Medicine for Melancholy is a 2008 romantic drama film written and directed by Barry Jenkins in his feature directorial debut . The film stars Wyatt Cenac , Tracey Heggins, and Elizabeth Acker.
110-467: Barry Jenkins (born November 19, 1979) is an American filmmaker. After making his filmmaking debut with the short film My Josephine (2003), he directed his first feature film Medicine for Melancholy (2008) for which he received an Independent Spirit Award nomination for Best First Feature . He is also a member of The Chopstars collective as a creative collaborator. Following an eight-year hiatus from feature filmmaking, Jenkins directed and co-wrote
220-457: A Peabody Award . In 2017, Jenkins was included on the annual Time 100 list of the most influential people in the world. Jenkins was born in 1979 at Jackson Memorial Hospital in Miami , Florida , the youngest of four siblings, each from a different father. His father separated from his mother while she was pregnant with Jenkins, believing that he was not Jenkins's father; he died when Jenkins
330-560: A sci-fi short film about gentrification . Jenkins became a writer for HBO's The Leftovers , about which he has said, "I didn't get to do much." In 2012, he received a United States Artists Fellowship grant. During this time period, he reckoned he matured as both a person and an artist. The lack of fruition with his scripts led him to consider if he was unable to produce another film; his next feature, he said, "just came to me". Jenkins directed and co-wrote, with Tarell Alvin McCraney ,
440-417: A "softness around the characters" – a desire also reflected in his choice of aspect ratio, 2:35. Each of the film's three distinct chapters feature specific visuals, with the general visuals underscoring the themes of the film and intended to "elevate" the story. Visuals are a key aspect of his storytelling, with focus upon how he can "visually translate [a] story". Various elements of Moonlight represent time,
550-496: A blank canvas, one that assumes shape ... [only during the] editing process." —Giorgio Biancorosso, in Hong Kong Culture: Word and Image Wong is wary of sharing his favourite directors, but has stated that he watched a range of films growing up, from Hong Kong genre films to European art films. They were never labelled as such, and so he approached them equally and was broadly influenced. The energy of
660-583: A child was watching movies". At school he was studying graphic design at the Hong Kong Polytechnic in 1980, but later dropped out of college after being accepted to a training course with the TVB television network, where he learned the processes of media production. He soon began a screenwriting career, firstly at a Hong Kong local TV series and soap operas, such as Don't Look Now (1981), before progressing to film scripts. He worked as part of
770-463: A child with his family. He began a career as a screenwriter for soap operas before transitioning to directing with his debut, the crime drama As Tears Go By (1988). While As Tears Go By was fairly successful in Hong Kong, Wong moved away from the contemporary trend of crime and action movies to embark on more personal filmmaking styles. Days of Being Wild (1990), his first venture in such
880-645: A concert. Venturing around San Francisco , the characters discuss race and gentrification with regard to the low percentage of blacks living in San Francisco. Micah is openly critical of Jo's interracial relationship as he struggles to reconcile his black identity with the predominantly white world of the hipster scene in San Francisco. Jenkins wrote the film two years prior to its release. Medicine for Melancholy mainly confronts themes of African American assimilation into "hipster" or "indie" culture. The city of San Francisco also emphasizes African-Americans as
990-636: A creative-writing degree. Jenkins studied film at the Florida State University College of Motion Picture Arts (FSU), where he met many of his future frequent collaborators, including cinematographer James Laxton , producer Adele Romanski and editors Nat Sanders and Joi McMillon . His decision to study there was instigated by an initial visit: "I thought: This is the blackest place in America. I gotta be here". Feeling inadequate in terms of his technological skills, Jenkins took
1100-432: A direction, did not perform well at the box office. It however received critical acclaim, and won Best Film and Best Director at the 1991 Hong Kong Film Awards . His next film, Ashes of Time (1994), met with a mixed reception because of its vague plot and atypical take on the wuxia genre. Exhausted by the time-consuming filming and post-production of Ashes of Time , Wong directed Chungking Express (1994),
1210-459: A filmmaker but also a bibliophile who pulls from both historical and contemporary sources" . Despite a more intense plot and themes, discussing parenting, friendship, and black masculinity, especially in regards to sexual orientation, Jenkins made the decision to invert Medicine for Melancholy 's sombre color palette in Moonlight; he wished for the audience to be immersed and for there to be
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#17327806148491320-535: A finished script "boring". According to Stokes & Hoover, he writes as he shoots, "drawing inspiration from the music, the setting, working conditions, and actors". In advance, the cast are given a minimal plot outline and expected to develop their characters as they film. To capture naturalness and spontaneity, Wong does not allow for rehearsals while improvisation and collaboration are encouraged. He similarly does not use storyboards or plan camera placement, preferring to experiment as he goes. His shooting ratio
1430-548: A first look deal with HBO , HBO Max and A24 . In 2023 he was slated to serve as head of the Platform Prize jury at the 2023 Toronto International Film Festival . Untitled time travel film In an interview in 2016, Jenkins revealed that in the aftermath of Medicine for Melancholy he wrote and developed a manic-sounding epic about " Stevie Wonder and time travel ," involving a mysterious mansion in Harlem and
1540-405: A group of disparate artists", Jenkins and the casting director, Francine Maisler, searched worldwide for an actor to play Cora and sought those then-undiscovered. The series' creation was deeply personal – with Jenkins once receiving an assessment by the on-set therapist. It proved to be the most difficult project of his career yet with him feeling a closer attachment to his ancestral past . The show
