Symbolic use of lighting and color in the films of Wong Kar-Wai

Hong Kong film director Wong Kar-Wai attaches great importance to lighting and color in his movies. He uses various lighting techniques to give the scene a special meaning and draw the viewer's attention to a certain thing. He uses multiple colors that can symbolize different feelings, whether it is sadness or passion. In Wong Kar-Wai's most significant works, lighting and color play an important role, as well as evoke feelings and create a mood that impacts the viewer.

Lighting and Feelings

In the world created by Wong Kar-Wai, you can barely see daylight. The events in his films often unfold in the space of a night Hong Kong, illuminated by neon lights.

Scenes from the films Fallen Angels (1995) and As Tears Go By (1988)

Other sources of lighting in his films are fluorescent lamps. They flicker with an unpleasant color for the eyes and distorting the surrounding objects. So there is a contrast between the artificial environment of glass and plastic and sincere human feelings.

Scenes from the films Fallen Angels (1995) and Chungking Express (1994)

Among neon and luminescent people fall in love and suffer. Feelings for the other are what illuminates the life of the heroes of Wong Kar-Wai, whatever that life may be. In that way, in Wong Kar-Wai’s films, light is often associated with feelings and falling in love.

For example, the wife of the main character of the movie The Grandmaster (2013) lights a lantern when her husband leaves and keeps it lit until he returns home. In heat of falling in love, the heroine of the movie Chungking Express (1994) forgets to pay for electricity and a fast food cafe, where she met her lover is flashed with dozens of candles.

Scene from the film The Grandmaster (2013)

Scene from the film Chungking Express (1994)

Lighting and Colors in Fallen Angels (1995)

The plot of Fallen Angels tells about four different people: a killer, his partner, a girl looking for a missing boyfriend, and a mute merchant. Their stories are intertwined under the neon lights of Hong Kong's night streets. The main theme of the film is loneliness, and the director conveys it in two ways: with the use of color and low-key lighting. Fallen Angels is filled with dark green, symbolizing the feeling of alienation, melancholy, and solitude. Low-key lighting is a technique that increases contrast with the help of shadows and dark tones. In the film, it helps to create a dark, noir atmosphere. The film is filled with sharp and at the same time smooth movements of people and the dramatic rhythm of the music, expressing the madness of the characters. Fallen Angels are filled with the expressiveness of montage and colors. Christopher Doyle, the cinematographer of Fallen Angels, creates an unreal world with the motives of loneliness and fear of the frightening unknown.

The use of green in Fallen Angels

Low-key lighting in Fallen Angels

Lighting and Colors in In the Mood for Love (2000)

The action of In the Mood for Love takes place in Hong Kong, in 1962. The film tells about a man and a woman who find out that their spouses are cheating on them. They start spending a lot of time together, trying to figure out at what point their spouses started cheating. They see each other every day, but they can't start a relationship, not wanting to be like their spouses.

The film is dominated by red and black colors, which serve to show the passion between the main characters and the pain of not being able to be together.

The use of red in In the Mood for Love (2000)

Another used technique is the low-key lighting described above. It is used to exemplify the emptiness in the heroes' life, as in the scene where they walk up and down a dimly-lit staircase.

Low-key lighting in In the Mood for Love (2000)

Conclusion

In that way, lighting plays an important role in Wong Kar-Wai's films. In his movies, we can easily understand the story through visual images and not rely solely on dialogue. The mastery of light by Wong Kar-Wai can give us memories of a life that we have never even lived, as well as make us nostalgic for the love that we never had.

Reference

Wong, K. (Director). (1995). Fallen Angels. [Film]. Jet Tone Production.

Wong, K. (Director). (1988). As Tears Go By. [Film]. In-Gear Films.

Wong, K. (Director). (1994). Chungking Express. [Film]. Jet Tone Production; Ltd.

Wong, K. (Director). (2013). The Grandmaster. [Film]. Annapurna Pictures; Block 2 Pictures; Jet Tone Films; Sil-Metropole Organisation; Bona International Film Group.

Wong, K. (Director). (2000). In the Mood for Love. [Film]. Jet Tone Production; Paradis Films.