Doomed Romance in Films: From ‘Brief Encounter’ to ‘In The Mood For Love’

The short flings. The adventurous rendezvous of couples entranced with an inescapable desire for romance—but with a twist. Both sides are married, they have signed themselves into society’s most powerful and binding agreement of a monogamous relationship. However, there is a mighty and persuasive dilemma; their love for each other is as true as everything […]

Bengawan Solo: How an Indonesian folk song became the post-WWII Asian Zeitgeist

My first viewing of Wong Kar-Wai’s deeply melancholic In The Mood for Love (2000) was also the first time I’ve heard of Bengawan Solo in a foreign film or any foreign media for that matter. It was odd and surprising. I was completely ignorant of the influence this local Indonesian folk song had overseas before […]

Chungking Express: The Midnight Gloom and The Unpredictability of Existence

There are a lot of things in common between He Zhiwu (Takeshi Kaneshiro) and Cop 663 (Tony Leung Chiu-wai), the two main characters from the two split parts of Wong Kar-Wai’s sui generis Chungking Express. The most obvious similarity being their profession as a police officer living their lives in Hong Kong’s underbelly. But the […]