Wong Kar-Wai Month

Our Wong Kar-Wai Month opens with Happy Together, the director's 1997 LGBT romance! The film follows the turbulent relationship of Ho Po-wing (Leslie Cheung) and Lai Yiu-fai (Tony Leung Chiu-wai), a gay couple from Hong Kong who travel to Argentina in hopes of repairing their fractured bond. Struggling with cycles of passion, jealousy, and heartbreak, their relationship becomes a metaphor for the broader search for identity and connection. As Lai finds solace in a quiet friendship with a co-worker, Chang (Chang Chen), and Ho drifts further into self-destructive behavior, the narrative captures their struggles against the backdrop of Argentina's stunning landscapes.

Wong Kar-Wai Month continues with Days of Being Wild, the director's 1990 Hong Kong drama. The film centers on the enigmatic and emotionally detached Yuddy (Leslie Cheung), a charming drifter who seduces and abandons women, leaving emotional devastation in his wake. He becomes romantically involved with the reserved Su Lizhen (Maggie Cheung) and later with the free-spirited dancer Mimi (Carina Lau), yet remains emotionally distant as he grapples with his troubled past and his search for his biological mother. Meanwhile, Lizhen finds solace in a kind-hearted policeman, Tide (Andy Lau), who harbors feelings for her. Through interwoven lives and fleeting connections, Wong crafts a lyrical exploration of love's impermanence and the yearning for belonging.

Up next in our Wong Kar-Wai Month series is the 1988 crime drama As Tears Go By. Set in the underworld of Hong Kong's triads, the film follows Wah (Andy Lau), a small-time gangster torn between loyalty and love. Wah must navigate his turbulent relationship with his reckless, self-destructive protégé, Fly (Jacky Cheung), whose impulsive behavior repeatedly draws them into dangerous conflicts. Meanwhile, Wah finds solace in a tender romance with his cousin Ngor (Maggie Cheung), a woman from a quieter world who offers him a glimpse of redemption and a life beyond violence.

Our Wong Kar-Wai Month series continues with Chungking Express, the director's timeless 1994 romance. The film weaves together two distinct yet thematically linked stories of two lovelorn policemen. In the first, He Qiwu (Takeshi Kaneshiro), reeling from a breakup, becomes infatuated with a mysterious woman in a blonde wig (Brigitte Lin), who is entangled in the criminal underworld. The second story follows Cop 663 (Tony Leung Chiu-Wai), whose heartbreak over a flight attendant ex-girlfriend is softened by the quirky and free-spirited Faye (Faye Wong), a café worker who secretly transforms his life.

Our second January Volunteer of the Month is Alexander Canellos, who has chosen Wong Kar-Wai's 2046 as his VOTM pick!  The film follows Chow Mo-wan (Tony Leung Chiu-Wai), a writer grappling with heartbreak and longing as he navigates a series of fleeting romances in 1960s Hong Kong. His experiences inspire a futuristic, allegorical novel about a train to the year 2046, a place where passengers go to recover lost memories but from which no one ever returns. Chow's relationships—with enigmatic women like the glamorous Bai Ling (Zhang Ziyi), the mysterious Su Li-zhen (Gong Li), and others—mirror his internal struggles with love and detachment.

Wong Kar-Wai Month winds down with the director's neon-soaked dramedy Fallen Angels. The film intertwines two loosely connected stories: a disillusioned hitman who contemplates leaving his dangerous profession and his enigmatic female partner who silently yearns for him, and a mute ex-convict who runs an unconventional business and finds himself entangled with a free-spirited woman searching for her own purpose. Through its fragmented narrative, kinetic cinematography, and surreal atmosphere, the story captures the yearning for human connection amid the alienation of urban life

Wong Kar-Wai Month comes to an end the only way we know how: screening the iconic filmmaker's year 2000 masterpiece In The Mood For Love. The story follows Chow Mo-wan (Tony Leung) and Su Li-zhen (Maggie Cheung), neighbors who discover that their spouses are having an affair. As they grapple with this betrayal, they form a bond over their shared pain, reenacting their spouses' infidelity in a bid to understand it. Despite their growing feelings for each other, they remain bound by societal expectations and their own moral codes, creating a story brimming with unspoken emotions and unfulfilled desires.