1650-430: A limiter. Accusing Jo of assimilation, Micah strives to reclaim his essential "blackness" as Jo contrastingly claims Micah has a "hang up" about his race and strives to overcome her own. The film includes the desaturation of images. Filmmakers went through the film shot by shot and pulled out the majority of color. In an interview, director Barry Jenkins stated that certain scenes in the film have more color to reflect when
1760-509: A man faces his future due to a certain past". His plans were vague and according to Teo, he set "a new record in his own method of free-thinking, time-extensive and improvisatory filmmaking" with the production. Scenes were shot in Beijing, Shanghai, Hong Kong, Macau, and Bangkok. Actresses Zhang Ziyi and Gong Li were cast to play the women who consume Mo-wan, as the character plans a science fiction novel titled 2046 . The film premiered at
1870-410: A member of Alpha Phi Alpha fraternity. Four days after graduating from FSU, he moved to Los Angeles to pursue a filmmaking career, spending two years working on various projects as a production assistant . He became disillusioned with "Hollywood film-making" after working for Harpo Productions , an experience which contrasted with his time studying film, reflecting that "At school, film-making had been
1980-469: A more personal project than his previous film, Wong picked the 1960s as a setting – evoking an era that he remembered well and had a "special feeling" for. Days of Being Wild focuses on a disillusioned young adult named Yuddy and those around him. There is no straightforward plot or obvious genre, but Stephen Teo sees it as a film about the "longing for love". Andy Lau, Maggie Cheung, and Jacky Cheung rejoined Wong for his second film, while Leslie Cheung
2090-565: A new season of The Knick was in development led by Jenkins. Jenkins has a close working relationship with cinematographer James Laxton , stating that "the way we are on set is a shared language, a shared approach to the imagery". On set, Jenkins said that their goal is to incorporate as much of their preceding deliberations as possible whilst still considerate of the actors' needs and available time. He's stated his approach as precise and intimate: "always on set thinking about what else I can do"; his style has been noted to have specific focus upon
2200-598: A one-night stand and end up spending a full day and night together despite Jo's long-distance relationship with a wealthy white gallery owner. After a party, the characters wake up in someone else's bed and head their separate ways. Jo leaves her wallet in their shared taxi and they reconnect when he returns it to her at her apartment. Throughout the day, Micah and Jo visit the Museum of the African Diaspora , stumble upon an affordable housing coalition meeting and attend
2310-610: A particular interest of Jenkins; he "transforms time's passing into a series of rites of passage" and uses chopped and screwed 's manipulation of time throughout the film. Moonlight , If Beale Street Could Talk and The Underground Railroad compose, in the eyes of Jenkins, a thematic trilogy, exploring childhood abandonment – including his own feelings. Moonlight depicts his childhood experience as he lived it whereas If Beale Street Could Talk showcased his, at times, desired family; Whitehead's novel helped him process his feelings of abandonment and he recognized separation of family as
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#17327806148492420-684: A prominent aspect of the story. Jenkins has expressed an inclination to empathize with the characters in his work. Adele Romanski identified Medicine for Melancholy , Moonlight , If Beale Street Could Talk as variations upon a template: a love story. Jenkins noted that Moonlight and If Beale Street Could Talk are most similar in their visuals. In both Medicine for Melancholy and Moonlight , Jenkins couples introspection with speculation upon Black identity; Moonlight and If Beale Street Could Talk are "tough but tender meditations on African American lives". Gomer aligned Jenkins with "the history of black independent filmmakers and artists who interrogate
2530-411: A significant re-appraisal of the film, and it has amassed a large cult following, becoming one of Wong's most popular and iconic films. Fallen Angels has often been stated as one of the director's most stylish films, and it has also been received with praise for its non-conventional, fragmented plot. Film historians Zhang Yingjin and Xiao Zhiwei commented: "While not as groundbreaking as its predecessors,
2640-419: A smaller film that he hoped would rekindle his love of cinema during a two-month sabbatical while waiting for post-production equipment to arrive for Ashes of Time . The film, expressing a more lighthearted atmosphere, catapulted Wong to international prominence, and won Best Film and Best Director at the 1995 Hong Kong Film Awards . Wong followed up with the crime thriller Fallen Angels in 1995. Although it
2750-487: A spectrum of black sexuality and masculinity. The Underground Railroad similarly breaks away, Jenkins choosing to avoid a portrayal of slaves as solely virtuous – Jenkins having "distinguish[ed]" himself from what Gomer dubs " New Black Hollywood ". "I hope it can recontextualise rather than reinforce stereotypes about my ancestors, that have been allowed to persist over the decades", Jenkins said. After The Underground Railroad 's release Felix wrote that Jenkins "is breaking
2860-559: A student film." Conceived and completed within only six weeks, the new project ended up being released two months before Ashes of Time . Chungking Express is split into two distinct parts – both set in contemporary Hong Kong and focusing on lonely policemen ( Takeshi Kaneshiro and Tony Leung Chiu-wai) who each fall for a woman ( Brigitte Lin and Faye Wong ). Wong was keen to experiment with "two crisscrossing stories in one movie" and worked spontaneously, filming at night what he had written that day. Peter Brunette notes that Chungking
2970-551: A team, contributing to a variety of genres including romance, comedy, thriller, and crime. Wong had little enthusiasm for these early projects, described by the film scholar Gary Bettinson as "occasionally diverting and mostly disposable", but continued to write throughout the 1980s on films including Just for Fun (1983), Rosa (1986), and The Haunted Cop Shop of Horrors (1987). He is credited with ten screenplays between 1982 and 1987, but claims to have worked on about fifty more without official credit. Wong spent two years writing
