User Reviews

Visually stunning, with so many effects and shots - the neon lights, reflections, colors, wide angle lens, low frame rate, handheld camera, titled angles - and they all work without seeming like gimmicks, giving the film great style. I just wish the story and feelings had been as profound as the cinematography.

Hong Kong: a contract killer tries to leave the business, while other side stories intersect and bond with each other.

Following Kar Wai's style, this film explores emotions and feelings, in this case, loneliness.

Among characters who want to change their lives, others stuck in memories and illusions, passing by personalities who have never created decent and beneficial human connections, there is a seductive and moving narrative that shows us that in a world of encounters and mismatches, in the end we are alone, regardless of what we do along the way.

The style of photography, where the camera is very close to the actors, distorting the proportions, leads us to be very close to the events, to easily create empathy and to experience the same as the characters. The score, as always, incredible and perfectly played.

The following was excerpted from a wonderful essay by Momus, and nicely highlights the themes that this film is all about (which are totally missed by the complainers here who called it boring).

"Isolated, impulsive heroes, nocturnal locations, cool music... a violent world in which sensitive people nevertheless continue to dream romantic dreams indifferent to the surrounding carnage.

In 'Fallen Angels' this happens quite literally: Agent girl Michelle Reis moons and munches dreamily in the wideangle foreground while in the background a triad fight happens in slow motion.

It's the Walkman syndrome, a thing you notice when you visit the orient. The bigger the population, the more busy the city, the more people develop the ability to retreat into an inner isolation, the space of a snackbar, a tatami mat, a computer screen, a song playing on headphones.

In the next century we will all live like this.

Wong Kar Wei maps out a perfectly postmodern, perfectly oriental psychogeography of small, busy places which nevertheless become the spawning ground of ultra-private obsessions and infatuations. Love in his films is more likely to be expressed by someone breaking into your apartment and tidying it, or by masturbation, than a healthy clinch. It is the mindset of ultrafetish, and cinematographer Chris Doyle puts it into images: a clear plastic sheath worn over a Chinese silk dress, a mute riding the corpse of a pig in an abattoir, a blow up sex doll with its head stuck in an elevator door, being kicked insanely by a couple of ultra-romantic maniacs.

And there is the real star, the traum-city itself. Corridors, subways, neon, time lapse, travelators and low flying jets, trains, shopping arcades, Chung King Mansions stuffed to the gullets with sullen, sweating people cooled by antique electric fans, the scheming tattooed triads, outbursts of random violence, warehouses, chopping knives, video cameras, motorbikes speeding through tunnels, the multi-racial hand in hand with the super-commercial... Hong Kong insinuates itself into our imaginations as the ubertraumstadt, the place of ultimate nightmare and ultimate romance, where beauty is all the more poignant for its dark, cheap, pitiless setting and dreams are all the more necessary."

Wong Kar-wai's Fallen Angels dives headfirst into the cultural alienation and milennial dread of modern-day Hong Kong. The film has a distinctly detached feeling about it that is certainly close to what its characters must feel. Some scenes are hypnotic and dreamlike, while others seem brutally real. The film's characters always seem to be wandering, or, perhaps, simply going through the motions of life. The voice-overs - which Wong uses as effectively as any director since the heyday of Terrence Malick - effectively add an extra dimension to the characters. The ending of Fallen Angels is one of the most beautiful, poetic, and true ever filmed.

While this film's predecessor, Wong's Chungking Express is a wonderful, exceptional movie, Fallen Angels is ultimately superior - a masterpiece that Wong only surpassed with his last film, the astonishing In the Mood for Love. Still, while In the Mood for Love may be Wong's best film to date, Fallen Angels remains (as it probably always will) the quintessential Wong Kar-wai picture in that it perfectly embodies the bold, Godardian, recklessness that the name Wong Kar-wai immediately brings to mind. 10/10

Wow. Fallen Angels really surprised me. I rarely read reviews or synopses of movies before viewing. So, I expected to see classic Hong Kong shoot 'em up gangsta film. Instead, I was intrigued and stunned by this incredible movie.

The characters are the focus as they each tell their stories. Literally, the title "Fallen Angels" gives you an idea of their plight. The film doesn't glorify the criminal lifestyle and shows aspects like isolation and loneliness. It's funny how the killer even tries to imagine how happy he'd be trying to live a "normal" life working a 9 to 5. Unfortunately, life's placed him in his predicament and must deal with the ramifications of it. Add to it his agent (played by knockout Michelle Reis) who is really enigmatic in this one. Her scene at the jukebox is one that displays the pain, agony, and confusion that she is going through. Plus, that song is like joy and torture for her at the same time!

