One of the most powerful images for me was towards the end of the movie when the man goes back to take a present to his former landlord and the new guy living there tells him there is a woman and a child living next now. The image is of the man pausing outside the door and staring at it. We're not sure if it is the woman behind the door, but there there's a feeling that it is, and as we later find out it is her. This image was powerful to me because it kind of represents the last hope of them being together. There's that sense of longing and urgency where you want him to just knock on the door and for them to be reunited and to see where things will go, even though you know in your heart, he's not going to. I was thinking that maybe they would finally be able to be together, as it seems they are both separated now, as the man has lived in Singapore for awhile without his wife it seemed, and the man next door said it was only a woman and a child living next door, which leads me to believe, or at least hope, that she has finally left her husband. I guess that is why this image is the most powerful to me because neither has any idea who is on the other side of the door and it is a major sign of fate, unfortunately that they shouldn't be together I guess since he moves on with neither of them ever knowing what could have been if he had knocked.
Another image, more a whole shot, that seemed powerful was that of them leaning against the wall on opposite sides. The camera pans back and forth showing both of them with the wall in between. This shot has power without any words because you can physically see the separation between them, the wall, and the anxiety, stress, and longing written all over their faces and in their body language which almost mirror each other. The audience can see the tear between the two, the longing and want, the desire to be together, yet the struggle and need to remain separated because they don't want to be like their spouses.
I do see the similarities between Wong's film and silent cinema, especially in the use of facial expressions and body language to convey how the characters are feeling and the struggle they are dealing with. Yet, there is something different about Wong's film that I can't quite put a finger on, maybe it's that his film has a more subtle way of conveying the feeling. The characters are not over-exaggerating the expressions, it's just the camera's close up and the scene around them that helps to convey the mood and what they are feeling.
I must say, watching this film reminded me a lot of a family reunion with my dad's side of the family with all the similar speaking, the way they gather together for everything and set the food out where everything is on the table and each person has their own small bowl of rice and just picks at the other plates as they go all sharing off of them, the fast loud talking and everyone talking over each other, and the dresses the women wear and their hairstyles are all similar to the way Vietnamese women do theirs and the traditional Vietnamese dress we wear. It was quite funny to me all the shots at the table where they are playing games and everyone's sitting around having a good time because that is exactly what happens at my relatives' houses, and also how nosy and in other people's business is quite characteristic of them too.
Great stuff. Yes, that's interesting that the cultural business is so recognizable! And I agree that while there's some similarity to the silent cinema, there's something else happening here. It's as if the images, moving and still, are illustrating the forms of emotion, of longing, etc. Almost like photos from a magazine.
ReplyDelete