3080-517: A vintage Moog synthesizer with magical, spacetime-altering properties. Jenkins was working on the film with Focus Features , but it never panned out. Portrait of an Addict as a Young Man film Also in the aftermath of Medicine for Melancholy , Jenkins penned a screenplay adaptation, on assignment, of Bill Clegg 's 2010 memoir, Portrait of an Addict as a Young Man . The Intuitionist film Years prior to his work on The Underground Railroad , Jenkins had tried to adapt The Intuitionist ,
3190-414: A year off to develop them. Jenkins felt a general lack of confidence at the start of the programme, which began for Jenkins in a spontaneous manner. To resolve his personal misgivings, in a divergence from the inspirations of his classmates, he looked toward foreign arthouse cinema and directors like Wong Kar-wai , Claire Denis , Hou Hsiao-hsien , and Lynne Ramsay . While at Florida State, Jenkins became
3300-488: Is "the most racially significant film to ever win", with it affecting the overall "whiteness" of the Oscars . Anthropologist Elizabeth Davis stated that Moonlight and similar films' acclaim indicates an "increase in the social and institutional recognition and approval of blackness". In 2022, in a poll of 1,639 participating critics, programmers, curators, archivists and academics , Sight and Sound crowned Moonlight as
3410-866: Is Wong's most expensive to date. The Grandmaster is described by Bettinson as a mixture of popular and arthouse traditions, with form, visuals, and themes consistent with Wong's previous work. Three different versions of the film exist, as Wong shorted it from its domestic release for the 2013 Berlin Film Festival , and again for its US distribution by the Weinstein Company . Described in Slant Magazine as Wong's most accessible film since his debut, The Grandmaster won twelve Hong Kong Film Awards, including Best Film and Best Director, and received two Academy Award nominations ( Cinematography and Production Design ). Critics approved of
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3520-573: Is a Hong Kong film director, screenwriter, and producer. His films are characterised by nonlinear narratives , atmospheric music, and vivid cinematography involving bold, saturated colours. A pivotal figure of Hong Kong cinema , Wong is considered a contemporary auteur , and ranks third on Sight & Sound ' s 2002 poll of the greatest filmmakers of the previous 25 years. His films frequently appear on best-of lists domestically and internationally. Born in Shanghai, Wong emigrated to Hong Kong as
3630-748: Is a legendary figure in Hong Kong, known for training actor Bruce Lee in the art of Wing Chun , but Wong decided to focus on an earlier period of Ip's life (1936–1956) that covered the turmoil of the Second Sino-Japanese War and World War II . He set out to make "a commercial and colourful film". After considerable research and preparation, filming began in 2009. Tony Leung Chui-wai rejoined Wong for their seventh film together, having spent 18 months being trained in Wing Chun. The "gruelling" production lasted intermittently for three years, twice interrupted by Leung fracturing his arm, and
3740-508: Is a trusted confidant, responsible for all set design and costuming. Doyle photographed seven of his projects, all from Days of Being Wild to 2046 . Stephen Schneider writes that he deserves "much credit" in Wong's success, as his "masterful use of light and colour renders every frame a work of art". Wong's other regular colleagues include writer-producer Jeffrey Lau , producer Jacky Pang, and assistant director Johnnie Kong. Wong often casts
3850-404: Is broadly considered a crime thriller, and contains scenes of extreme violence, but is atypical of the genre and heavily infused with Wong's fragmented, experimental style. The loose plot again involves two distinct, subtly overlapping narratives, and is dominated by frantic visuals. The film mostly occurs at night and explores the dark side of Hong Kong, which Wong planned intentionally to balance
3960-430: Is considerably more fun and lighthearted than the director's previous efforts, but deals with the same themes. At the 1995 Hong Kong Film Awards it was named Best Picture, and Wong received Best Director. Miramax acquired the film for American distribution, which, according to Brunette, "catapulted Wong to international attention". Stephen Schneider includes it in his book 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die with
4070-415: Is known for always appearing in sunglasses, which James Motram of The Independent says adds "to the alluring sense of mystery that swirls around the man and his movies." In 2009, Wong signed a petition in support of director Roman Polanski following his arrest in relation to his 1977 sexual abuse charges after being detained while traveling to a film festival, which the petition argued would undermine
4180-459: Is known for producing art films focused on mood and atmosphere, rather than following convention. His general style is described by Teo as "a cornucopia overflowing with multiple stories, strands of expression, meanings and identities: a kaleidoscope of colours and identities". Structurally, Wong's films are typically fragmented and disjointed, with little concern for linear narrative, and often with interconnected stories. Critics have commented on
4290-823: Is more stylistically restrained. After a difficult production period – where a six-week shoot was dragged out to four months – the film was released in May 1997 to great critical acclaim. It competed for the Palme d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival , where Wong became Hong Kong's first winner of the Best Director Award (an achievement he downplayed: "it makes no difference, it's just something you can put on an ad.") In his 2005 monograph, Brunette opines that Happy Together marked "a new stage in [Wong's] artistic development", and along with its successor – In
4400-440: Is the visual style, which is often described as beautiful and unique. The colours are bold and saturated, the camerawork swooning, resulting in what Brunette calls his "signature visual pyrotechnics". One of his trademarks is the use of step-printing, which alters film rates to "[liquefy] hard blocks of primary colour into iridescent streaks of light." Other features of the Wong aesthetic include slow motion, off-centre framing,