Then, there is He. A man of few words who's story may be one of the most moving. Who could've thought a video could be so powerful and sentimental? This may be one of the most strangest, complex, yet fascinating characters I've ever onscreen. His silent nature, line of work (which is the oddest form of coercion I've ever seen!), and his struggles are really played well by Takeshi Kaneshiro, especially his scenes with his dad.

Wong Kar Wai's direction really makes the film. I really loved the dark, trippy music soundtrack which helped glaze on a slick, surreal coating. It sounds like something that would've been produced by Tricky, Massive Attack, or Portishead. While this may not have a bloody, high body count, the story told here makes this such a worthwhile movie and can be appreciated after repeated viewings.

Movie is beautifully shot, cinematography is great, the atmosphere and colors, slow motion shots and visual effects are all great. Some parts are extremely boring but it fits the vibe of loneliness and sad lives the characters have. Film seems way longer than it actually is. I appreciate the visual side, characters are extrime but it still gets you tired from watching.

Absolutely brilliant. When I first saw Chung King Express, it quickly became one of my favorite movies. It still is, but Fallen Angels is even better. It encompasses so much. There is such a potent mix of action, drama, humor, love, music etc. that it overwhelmed me and left me in a state not unlike post-orgasmic ecstasy. Since I've seen it four times now and the effect hasn't been diminished one iota, I'm convinced that this one oughta go down in the record books. My extreme gratitude to Wong Kar Wai for creating this masterpiece.

I love Chungking Express, and its "predecessor" Fallen Angels is okay, kind of like the prelude to Chungking Express. The night shots draw you into Hong Kong in a way the tourism promos don't for sure. You see Fallen Angels for the experience.

One thing is for sure - it is everything you have seen before and nothing like anything you have seen before. As a Wong Kar-wai junkie, I have to admit - it is getting harder and harder to find a favorite - Fallen Angels is among the top three. In one sense I really loved Fallen Angels because it is full of the same urban angst brought up in Chungking Express. There is something utterly and strikingly gorgeous about Wong Kar-Wai's movies. The mise-en-scene and backdrops his characters inhabit in that give each scene a particular almost brooding feeling. Wong Kar-Wai's are lost and lonely in a world that is dark and full of despair. Fallen Angels is no different.

Fallen Angels' Hong Kong is alive in the evenings. One could argue that the cinematography captures a dreamlike state, pure urban neon, and erotic. In Fallen Angels we travel the gritty back alleys (reminiscent of Chunking Express) into underworld dives, dreary dive bars juxtaposed against a brightly-lit McDonalds. I have to say this... Wong Kar-wai does somewhat put me off with his product placement - but we have to finance our projects somehow, I guess.

Leon Lai's is a lazy hired killer. His portrayal, it can be argues is weighty and conjures up a sense of gaudy (almost caddy) persona. I am reminded of Yuddy in Days of Being Wild. Lai is wonderful as a contradiction of apathy and poetry. Lai plays it with a languid air. Every move is deliberate - smooth. Conversely, Michelle Reis' is his doppelganger - his manager. She is obsessed with him, becomes emotionally attached to him. I would argue that a sense of betrayal set the stage for the hit man's final demise. A nighttime ride in the back of a motorcycle with He Zhiwu (Takeshi Kaneshiro) leads me wonder is she has comes undone. Love though, and its many forms of cruelty is a recurring theme with Wong Kar-wai. Oh that sweet betrayal... He Zhiwu is a potent character. The relationship He Zhiwu develops with his father is proof positive that even in the broken world of dysfunctionality there resides a lotus from the marshes. The videotape sessions, at first almost humorous, forms yet another center of love shattered - sometimes we need to really treasure what we have lest it slip by so suddenly... he Zhiwu is a symbol of the lyricism of youth.

One has to admit, even after Chunking Express, Fallen Angels is different from any Hong Kong movie. Driven by inner monologue (much like the later much acclaimed The Follow from The Hire series) it draws one in. The languid tone and deeply erotic tale is one that will stand the test of time. Fallen Angels according to Teo takes over from where Chungking Express leaves of. I argue that it brought Chungking Express to a whole new realm. Fallen Angels is Chungking Express on steroids.

Miguel Llora

If you appreciate visually stunning movies, this one should secure a spot on your watchlist.

The story advances in the spirit of its main characters - it offers no background, no explanation, no coherent conclusion. Instead of a structured plot, you get to live through flashes and episodes of alienating experiences.

WKW doesn't rely on dialogue to make the viewer experience longing, rejection, or loneliness that his characters go through - the art he later perfected in 'In The Mood For Love'.

