yang and Tsai Ming-liang. There was a tremendous resurgence in Japan with the films of Juzo Itami and Takeshi Kitano. And even in the more regimented film industry of Communist China, master filmmakers like Zhang Yimou and Jia Zhangke emerged.
But for me, the most unexpected and remarkable epiphany of those years was the work of Hong Kong director Wong Kar-wai. Chungking Express (1994) and Happy Together (1997) had the vivacity and delight of the act of filmmaking that had marked the original French New Wave of the early 1960s. Their sparkle, freshness and freedom were exhilarating. And then in 2000 came his masterpiece, In the Mood for Love. This is a film so accomplished, poised and simply beautiful to look at, that it remains for many a definitive modern cinema classic and perhaps even the finest film of the first two decades of the 21st century so far.
A newly restored version will be streamed on MUBI on December 12.