4510-416: Is therefore very high, sometimes forty takes per scene, and production typically goes well over schedule and over budget. Tony Leung has commented that this approach is "taxing on the actors", but Stokes & Hoover speculate that Wong's collaborators endure it because "[the] results are always unexpected, invigorating, and interesting." Though Wong admits to being controlling, and oversees every aspect of
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4620-592: The 2004 Cannes Film Festival , but Wong delivered the print 24 hours late and still was not happy: he continued editing until the film's October release. It was Wong's most expensive and longest-running project to date. 2046 was a commercial failure in Hong Kong, but the majority of western critics gave it positive reviews. Ty Burr of The Boston Globe praised it as an "enigmatic, rapturously beautiful meditation on romance and remembrance", while Steve Erikson of Los Angeles Magazine called it Wong's masterpiece. Before starting on his next feature, Wong worked on
4730-733: The Academy Awards and Golden Globes . Jenkins received an Academy Award nomination for Best Adapted Screenplay . Aided by his previous television work, Jenkins directed the 2021 television series adaptation of Colson Whitehead 's novel The Underground Railroad , the series being a passion project for Jenkins. It was initiated by Amazon Studios (and subsequently ordered to series in June 2018) after Jenkins' strong Oscar haul for Moonlight . The main cast of The Underground Railroad includes Thuso Mbedu as Cora, with Chase W. Dillon as Homer and Aaron Pierre as Caesar. "[Bringing] together
4840-688: The LGBT-themed independent drama Moonlight (2016), which won numerous accolades , including the Academy Award for Best Picture . Jenkins received an Oscar nomination for Best Director and jointly won the Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay with Tarell Alvin McCraney . He became the fourth Black person to be nominated for Best Director and the second Black person to direct a Best Picture winner . He released his third directorial feature If Beale Street Could Talk in 2018 to critical praise, and earned nominations for his screenplay at
4950-401: The anthology film Eros (2004), providing one of three short films (the others directed by Michelangelo Antonioni and Steven Soderbergh ) that centre on the theme of lust. Wong's segment, titled The Hand , starred Gong Li as a 1960s call girl and Chang Chen as her potential client. Although Eros was not well received, Wong's segment was often called the most successful. Following
5060-406: The "strange relationship" is choreographed with "the grace and rhythm of a waltz" and depicted in "a dreamlike haze by an eavesdropping camera". The shoot lasted 15 months, with both Cheung and Leung reportedly driven to their breaking points. Wong shot more than 30 times the footage he eventually used, and only finished editing the film the morning before its Cannes premiere. At the festival, In
5170-831: The 2016 drama Moonlight , his first feature film in eight years. It's an adaptation of McCraney's play In Moonlight Black Boys Look Blue . Both writers' lives influenced the story, both having spent their childhoods in close proximity in Miami, Florida, although without knowing each other. While Jenkins found the main character, Chiron, reflective of himself, he did hold "some reservations and doubts" about adapting McCraney's play on account of being heterosexual; however their shared characteristics and McCraney's trust in Jenkins emboldened him. Jenkins' screenplay – which he composed in ten days – expands upon McCraney's story, having more resources and control at his disposal than he had before. The movie
5280-744: The 20th anniversary of In the Mood for Love . The restoration was carried out by the Cineteca di Bologna 's film restoration laboratory L'Immagine Ritrovata. Criterion Collection released Wong's restored filmography as a box set in the United States in March 2021. Regarding his next project, the Asian media had reported that it would be titled Blossoms Shanghai and based on Jin Yucheng 's book of
5390-715: The 60th greatest film of all time. In 2017, Jenkins directed the fifth episode of the Netflix original series Dear White People , having been chosen due to his work on Moonlight . In line with the show's other directors, Jenkins' work was guided by an overall visual framework, although he was encouraged to be distinctive. In 2013, the same year he wrote Moonlight , Jenkins had written a film adaptation of James Baldwin 's novel If Beale Street Could Talk . Production began in October 2017 with Annapurna Pictures , Pastel, and Plan B . Jenkins worked closely with Baldwin's estate and
5500-596: The Academy Awards and Golden Globes . He is also known for his work in television. Jenkins directed "Chapter V" of the Netflix series Dear White People in 2017. In 2021, he created and directed the Amazon Video limited series The Underground Railroad based on the novel of the same name and received a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Directing for a Limited Series or Movie nomination, and won
5610-576: The Hong Kong films had a "tremendous" impact according to Brunette. Art professor Giorgio Biancorosso commented that Wong's international influences include Martin Scorsese , Michelangelo Antonioni , Alfred Hitchcock , and Bernardo Bertolucci . Some of his favorite contemporary filmmakers include Scorsese, Christopher Nolan , and Quentin Tarantino . He is often compared with French New Wave director Jean-Luc Godard . Wong's most direct influence
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#17327806148495720-419: The Mood for Love (2000) – showcases the director at "the zenith of his cinematic art." The latter film emerged from a highly complicated production history that lasted two years. Several different titles and projects were planned by Wong before they evolved into the final result: a romantic melodrama set in 1960s Hong Kong that is seen as an unofficial sequel to Days of Being Wild . Wong decided to return to
5830-556: The Mood for Love received the Technical Grand Prize and Best Actor for Leung. It was named Best Foreign Film by the National Society of Film Critics . Wong said after its release: " In the Mood for Love is the most difficult film in my career so far, and one of the most important. I am very proud of it." In subsequent years it has been included on lists of the greatest films of all time . While In
