Wong Kar-Wai's second film is very different to Hong Kong genre-based
standards of that period, preferring a narrative organised according
to mood and languid poetic rhythms rather than plot. Trademark Wong
elements make their first appearance - the passing of time and
characters' responses to it; dysfunctional families; and a cast of
rootless, anguished solipsists unwilling or unable to commit to
coupledom. Set in 1960, the film can be read as an oblique comment on Hong
Kong's psyche prior to the 1997 handover to China. It's hauntingly
beautiful, one of the best films of the 1990's.
