Nobody, and I do mean nobody, was as hot a director on the foreign circuit as Wong Kar-Wai in the '90s and '00s. During that time he went on a stretch that was one of the greatest in modern cinematic history: "Chungking Express," "Fallen Angels," "Happy Together," and, the peak of it all, "In the Mood For Love." He oddly enough followed the latter up with a mesmerizing sequel entitled "2046," which, as it stands, is the last, industry-shaking, indisputably great movie he's released.
Today we learned that the venerable director hasn't quit cinema ust yet.
According to Variety, Wong’s next movie will be an adaptation of Jin Yuchen’s novel “Blossoms.” IndieWire described the plot in 2017 as "following the lives of Shanghai residents from the end of China’s Cultural Revolution in the early ‘60s through the end of the 20th century, with some scenes set in San Francisco." Wong further elaborated his personal connection to that film saying “Shanghai is my hometown and the time that the book describes is the time of my absence from Hong Kong because I went to Hong Kong when I was 19, in ’63, I hadn’t been back to Shanghai until the early nineties. This is my opportunity for me to fill in all the things that I have missed.”
Production on the film is set to start in mainland China’s Hengdian World Studios in July.
This is incredible and hopeful news for Wong fans who have been a little down about his last few ventures. Here's hoping he gives us something special with these next few projects, we all know that talent and vision don't go away just like that and that it was only a decade ago he gave us the beautiful, transcendent duo of "In The Mood For Love," and its sequel "2046." The saying goes "you can never count an auteur out," especially one as unique and special as Wong Kar-Wai.
The 59-year-old-director has been in a bit of a funk of late, it started with his first foray in English-language features, 2007's misbegotten "My Blueberry Nights," which had, of all people, singer-songwriter Norah Jones as the lead and played like a desperate greatest hits of his better more rewarding features. He followed that one with the most un-Wong Kar-Wai movie imaginable, "The Grandmaster," a kung-fu action epic starring Ziyi Zhang. Both films garnered mixed reviews. It didn't help that his longtime DP Christopher Doyle was sensing that something was indeed off with the director, telling The Guardian "You do realize that you have basically said what you needed to say, so why say more? I think you have to move on." Yikes.
I don’t know about you, but I’m kind of looking forward to the “Michael” sequel. Whether Vantoine directs it or John Logan, it doesn’t matter—it’s an inevitable sh*tshow that will result from its making and release.