5940-439: The Mood for Love took two years to complete, its sequel – 2046 – took double that time. The film was actually conceived first, when Wong picked the title as a reference to the final year of China's " One country, two systems " promise to Hong Kong. Although his plans changed and a new film developed, he simultaneously shot material for 2046 , with the first footage dating back to December 1999. Wong immediately continued with
6050-423: The box office and divided critics. Despite this, it won five Hong Kong Film Awards, and received some attention internationally. With its experimental narrative, expressive camerawork, and themes of lost time and love, Days of Being Wild is described by film critic Peter Brunette as the first typical "Wong Kar-wai film". It has since gained a reputation as one of Hong Kong's finest releases. Its initial failure
6160-551: The breakout of the year", said Camonghne Felix . The film won dozens of accolades , including the Golden Globe Award for Best Picture – Drama and the Academy Award for Best Picture at the 89th Academy Awards . Jenkins and McCraney also won Best Adapted Screenplay . Overall, the film received eight Oscar nominations, including Best Director . Described as historic, Justin Gomer, scholar of American Studies, said that
6270-581: The bright and dark of Hong Kong." —Journalist Han Ong conversing with Wong Wong continued to work without break, expanding his ideas from Chungking Express into another film about alienated young adults in contemporary Hong Kong. Chungking Express had originally been conceived as three stories; one of them was later included in his later film, Fallen Angels , but with new characters. Wong conceived both films as complementary studies of Hong Kong: "To me Chungking Express and Fallen Angels are one film that should be three hours long." Fallen Angels
6380-459: The category of blackness itself". Jenkins has stated that, amidst his solemn consideration of the craft and formalism of film, he seeks to articulate his "personal experience, what it feels like to be a young black man in America" – his perception evident in My Josephine , and surmised to be in Moonlight , saying of the former "it fucking worked. I thought, 'This is what I am going to do for
6490-767: The characters are not thinking about race or housing issues. The film had its world premiere at South by Southwest on March 7, 2008. It went on to screen at the Los Angeles Film Festival on June 20, 2008. Shortly after, IFC Films acquired distribution rights to the film. It also screened at the Toronto International Film Festival in September, and at the Mar del Plata International Film Festival in November where it
6600-503: The deaths of their peers in Little Brown Boy . He'd later follow it up with Medicine for Melancholy . The film, which has been linked to the mumblecore scene, stars Wyatt Cenac and Tracey Heggins. The impetus being the lack of low-budget mumblecore films which featured African-Americans, Jenkins recalled that the movie represented the "place where I was both physically, emotionally, and mentally". Well received by critics,
6710-433: The difficult production of 2046 , Wong wanted his next feature to be a simple, invigorating experience. He decided to make an English-language film in America, later justifying this by explaining: "It's a new landscape. It's a new background, so it's refreshing." After hearing a radio interview with the singer Norah Jones he immediately decided to contact her, and she signed on as the lead. Wong's understanding of America
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#17327806148496820-616: The emotive states of the characters. Aaron Pierre described Jenkins as the "as the epitome of a leader ... because he ensured that everyone was feeling safe, everyone was feeling supported". Jenkins has cited James Baldwin as a significant influence, reflecting that in his early career he was "obsessed" with him. Claire Denis ' Friday Night was the inspiration behind Medicine for Melancholy . He credits his romantic partner and fellow filmmaker Lulu Wang with inspiring him, "add[ing] rigor to creative practice". Morgan Jerkins opined that Jenkins, who re-reads texts he's adapting, "is not only
6930-457: The era that fascinated him, and reflected his own background by focusing on Shanghainese émigrés. Maggie Cheung and Tony Leung Chiu-wai play the lead characters, who move into an apartment building on the same day in 1962 and discover that their spouses are having an affair; over the next four years they develop a strong attraction. Teo writes that the film is a study of "typical Chinese reserve and repressed desire", while Schneider describes how
7040-496: The family settled in Tsim Sha Tsui , and his father got work managing a night club. Being an only child in a new city, Wong has said he felt isolated during his childhood; he struggled to learn Cantonese and English, only becoming fluent in these new languages when he was a teenager. As a youth, Wong was frequently taken to the cinema by his mother and exposed to a variety of films. He later said: "The only hobby I had as
7150-520: The feature adaptation on the documentary Virunga . The true story follows rangers risking their lives to save Africa 's most precious national park and its endangered gorillas . Alvin Ailey biopic Deadline also reported that Jenkins was attached to direct Fox Searchlight 's biopic about Alvin Ailey , one of the most influential choreographers of the 20th century. The Knick season 3 In September 2020, Steven Soderbergh confirmed that
7260-406: The film is still different and innovative enough to confirm [Wong's] presence on the international scene." While his reputation grew steadily throughout the early 1990s, Wong's international standing was "thoroughly consolidated" with the 1997 romantic drama Happy Together (1997). Its development was influenced by the handover of Hong Kong from Britain to China, which occurred that year. Wong
7370-470: The film making process, he has formed several long-lasting partnerships and close collaborators. In 2013, he said: "It is always good to work with a very regular group of people because we know how high we can fly and what are the parameters, and it becomes very enjoyable." Two men have been instrumental in developing and achieving his aesthetic: production designer William Chang and cinematographer Christopher Doyle . Chang has worked on every Wong film and
