Friday Night Flicks: Fallen Angels
If you could choose any filmmaker direct a biopic of your entire life thus far, who would you go with?
Personally, I’d start by crossing Jodorowsky off the list, as I’ve never taken LSD or partaken in blood rituals of any sort. Wes Anderson might be a fun choice, but that means I’d probably be played by Owen Wilson (my agency is still waiting to hear back from the estate of Marlon Brando, and frankly, AI isn’t in our budget). Tarkovsky certainly has the resume for it (see: his ruminative, lifetime-spanning masterpiece Mirror), but I’d prefer the film to be respected by the entire public, not just cinema professors and problematic screenwriters.
In the end, I think I’d go with a little-known Japanese director named Wong Kar-Wai. Watching a Kar-Wai film is like watching a two-hour ad for Gucci Japan, one directed jointly by Andy Warhol and peak-era David Fincher. These are films that employ neon color palettes, experimental lighting techniques, and oversaturation in a way that makes them not only incredibly easy on the eyes, but instantly recognizable as well. Needless to say, he’d always get my good side.
For those unfamiliar with his work, I’d start with Fallen Angels. It’s a nightmarish but comical wander of a film that follows two intersecting storylines, both of which take place in a particularly squalid corner of Hong Kong. It deals with themes like alienation, despair, indifference - all that fun stuff - and the weight these emotions have on a pair of young and affectless assassins, the Fallen Angels in question. Watch it below. —Jackson Todd