'Fallen Angels' requires a specific niche of viewers to maximize the enjoyment of its narrative. Regardless of that, its direction, soundtrack, and cinematography are good enough to make the journey worthwhile.

WKW strikes back again with this wonderful - and different movie. The Hong Kong director brings us a unique story about loneliness. As other movies of WKW, this movies represents a wonderful visual experience. Great directing for 3 stories: The story of an assassin, lonely and living day to day deciding weather it's really worth continuing with his profession or not; the story of his partner, a beautiful woman who relies her loneliness on her obsession with her partner; and the story of a mute guy that works at night in all the closed stores and markets, and with the different encounters with a woman and his relation with his father. All three stories are stories of loneliness, of love affairs impossible to fulfill and of the wish of each one to find a meaning to their existence. Like in all movies of WKW, all characters are solitary. This movie is another one of the directors masterpieces, trying to describe all the lonely souls in Hong Kong and the impossibility of finding a meaning to their life, their professions and a meaning to love. A bizarre and great soundtrack, such as the great photography and stylish directing makes this movie a must-see in the Chinese's director.

I must admit, my only exposure to Wong Kar Wai's work (so far) is Chunking Express & Fallen Angels, often referred to as "bookends" by friends who are much more into his work. If you've seen one, you pretty much know if you'll like the other... though I'd recommend Chunking Express as the first of the 2 to see. It seems to me Fallen Angels is a bit more intense, so seeing it after CKE would turn the experience up, where seeing Fallen Angels first might make CKE seem a bit anticlimactic. I can't believe he shot on 35mm - the look is so gritty & saturated I thought it was shot on a variation of 16mm. This is NOT a criticism! The visual effect is a big part of the impact of this movie. I'm intrigued enough by what I've seen to seek out more of this director's work. He certainly has defined a very distinctive look & style to his films. Love 'em or hate 'em - he's very consistent, and has carved out a unique niche.

Great themes and beautiful shots but it was not enough. It lacks structure in so many ways. It's difficult to connect to the characters because they are that, random characters that don't really add anything.

I really thought I would enjoy this movie but sadly I didn't.

Some movies are tableaux observed from a fixed distance, a remnant of old theatrical ways they don't whisper so we will get up close and listen they shout out at us in our seat, their motions stopping at the edge of that figurative stage created by the camera. A Wong Kar Wai movie throws itself at you, or it stays the distance and invites you to climb the stage and take intimate looks, and none does it better from what I've seen so far than Fallen Angels. This is a movie that sends us hurling at top speed through the electric night of Hong Kong, blurred neon colors bleeding by the camera in splashes of light and shape, then it holes itself up in cheap fleabag rooms or dingy bathrooms to stare itself at the mirror or lie in bed exhausted and inert. This is stylish and cool but Wong Kar Wai is so terrific he goes the extra mile, he makes his stylish awfully poignant. And I like how he can make his films funny without breaking up the tone, without the movie making it seem like it's stopping in its tracks to relieve tension, it's all part of the journey.

As with previous films, Fallen Angels tells us a vibrant expressionist story of lonely souls aching for connection, now when the normal folks go to bed the movie's characters crawl out of their holes to call out in the dead of night to anyone who might listen, even those who won't, each character only a moment's stop in another's journey through life. It is frantic, in a constant flux and motion and search for something, as though driven by instinctive Bedouin locomotion. The movie is motioning towards a sense of destination, a warm place those characters can call home and finally rest in, but it starts and finishes before that destination can be reached, hanging in the existential middle like the blurry snapshot of something that moves. The snapshot here is not simply the memento of something come and gone, it's something to be celebrated for its own momentary fleeting beauty. They might go on to reach home or not, but a girl is riding on a motorbike with a man she doesn't know, she knows the road is not that long and that she'll be getting off soon but at that moment she feels good. Then the movie comes out of a tunnel into the break of dawn, and it would be years (maybe not until Mann's Collateral) before we'd get another movie that takes us on a ride like this through the electric night.

Almost manga-like in camera style and story telling (I mean manga as in Akira and Ghost in The Shell). Very colorfull yet dark, explicit yet tender, soft and violent. Your sucked in by the nostrils, visually shaken about and taken for a very exciting trip into hyper-subreality. The daylight at the end has the same effect as the dishcleaning and lights on after a very good party. Very sobering. The movie leaves you with the feeling of having had a vigorous massage and wanting more. More Wong Kar-Wai.