7480-501: The film underwent "the usual tour of festivals garnering its share of nominations, reviews, small awards and limited release distribution in major cities in 2009 and 2010". Following Medicine for Melancholy , Jenkins wrote multiple scripts: a time travel epic for Focus Features and adaptations of If Beale Street Could Talk and a memoir by Bill Clegg . He later worked as a carpenter and co-founded Strike Anywhere, an advertising company. In 2011, he wrote and directed Remigration ,
7590-406: The film, and with a worldwide gross of US$ 64 million it is Wong's most lucrative film to date. When asked about his career in 2014, Wong told The Independent , "To be honest with you, I feel I'm only halfway done." In November 2016, he was announced as taking over an upcoming film about the murder of Maurizio Gucci from previous director Ridley Scott , but commented in October 2017 that he
7700-469: The first novel by the same author, Colson Whitehead . Expatriate film In January 2018, Jenkins was attached to direct Chadwick Boseman in the thriller film Expatriate , set around a 1970s plane hijacking . Boseman wrote the script with his writing partner Logan Coles. The film remains unrealized as of Boseman's death. Virunga film In June 2020, Deadline announced that Jenkins would team up with Leonardo DiCaprio and Netflix , to write
7810-412: The fourth wall to help Black people look themselves in the eye". She viewed the changed ending of If Beale Street Could Talk as an attempt "to give his mostly Black viewership a happy ending, or at least a happier one". Jenkins has expressed consideration of his audience, considering such a perspective as a byproduct of film's expensive nature, although he does not desire to "make decisions that anticipate
7920-408: The lack of plot in his films, such as Burr who says: "The director doesn't build linear story lines so much as concentric rings of narrative and poetic meaning that continually revolve around each other". Similarly, Brunette says that Wong "often privileges audio/visual expressivity over narrative structure". Wong has commented on this, saying "in my logic there is a storyline." Key to Wong's films
8030-706: The latter of which became one of Wong's key collaborators. Set during the Song dynasty , Ashes of Time concerns a desert-exiled assassin who is called upon by several different characters while nursing a broken heart. It was a difficult production and the project was not completed for two years, at a cost of HK$ 47 million. Upon release in September 1994, audiences were confused by the film's vague plotting and atypical take on wuxia . The film scholar Martha P. Nochimson has called it "the most unusual martial arts film ever made", as fast-paced action scenes are replaced with character ruminations, and story becomes secondary to
8140-418: The long production of Ashes of Time , Wong faced a two-month break as he waited for equipment to re-record sound for some scenes. He was in a negative state, feeling heavy pressure from his backers and worrying about another failure, and so decided to start a new project: "I thought I should do something to make myself feel comfortable about making films again. So I made Chungking Express , which I made like
8250-424: The material was thin and the product uneven, My Blueberry Nights became Wong's first critical failure. Wong's next film was not released for five years, as he underwent another long and difficult production on The Grandmaster (2013) – a biographical film of the martial arts teacher Ip Man . The idea had occurred to him in 1999, but he did not commit to it until the completion of My Blueberry Nights . Ip Man
8360-399: The minority, because African-Americans are seven percent of San Francisco's population. Writer and director Barry Jenkins has described the film's two main characters as "playing out a debate back and forth about identity politics". Each of the two main characters embodies an ideology. Jenkins saw the character of Micah as a man who was always building barriers, whereas Jo thinks that race is
8470-468: The most beautiful thing that ever happened to me". Jenkins' first film was his 2001 short My Josephine , which follows the romantic life of a young Arabic-speaking man, following the September 11 attacks . Previously he had fretted over his chances of success due to his racial and class identity, but My Josephine demonstrated that "I could do the work to make myself as accomplished as anyone else". He then explored Black children being tried as adults for
8580-403: The obscuring of faces, rack focus , filming in the dark or rain, and elliptical editing. Schneider writes of Wong's fondness for "playing with film stock, exposure, and speed the way others might fiddle with a script." Another trademark of Wong's cinema is his use of music and pop songs. He places great importance on this element, and Biancorosso describes it as the "essence" of his films;
8690-418: The opportunity to direct his own picture. Gangster films were popular at the time, in the wake of John Woo 's highly-successful A Better Tomorrow (1986), and Wong decided to follow suit. Specifically, unlike Hong Kong's other crime films, he chose to focus on young gangsters. The film, named As Tears Go By , tells the story of a conflicted youth who has to watch over his hot-headed friend. Because he
8800-467: The project once In the Mood for Love was complete, reportedly becoming obsessed with it. In Bettinson's account, it "became a behemoth, impossible to finish". 2046 continues the story of Chow Mo-wan, Leung's character from In the Mood for Love , though he is considered much colder and very different. Wong found that he did not want to leave the character, and commenced where he left off in 1966; nevertheless, he claimed: "It's another story, about how
8910-485: The reaction of an audience". Barry Jenkins has been in a relationship with filmmaker Lulu Wang since 2018. Film Television Medicine for Melancholy Medicine for Melancholy had its world premiere at South by Southwest on March 7, 2008. The film was theatrically released in the United States on January 30, 2009. Medicine for Melancholy chronicles the one-day romance of Micah ( Wyatt Cenac ) and Jo (Tracey Heggins), two black twenty-somethings who have
9020-459: The rest of eternity but I wanted to do something more personal after that. I wanted to break the structure of the average Hong Kong film." —Wong on the transition from his first film to Days of Being Wild (1990) For his next film, Wong decided to move away from the crime trend in Hong Kong cinema, to which he felt indifferent. He was eager to make something unique, and the financial success of As Tears Go By made this possible. Developing
