Post-nostalgia: In the Mood for Love and 2046

Abstract

Wong Kar-wai is probably the most rigorously studied auteur from Hong Kong. Described by Tony Rayns as a ‘poet of time’,1 Wong has been under considerable critical spotlight ever since his 1988 debut, As Tears Go By, and his name has become synonymous with Hong Kong’s auteur cinema in critical circles worldwide. With a collection of ten features to date, Wong has been the subject of three book-length studies in English, two monographs and numerous critical essays, not to say regular reviews in printed and electronic media in different languages.2 This proliferation of writings on Wong testifies to his status as an auteur of Hong Kong cinema and world cinema as a whole. Peter Brunette, for example, sees in Wong’s films the ‘future of cinema’, while Ackbar Abbas, writing more than a decade ago, already gave credit to Wong’s idiosyncratic rewriting/destabilizing of genre that makes him a representative ‘Hong Kong filmmaker’.3 Wong’s credentials as Hong Kong’s unique ‘auteur of time’ are convincingly argued in Stephen Teo’s study on Wong, from his early stints as a television script-writer to his latest Chinese-language film, 2046 (2004). Teo’s book contextualizes Wong’s work within the Hong Kong film and television industries, noting the multiple influences from local genre films, Western cinematic traditions, and in particular Chinese and Latin American literature.4