WKW: The Cinema of Wong Kar Wai

Wong Kar Wai, an autuer with an sensual and fiercely distinguishable aesthetic, would be pleased to find his signature film stills and intimate photographs littering the pages of this book. Part of Hong Kong’s Second Wave, Wong demonstrates effortless style in quiet moments throughout his films that breathe life and are a testament to the range of human emotions. This book is part collection and part interview. Photographs and stills are pieced together with text against eye-popping shades of red and cool blues. This hardcover, containing 304-pages of information and lust-worthy stills, seems pieced together in almost a scrapbook-like fashion.

While this is a beautiful edition documenting Wong’s most beautiful captures and films as a whole, the text placement was a bit problematic for me. Some text was very small and difficult to read against the eye-catching photographs. The spacing and font size on pages with a white background also seemed too cluttered for the eye to handle – a shame considering the amount of thought and care that went into producing the original stills we see on the page. The book would have benefited from some more refined formatting – there is a bold and italics option for a reason. Despite this, WKW: The Cinema Of Wong Kar Wai is still a beautiful tribute to an illustrious, internationally-acclaimed director.