Wong Kar-wai

[The Fanciful Norwegian]

What was wrong with the transfer?

It's a smeary mess with sloppy grain management that not only adds conventional DNR but also all sorts of weird artifacting—there are some examples in this thread, though unfortunately not all the image links still work. It looks worse than a bootleg copy of the mainland Chinese version that appeared shortly after the original theatrical release, never mind the far superior Korean and U.S. Blu-rays (which unfortunately are different cuts of the movie, so they can't replace the HK BD).

From this article, research for Tong Wars is still ongoing but Blossoms takes priority...

Thing is that these articles on Filmmaker came out of Wong's appearance at the Hawaii International Film Festival way back in November. I don't know why they're only appearing now, but it was reported in March that Amazon had dropped Tong Wars.

[The Fanciful Norwegian]

Per buzz on Weibo (and an Instagram post that was edited to remove an initial reference to Wong), Wong is directing a short film for the next issue of Vogue Film, a biannual offshoot of Vogue China. No other info except that it stars Xin Zhilei of Crosscurrent (which was quietly released on U.S. DVD/Blu in August) and Ruyi's Royal Love in the Palace.

[The Fanciful Norwegian]

Turns out Blossoms is going to be both a movie and a webseries, to be filmed concurrently. Wong is producing the series, but no directors have been named yet (and still no cast info for either version). Production is supposed to begin next year.

[Joe Zombie]

Can anyone comment on the quality of the 2014 BD release of Days of Being Wild and the subtitle translations?

[Never Cursed]

Tong Wars has been cancelled. The filming of Blossoms has been delayed thanks to the novel coronavirus outbreak.

[R0lf]

Which is funny because wasn’t 2046 delayed and then completely refilmed due to SARS?

[The Fanciful Norwegian]

Wong had already made a decision to shoot in Shanghai, which meant discarding most of the material that had already been filmed in Bangkok alongside In the Mood for Love, but SARS forced them to delay the Shanghai shoot. So he did some studio filming in Hong Kong with Kimura Takuya, whose role was originally to be much larger (almost as large as Tony Leung's). I don't know whether any of that footage ended up in the final cut or if it was discarded as well. He also made "The Hand," changing the setting from Shanghai to Hong Kong on account of the epidemic.

[Cremildo]

Blossoms is set to start filming in July.

[Petty Bourgeoisie]

An official letter about an indefinite postponement is expected to be be written in June

[whaleallright]

How many abortive projects has he had in the last 15 years, anyhow?

[jaffe1234]

What is the original aspect ratio of Wong Kar Wai's 2046? Imdb lists it at 2.35 : 1. but looking at screencraps in different places around the internet it seems that there are also copies in 2.55:1.

[cowboydan]

What is the original aspect ratio of Wong Kar Wai's 2046? Imdb lists it at 2.35 : 1. but looking at screencraps in different places around the internet it seems that there are also copies in 2.55:1.

Interestingly, DVD Beaver seems to suggest that the OAR is 2.40:1.
http://www.dvdbeaver.com/film/DVDCompare11/2046.htm
"Only Tartan and Fox R3 has the true OAR of 2.40:1. Mei Ah is stretched approx 2.9% horizontally to 2.47:1 AR, while Guang is squeezed approx 3.8% horizontally and cropped additionally approx 0.75% left / right to 2.29:1 AR."

So if that's right, then 2.40:1. If imdb and bluray.com are correct, then it's 2.35:1. I can't find any suggestions of 2.55:1.

[The Fanciful Norwegian]

It should be 2.39:1 (or 2.40:1 if you're rounding up). 2.35:1 is the older pre-1970 'Scope aspect ratio and it's very unlikely that a 2004 film would use it. 2.55:1 doesn't make any sense TBH.

How many abortive projects has he had in the last 15 years, anyhow?

The only ones I know of that were ever official were The Lady from Shanghai and Tong Wars. There were reports he was doing a film with Annapurna about the Maurizio Gucci murder, but Wong somewhat uncharacteristically issued a public denial; I suspect he'd been approached about it but was never actually attached. There were also reports about a decade ago that he was going to bring Brigitte Lin out of retirement for an adaptation of the short story "The Eternal Snow Beauty," but that never went beyond the rumor stage and strikes me as wishful thinking. There's a webseries called Paradise Guesthouse that has fallen by the wayside as Blossoms moves forward, but the studio claims it's still happening.

[Persona]

Blossoms is set to start filming in July.

Can't link it from my phone ATM but there is a teaser out now!

(sidenote: is it just me or has this board slowed down a lot? where is everybody?)

[therewillbeblus]

Came here to link it

[Persona]

Thanks!

[senseabove]

Wong Kar-Wai x Sotheby's

Sotheby’s today unveils details of an unprecedented collaboration with Wong for its forthcoming Modern Art sales in Hong Kong.

The star lot of Sotheby’s Modern Art Evening Sale on 9 October is the debut of Wong Kar Wai’s first ever NFT creation – “In the Mood for Love – Day One” – edited from never-before-seen footage shot on the first production day of the international masterpiece, “In The Mood For Love” (2000). ... Unveiled for the very first time, the NFT short film contains rare footage starring Tony Leung and Maggie Cheung as characters utterly different from the iconic lovers in the original film. This unique artwork celebrates the critical and wondrous moment when a creative idea is first conceived, while marking the first Asian film NFT ever to be offered in international auction houses.

[Magic Hate Ball]

[domino harvey]

I'm not sure it's possible for me to like WKW any less than I do now, but I'm sure he's readying a great followup to this to lower the bar even more

[Never Cursed]

For some reason I thought you at least liked his earlier stuff with Leung (Chungking/In The Mood), Domino

[The Fanciful Norwegian]

Sounds like this might have some overlap with the In the Mood for Love 2001 short that was screened once at Cannes and then never again; at the time he said it was filmed on the first two days of production, though much later he said it was the first ten. Not that we're ever likely to know for sure.

[domino harvey]

For some reason I thought you at least liked his earlier stuff with Leung (Chungking/In The Mood), Domino

I liked several of his films, it's the man himself who's driving me crazy

[Never Cursed]

Gotcha - certainly this most recent "project" of his is deeply aggravating

[Walter Kurtz]

WKW
NFT
WTF

[mhofmann]

It's almost like he's trying hard to taint his legacy...