Chung King Express (1994).
A Story of Food, A story of food. That was the original title. Wishing to love (In the Mood For Love), a film that the Chinese director, raised in Hong Kong, Wong Kar Wai It's been around for almost a decade.
An expat from Shanghai, like himself, who moves to a neighborhood in the Hong Kong still British from 1962. Next to it, a woman settles in at the same time. Both spend a lot of time alone because their respective husbands leave them. Solitude and noodles from a street stall nearby will unite them in one of the most beautiful love (and food) stories of this century.
Wishing to love (2000).
But since the food ended up being just an excuse, the Cannes Film Festival itself, to which Wong Kar-Wai returned in 2000 after winning with HappyTogether (1997) suggested looking for another title, one that would better respond to this platonic and silent love, passionate and hungry. And the director, as he had done before, found the solution in a song by Bryan Ferry and Roxy Music: In the Mood for Love.
In May of this year, the French festival was going to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the film In the Mood For Love in a restored 4k version, supervised by the director himself. It was going to be one of the highlights of the contest in Cannes Classics. We all know what happened next. But the ending is still pretty: the film in that restored version can be seen in more than 45 cinemas in Spain from December 30. And it doesn't come alone.
Coinciding with this revival, the distributor Avalon has launched the Wong Kar Wai Universe event in the Renoir Cinemas in Madrid and Boliche Cinemas in Barcelona. The spaces will be decorated, inspired by the particular aesthetic of this filmmaker, and six other titles will be screened, six of his most acclaimed films also in remastered and restored versions in 4K: 2046, As Tears Go By, Happy Together, Chungking Express, Days of Being Wild Y Fallen Angels.
A chance to see for the first time (or re-see) these modern classics on the big screen because some cannot even be seen in small, like Wishing to love, which is not on any streaming platform.
Wong Kar-Wai Universe.
Neon lights or warm chiaroscuros, Wong Kar-Wai's detailed aestheticism is unmistakable. What that sixties Hong Kong in Wishing to Love that, as he couldn't find it in modern Hong Kong and refused to recreate it in studio, he had to look for it in Thailand. That's how demanding the director is.
And all that Wong Kar-Wai Universe can be recovered with a special passport what includes (for 38 euros) cinema ticket for the seven films, the physical passport of this trip and an exclusive poster from In the Mood For Love special 20th anniversary.
The trip, moreover, will not stay in Madrid and Barcelona: from January 21 You can also see his films (although without the promotion or the passport) in other cities of Spain.
Wishing to love (2000).