I already wrote a comment on this one some years ago. A couple of months ago I ordered the Brand New digitally cleaned up Australian DVD (the French are also re-releasing, as part of a Kar-Wai box), and people, would you believe it! Despite having seen my VHS until it decomposed, reincarnated and went to live in a buddhist monastery for videotapes broken out of the circle of continuous play, it was a revelation. But I'm drifting off here. The thing is simple:

This film is superb; the final 5 minutes are among the most gripping things ever translated into some perceptible entity. It would already suffice to make it a masterpiece. The rest of the film is bonuses bonuses. Don't miss, please.

It is rare for movies to elicit a feeling, that I can only describe as, cinematic cathartic release. As though the movie is a living breathing element that has some how reached into the very heart of the viewer and pressed a cinematic button or released a cinematic lever that has laid dormant for so long. Very few movie over the years possess this ability, but Fallen Angels (along with Wong Kai Wai's Chung King Express) has successfully achieved this.

Many people have panned Fallen Angels as being a confused, incoherent, meandering mess of overly stylised visuals and sound. Although this can be granted (though we shouldn't really listen to such comments), I feel that it is the wrong way to approach this movie. Fallen Angels doesn't merely use hyper kinetic camera movements and vivid imagery to create an avant garde narrative. I feel that there is something more important being said in this movie. If you look closely enough you will notice that there is something in Fallen Angels that is telling the viewer about the power of cinema and the power of images.

There is something in the spontaneity of the direction, the merging of story lines, the fast paced editing, the changes in camera angles, the eclectic soundtrack, the varying perspectives, the merging of genres. What I feel is being said, is that cinema is designed to invigorate the soul. Cinema awakens feelings that has been left numb by a sterile waking life. The writer Brecht said, 'art is not a mirror to be held up to reality, but a hammer in which to shape it'. It is with this thought in mind that I approach Wong Kai Wai Fallen Angels.

Unlike the works of Brecht, Fallen Angels isn't a movie that is overtly political or making a political statement of any kind. But, like Brecht's work, it is a remedy to the state of inaction that many people feel is conducive of there everyday lives. It is a cry for attention in order to remind the viewer that despite the inherent vulgarity of the world around us, if we look at the world with the right eyes we can see a glimpse or even just a flicker of beauty, which by itself can change the course of our lives.

Wong Kai Wai has put experimental cinema at the forefront and has woven a dark and brooding story about the absurd underbelly of life in pre-handover Hong Kong. It is a comic/tragedy, but all the whilst-like all great tragedies- there is a feeling that life's richer more undefinable elements will come through by the end.

Overall, without losing myself in too much metaphysical fornication, Fallen Angels is a master class in cinematic flare.

Wong Kar Wai's films are an acquired taste; either you like most or all or else you don't like them at all. Having said that, this is his best film and one of the greatest and most important films to come out of Hong Kong. It moves along at a faster pace (though still a little slow) than his other movies. Like his other movies, photography work is excellent and very stylish. He give you the feeling of being in Hong Kong without having to catch the plane. Fallen Angels features the story of a hitman as well as other restless people in HK. Leon Lai Ming is very good in this movie; his acting has come a long way since Wicked City. Overall, a 10 out of 10.

Fallen Angels feels like an art house film made by a young director trying to find his voice. The fact that it was made by the same established director that had in the previous few years released Days of Being Wild and Chungking Express made it all the more surprising, and frankly, disappointing.

But don't be misled - this film has KWW's signature all over it. While the nostalgic aspect of some of his historical flicks is completely absent, the sense of unrequited love, alienation, and tragic inefficacy of human communication are central themes. Doyle's cinematography is creative as always and for the most part it contributes, rather than distracts. The music is quite good.

The main problem with Fallen Angels is that it is awfully difficult to feel a connection for the characters. The plot does not move forward with much intention and the disjointed mini vignettes were a detriment to getting the audience emotionally involved. The characters are very difficult to relate to: The partner is a character that is drawn too sketchily and is not given enough dialog for the viewer to relate to deeply. The mute is meant to win us over with his innocent charm, but it is at times an overacted role which makes the character somewhat annoying. Blondie adds some comic relief (though also in an overacted manner) but is a bit easier to relate to and feel sorry for. Lastly, the killer is very apathetic about his life which does not endear the viewer to him. He is more "cool" than likable. Though that his inability to make decisions ultimately does not serve him well in life is a message that may resonate strongly with some viewers.

There are moments of tenderness between characters, though few and far in between. This was undoubtedly KWW's intention as a mechanism for underscoring the loneliness of urban life. I can't help but think his point would have been better made with more realistic, normal characters as he has done so effectively in his other films. Overall definitely worth a viewing for all KWW fans, though this is certainly not where I would start if I were just discovering the director.