9130-412: The rest of my life. ' " With Moonlight , Jenkins intertwined "well-known images and stories of contemporary Black life" with queer identity and made the intersectional nature "more legible, not to white audiences but to black communities". Whiteness is diminished in Moonlight , which has been said to defy traditional Hollywood understandings of black masculinity and general black identity, showcasing
9240-477: The same actors. He is strongly associated with Tony Leung Chiu-wai, who has appeared in seven of Wong's feature length films. Wong describes him as a partner, stating, "I feel like there is a lot of things between me and Tony that is beyond words. We don't need meetings, talks, whatever, because a lot of things are understood." Other actors who have appeared in at least three of his films are Maggie Cheung, Chang Chen, Leslie Cheung, Jacky Cheung, and Carina Lau. Wong
9350-470: The same manner as he would in Hong Kong, and the themes and visual style – despite Doyle being replaced by cinematographer Darius Khondji – remained the same. Premiering in May 2007, My Blueberry Nights was Wong's fourth consecutive film to compete for the Palme d'Or at Cannes. Although he considered it a "special experience", the film did not receive positive critical reviews. With common complaints that
9460-416: The same name. After several years, Blossoms Shanghai was officially announced as a TV series and was released on December 27, 2023 on CCTV-8 and Tencent Video , marking Wong's first ever TV series. The series is set in 1990's Shanghai and follows a businessman named A Bao ( Hu Ge ) during the economic changes of Huanghe Road. Wong and his wife, Esther, have one child – a son named Qing. The director
9570-435: The screenplay for Patrick Tam 's action film Final Victory (1987), for which he was nominated at the 7th Hong Kong Film Awards . By 1987 the Hong Kong film industry was at a peak, enjoying a considerable level of prosperity and productivity. New directors were needed to maintain this success, and – through his links in the industry – Wong was invited to become a partner on a new independent company, In-Gear , and given
9680-504: The story of a couple (Tony Leung Chiu-wai and Leslie Cheung) who travel to Buenos Aires in an effort to save their relationship. Wong decided to change the structure and style from his previous films, as he felt he had become predictable. Teo, Brunette, and Jeremy Tambling all see Happy Together as a marked change from his earlier work: the story is more linear and understandable, there are only three characters (with no women at all), and while it still has Doyle's "exuberant" photography, it
9790-414: The summary: "While other films by Wong may pack more emotional resonance, Chungking Express gets off on sheer innocence, exuberance, and cinematic freedom, a striking triumph of style over substance". "Whereas Chungking was sunshiny and suffused with bright, lovely daytime colors, Fallen Angels is more about neon, and night time, and grunge." " Chungking Express and Fallen Angels together are
9900-417: The sweetness of Chungking : "It's fair to show both sides of a coin". Takeshi Kaneshiro and Charlie Young were cast again, but new to Wong's films were Leon Lai , Michelle Reis and Karen Mok . Upon release in September 1995, several critics felt that the film was too similar to Chungking Express and some complained that Wong had become self-indulgent. However, as time went on, critics would go on to have
10010-441: The tradition of film festivals as a place for works to be shown "freely and safely", and that arresting filmmakers traveling to neutral countries could open the door "for actions of which no-one can know the effects." "[Wong has] a heady mix of influences, ranging from modernist novels to narrative, visual and aural motifs drawn from local films and popular culture. High and low, new and old, and local and global are all thrown onto
10120-471: The use of colour, landscape, and imagery. As such, Ashes of Time was a commercial failure, but critics were generally appreciative of Wong's "refusal to be loyal to [the wuxia ] genre". The film won several local awards, and competed at the Venice Film Festival where Doyle won Best Cinematography. In 2008, Wong reworked the film and re-released it as Ashes of Time Redux . During
10230-534: The writing of Liu Yichang . The television channel MTV was a further influence on Wong. He said in a 1998 interview: "In the late eighties, when [MTV] was first shown in Hong Kong, we were all really impressed with the energy and the fragmented structure. It seemed like we should go in this direction." Wong has an unusual approach to film making, starting production without a script and generally relying on instinct and improvisation rather than pre-prepared ideas. He has said he dislikes writing and finds filming from
10340-511: Was 12. Jenkins, in later life, still has "no idea who my 'real' father is". "I don't think any of us were planned, but I was definitely a mistake", he had later said. His mother, a nurse, suffered from a crack-cocaine addiction, and was a teenage runaway who Jenkins has said abandoned him. Jenkins grew up in Liberty City , a neighborhood of Miami, and was primarily raised by another older woman (who had also looked after his mother while she
10450-512: Was a conventional crime film, critic David Bordwell said that Wong "[stood] out from his peers by abandoning the kinetics of comedies and action movies in favour of more liquid atmospherics." As Tears Go By received no attention from Western critics upon its initial release, but it was selected to be screened during the Directors' Fortnight of the 1989 Cannes Film Festival . "I could have continued making films like As Tears Go By for
10560-457: Was a teenager) in an overcrowded apartment: "I wasn't raised by anyone who was a blood relative of mine, and yet I could see my blood relatives all around the neighborhood because things were just so, so bad". As a teenager Jenkins lived with friends from Miami Northwestern Senior High School , at which he played football and ran track. His disordered and lonely childhood led him to retreat inwards and develop an active imagination. He hoped to pursue
