I've followed the career of Wayne Wang for several years. His two New York movies (Smoke and Blue in the Face) maybe probably his best. The Hong Kong epic Chinese Box worked very fine for me, even though the subtitling of the Chinese dialogues was very erratic in the copy that was projected and edited in video here in Mexico. Therefore I was surprised to find this film in the video shelf and very eager to watch it. More when I found out Paul Auster collaborated in the story (he was a key participant in the two N.Y. movies afore mentioned).
It was a sure disappointment. In this story about a computer geek that sort of falls in love with a stripper, Wang forgets that the key point in a dramatic story is that the viewer identifies or at least cares for any of the players. But as soon as the geek meets the girl and offers her money to go for a few days to Vegas things start to drift out of context. The erotic imagery are the center of this world and they work as good as in the best Zalman King soft porn. But this is a Wayne Wang movie, and his characters always should be, and work for that matter, above those issues.
But they don't. The video-cinematography is beautiful, full of interesting close ups and moving camera effects. The film structure is full of flashbacks in black and white that reconstruct the first meeting of the characters in a sort of convoluted manner, becoming tiresome as the movie advances.
There are few strong moments, like the almost cameo by Carla Gugino as a damaged woman that end up not paying off. It's a difficult movie to watch if you expect any rapport with the characters. The ending is an unconclusive as the rest of the film. Trying to leave an open finale, the conclusion seems vague and pathetic.
It was a sure disappointment. In this story about a computer geek that sort of falls in love with a stripper, Wang forgets that the key point in a dramatic story is that the viewer identifies or at least cares for any of the players. But as soon as the geek meets the girl and offers her money to go for a few days to Vegas things start to drift out of context. The erotic imagery are the center of this world and they work as good as in the best Zalman King soft porn. But this is a Wayne Wang movie, and his characters always should be, and work for that matter, above those issues.
But they don't. The video-cinematography is beautiful, full of interesting close ups and moving camera effects. The film structure is full of flashbacks in black and white that reconstruct the first meeting of the characters in a sort of convoluted manner, becoming tiresome as the movie advances.
There are few strong moments, like the almost cameo by Carla Gugino as a damaged woman that end up not paying off. It's a difficult movie to watch if you expect any rapport with the characters. The ending is an unconclusive as the rest of the film. Trying to leave an open finale, the conclusion seems vague and pathetic.