For reference, this is how I rate some of this other films:

Chungking Express: 9/10 (the second half 10/10) ||| 2046: 9/10 ||| Days of Being Wild: 9/10 ||| In the Mood for Love: 8.5/10 ||| Happy Together: 8.5/10 ||| Fallen Angels: 6/10

This is probably THE coolest film ever made. It has a real trippy soundtrack and is shot like no other film has been made before. The characters, such as killer and his partner, cruise around with an "I don,t give a fudge" attitude which works really well when Wong Kar Wai switches the pace into slow mo. With Wong Kar Wai he really shows you that even with a small budget film you can still match blows with the 100 million dollar films such as the matrix with only your imagination. "Wong Kar Wai is the coolest film maker on the planet" Quentin Tarantino

An arty, pretentious, foreign-language film with subtitles? Normally this sort of cod-meaningful, film student work would be right up my navel-gazing street. However, I'm not sure if Duoluo tianshi (Fallen Angels) ever hit the spot for me. At least, not as much as it did for Michelle Reis.

The film revolves around three characters in separate areas of Hong Kong's underworld. Leon Lai is Wong Chi-Ming, a hit man and sometimes "debt" collector, who works with the masturbating Reis as a partner in crime.

This element is probably the least successful, if in part due to its overstated direction. Most of it is shot in a fisheye/keyhole lens style (i.e. whatever is nearest the camera is larger and distorted). This is interspersed with slo-mo, crooked angles, high-speed, black and white and killings heavily indebted to John Woo's pre-US work (Ying Huang Boon Sik, et al). Credit must be given, however, for the documentary-style realism, particularly the way "blood" spatters on the camera. Not a gore-enhancing spray, but minute specks, giving a subliminal illusion that what you're watching is real.

Takeshi Kaneshiro appears as the most likeable character, an insane hyperactive who "talks" to camera and runs after-hour businesses. That is, when the shops are closed, he breaks in and does his own thing – be it molesting a dead pig in a butcher's, tearing off a man's clothes in a launderette or force-feeding a family in a stolen ice cream van.

However, when the gimmickry settles down and you start to become involved with the interwoven storylines, any reservations start to fade. The coldness of two of the three central characters is displaced by the minutiae of the supporting cast. Karen Mok as "Blondie" adds humour to Lai's otherwise steely interpretation, while there are touching moments between Kaneshiro's He Zhiwu and his father, played by Chen Wanlei. Many of these scenes are shot with Zhiwu filming his father on videotape, meaning that writer/director Kar-wai Wong gets to intersperse real camcorder footage with the rest of his hand-held studies.

Not a first-class view, then, but a worthwhile look at urban violence and inner city alienation. A very well done perseverance, but how cool can something be that ends with a song by The Flying Pickets?

'Fallen Angels' is one of the most exciting movies I've seen in a long time; interesting camera work (not what's everyone used to), fantastic script, impressive acting, funny, erotic with style. I am not sure what I was expecting from this film but the great mixture or genres sure did make me laugh and cry at the same time. Simply amazing! This is not a gangster film; it is a story about individualism and loneliness, very emotional. This is one of those films where none of the actors needs to say 'I love you' or 'I miss you' to let everyone know what they feel. The looks, the music and the moves even the camera work tells everything. You simply feel what they feel. I absolutely loved the soundtrack; powerful and sentimental This movie is purely the work of genius, don't miss it!

Wong Kar-Wei is an acclaimed film director, with many incredible films to his credit, such as "Chungking Express", "In The Mood For Love" and "2046", amongst others. This story is mainly about Ming. a hired killer who tires of the game. This stylish film is set at night, and its sinister overtones are effective. Hong Kong has never looked this forbidding. That being said, to me, its not one of Kar-Wei's essential works. You are not supposed to like Ming, but you are also supposed to care about him as the main character, and I don't. By the end, I grew kind of tired with the style of the film, possibly too much of a good thing. By all means see it, but just know that there are veritable classics Mr. War-Kei has done. While good, the film doesn't reach that platitude.

I watched `Fallen Angels', (Duo luo tian shi), after seeing director Kar Wai Wong's excellent `In the Mood for Love', (Fa yeung nin wa), and I was very disappointed. `Fallen Angels' had some quirky and evocative camera work and the story was of interest in the beginning but the movie went nowhere. After the first third of the movie most of the remaining action was a repeat. Scenes of bored looking people sitting in a bar and the endless cigarette smoking were tiresome. I ended up fast forwarding through many scenes and they were still too long. I wouldn't waste time watching this movie but be sure to catch `In the Mood for Love', a sensual pleasure.