Synopsis
An assassin goes through obstacles as he attempts to escape his violent lifestyle despite the opposition of his partner, who is secretly attracted to him.
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Cast
- Leon LaiWong Chi-Ming
- Charlie YeungCharlie
- Takeshi KaneshiroHo Chi-mo
- Karen Mok Man-WaiBlondie
- Michelle ReisKiller's Agent
- Chan Man-LeiWu's Father
- Toru SaitoSato
- Benz Kong To-HoiAh Hoi
- Chan Fai-hungMan Forced to Eat Ice-cream
- Kwan Lee-naWoman Pressed to Buy Vegetables
Recommendations
- 100
TV Guide Magazine
Even Wong's detractors, who consider him more stylist than auteur, will have a tough time dismissing the extraordinary emotional depth he achieves here. - 90
Chicago Reader
Writer-director Wong Kar-wai makes these five self-consciously idiosyncratic types--often seen through distorting lenses in cinematographer Christopher Doyle's somber, garish Hong Kong--fully and instantly believable. - 90
Los Angeles Times
An exhilarating rush of a movie, with all manner of go-for-broke visual bravura that expresses perfectly the free spirits of his bold young people. [22 May 1998, Pg.F9] - 80
Newsweek
Wong Kar-Wai's cinematic style is unmistakable: hip, colorful and energetic and the film's frenetic pacing and exuberant camera work make the streets of Hong Kong a neon wonderland. - 78
Austin Chronicle
If you're fed up with the stultifying, formula-driven character of today's mainstream films, give Fallen Angels a try. At the very least you'll be engaged, and if you're lucky you may just recapture some of your original wonder at the seductive power of movies. - 75
Chicago Sun-Times
To describe the plot is to miss the point. Fallen Angels takes the materials of the plot -- the characters and what they do -- and assembles them like a photo montage. At the end, you have impressions, not conclusions. - 75
San Francisco Chronicle
It's hard to follow, the characters are ill-defined, and the wide-angle shots used by Wong's perennial cinematographer, Christopher Doyle, are deliberately unflattering. - 75
San Francisco Examiner
Fallen Angels is proof that Wong will try anything, and the result is an eclectic mix of images and disjointed editing, sounds and rhythms that are at times as powerful as any piece of filmmaking likely to be seen all year. It can also, every once in awhile, be tedious and trying.