10670-697: Was based only on short visits and what he had seen in films, but he was keen to depict the country accurately. As such, he co-wrote the film (one of the rare times a screenplay was pre-prepared) with author Lawrence Block . Titled My Blueberry Nights , it focused on a young New Yorker who leaves for a road trip when she learns that her boyfriend has been unfaithful. Cast as the figures she meets were Jude Law , Natalie Portman , Rachel Weisz and David Strathairn . Filming on My Blueberry Nights took place over seven weeks in 2006, on location in Manhattan, Memphis, Las Vegas, and Ely, Nevada . Wong produced it in
10780-598: Was born on 17 July 1958 in Shanghai, the youngest of three siblings. His father was a sailor and his mother was a housewife. By the time Wong was five years old, the seeds of the Cultural Revolution were beginning to take effect in China and his parents decided to relocate to Hong Kong. The two older children were meant to join them later, but the borders closed before they had a chance and Wong did not see his brother or sister again for ten years. In Hong Kong,
10890-461: Was cast in the central role. Hired as cinematographer was Christopher Doyle , who became one of Wong's most important collaborators, photographing his next six films. With its popular stars, Days of Being Wild was expected to be a mainstream picture; instead it was a character piece, more concerned with mood and atmosphere than narrative. Released in December 1990, the film earned little at
11000-546: Was disheartening for the director, and he could not gain funding for his next project – a planned sequel. Struggling to get support for his work, Wong formed his own production company, Jet Tone Films, with Jeff Lau in 1992. In need of further backing, Wong accepted a studio's offer that he make a wuxia (ancient martial arts) film based on the popular novel The Legend of the Condor Heroes by Jin Yong . Wong
11110-455: Was enthusiastic about the idea, claiming he had long wanted to make a costume drama . He eventually took little from the book other than three characters, and in 1992 began experimenting with several different narrative structures to weave what he called "a very complex tapestry". Filming began with another all-star cast: Leslie, Maggie, and Jacky Cheung returned alongside Brigitte Lin , Carina Lau , Charlie Young , and Tony Leung Chiu-wai −
11220-417: Was given handwritten notes about how he would have approached a film version – "a slow epiphany" is how Jenkins described reading the notes. The adaptation is largely faithful to the source material, although aspects, such as the opening and ending, are changed. The film was released in December 2018 to critical acclaim. It garnered numerous accolades , including Best Supporting Actress wins for Regina King at
11330-574: Was his colleague Patrick Tam , who was an important mentor and likely inspired his use of colour. Outside of cinema, Wong has been heavily influenced by literature. He has a particular affinity for Latin American writers, and the fragmentary nature of his films came primarily from the "scrapbook structures" of novels by Manuel Puig , Gabriel García Márquez and Julio Cortázar , which he attempted to emulate. Haruki Murakami , particularly his novel Norwegian Wood , also provided inspiration, as did
11440-714: Was initially tepidly received by critics, Fallen Angels has since come to be considered a cult classic of the Golden Age of Hong Kong cinema, being especially representative of Wong's style. Wong would go on to consolidate his worldwide reputation with the 1997 drama Happy Together , for which he won Best Director at the Cannes Film Festival . The 2000 drama In the Mood for Love , revered for its lush visuals and subtle storytelling, concretely established Wong's trademark filmmaking styles. Among his other work are 2046 (2004) and The Grandmaster (2013), both of which received awards and nominations worldwide. Wong Kar-wai
11550-540: Was met with critical acclaim; it was the most recent entry to the BBC's 2021 list of the 21st century's greatest TV shows. In 2024, he wrote a screenplay based on the life of boxer Claressa Shields titled The Fire Inside and directed Mufasa: The Lion King , a prequel to the CGI remake of Disney's The Lion King that primarily concerns the coming of age origins of Mufasa . More recently, his Pastel production company signed
11660-411: Was no longer involved in the project. In September 2017, Amazon Video issued a straight-to-series order for Tong Wars , a television drama to be directed by Wong. It focuses on the gang wars that occurred in nineteenth-century San Francisco, but Amazon later dropped the series. In May 2019, Wong announced the 4K restoration of his entire filmography, which was released in 2021 in celebration of
11770-616: Was nominated for Best Film. It was released in a limited release on January 30, 2009. Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times gave the film three and a half out of four stars, calling the actors "effortlessly engaging" and the direction "assured"; he also noted the film was "beautifully photographed". It was a New York Times Critics' Pick and nominated for three 2008 Independent Spirit Awards. On Rotten Tomatoes, it has an 85% fresh rating from 40 reviews. Wong Kar-wai Wong Kar-wai BBS (born 17 July 1958)
11880-498: Was shot in 25 days, in Miami; the filming described by Naomie Harris as "very low-budget, it was very intimate film-making, collaborative". It premiered at the Telluride Film Festival in September 2016 to a substantial amount of awards and critical acclaim. According to film scholar Rahul Hamid, it was among the "most celebrated films of 2016, boasting ... inclusion in all of the major top ten lists". "He became
11990-415: Was well acquainted with the producer, Alan Tang , Wong was given considerable freedom in the making of As Tears Go By . His cast included what he considered some of "the hottest young idols in Hong Kong": singer Andy Lau , Maggie Cheung , and Jacky Cheung . As Tears Go By was released in June 1988 and was popular with audiences. Several journalists named Wong among the " Hong Kong New Wave ". While it
12100-514: Was widely expected to address the event in his next film; instead, he avoided the pressure by choosing to shoot in Argentina. The issues of the handover were nevertheless important: knowing that homosexuals in Hong Kong faced uncertainty after 1997, Wong decided to focus on a relationship between two men. He was keen to present the relationship as ordinary and universal, as he felt Hong Kong's previous LGBT films had not. Happy Together tells
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