World of Wong Kar Wai (The Criterion Collection) [Blu-ray]

I won't go too much into the films. It's Wong Kar Wai. You're getting great value in this boxset. He's such a master of style and form. All these films are incredible (well, maybe not "As Tears Go By" but it's his first movie. He was still working out the kinks). This is pretty much the only way to get such films as "Chungking Express," "Fallen Angels," and "Happy Together," on Region A bluray at the moment. It's a good deal to get this director's entire oeuvre (minus "Ashes of Time" and "The Grandmaster").But what I really want to go over is the packaging. It's such an aesthetic and I'm here for it! My first thought when opening it was, is this a bluray boxset or a Kpop album? Definitely looks more like the intricate packaging that the Korean boy and girl groups love to release their cds in than anything movie studios typically do with their special bluray editions. First off, there's no plastic. Nice, we love an eco-friendly packaging. What you get is an origami design where the book and disc holder is encased in an outer envelope shell. Same way a sticky rice cake would be wrapped in a banana leaf. Very minimalist and chic, if you vibe with that. It's sturdy cardboard with a nice matte texture. I don't think it will rip easily, but it definitely will be an undertaking to preserve this thing pristinely from dents and creases every time you handle it. Challenge accepted! So there's that. Secondly, the discs are each kept in its own individual pocket that you have to slide out of the folding cardboard case. The first time I took the discs out, I noticed a few of the discs had a tiny amount of sticky glue residue on the very edge of the disc from the cardboard panel of the case. It wasn't that hard to remove with some rubbing with a cloth. I also noticed one of my discs had some light scratches, however it didn't affect the playback any. Perhaps it would be wise if you bought an empty bluray case and just stored all the discs in that.Which brings me to my next point. This thing is bigger than a standard bluray, or even a dvd boxset. It's literally book size. It might be an issue looking out of place if kept with your other blurays, sticking out like a sore thumb. I haven't decided what to do yet about that. I might just keep the box itself with my other books on the shelf and transfer all the discs to an empty bluray case for ease of use and keep that along with the rest of my Blu-ray collection.Now, about the book. It's a French-fold book, which essentially looks like a long piece of paper folded outwardly widthwise and that uncut edge is just left like that. You think first looking at it that the printer forgot to slice the outer edge so the pages are all cut like a normal book. After all, the underside of the page isn't blank. There's an image you can see, kind of like a peek-a-boo surprise feature. However, it's supposed to be like that. It's aesthetic, it's fancy, it's unusual design, but just think about it. It is so Wong Kar Wai. I couldn't think of a more fitting detail for a film collection of his.So, highly recommend this just for the effort Criterion took to release packaging this unusual and stylish. A very fitting tribute to the aesthetic of a Wong Kar Wai film.

If people watch the films of Wong Kar Wai casually, they might find some of his films chaotic and get frustrated. People might have the initial impression that the story is about several movie characters, each going in their separate directions without any central theme. When the viewers pause and think about how the different elements of the story connect with each other, the viewers can start to appreciate the films of Wong Kar Wai.Wong Kar Wai was born in Shanghai and moved to Hong Kong as a child. He grew up in the central district of Kowloon, Hong Kong, not far from the Chungking Mansions which inspired the making of the movie Chungking Express. Director Wong often starts filming a movie without a completed script and finishes writing the script while filming the movie. He likes to write the script as he films the movie.In Days of Being Wild, Yuddy, played by Leslie Cheung, is a hooligan and a playboy who is able to gain the affection of two women, stadium box office agent Li-zhen, played by Maggie Cheung and cabaret dancer Mimi, played by Carina Lau. Li-zhen is elegant with relatively good manners while Mimi is bold and aggressive in her behaviors. A woman might think that Yuddy treats her specially well and treats other women in bad ways. In reality, he treats all women in the same way, and he is not in love with anyone. Yuddy has a tumultuous relationship with his adopted mother Rebecca, played by Rebecca Pan. Rebecca in the movie is a former top-notch courtesan who is wealthy enough to have her own servant and likes to spend her money on young men. Rebecca Pan like Wong Kar Wai came from Shanghai, and she speaks mostly Shanghainese and not Cantonese in the roles she plays in her movies.The story of the legless bird is repeated three times in Days of Being Wild, and the legless bird is the main character Yuddy whom his birth mother has abandoned. The legless bird sleeps in the wind when it gets tired, and Yuddy fails to find solace from his girlfriends. Yuddy goes to the Philippines to find his birth mother, but she refuses to see him. If the theme of this movie is about Yuddy’s life struggle in search of his birth mother, her refusal to see him is like the legless bird dying and falling to the ground from the sky. At the age of 46, Leslie Cheung who played Yuddy committed suicide by jumping off a hotel, leaving behind a suicide note that he was suffering from depression. His role in the movie foreshadows his own demise.The last scene of the movie with a gambler getting ready in a small room is a preview of the sequel which did not get finished. The director was filming scenes of both movies, but the initial reception of the first film, Days of Being Wild was poor, and the production team stopped the filming of the sequel.Both Chungking Express and In the Mood for Love deal with love and loneliness except that In the Mood for Love has a more compelling story. The cinematography and movie music of In the Mood for love have a dramatic impact on the audience. The director hopes that the audience can empathize with the pain and emotions of the main characters. Sometimes, a sad romance story can be more interesting than a happy one. If someone has time to watch only one movie from this collection, In the Mood for Love is the one to watch.