Wong Kar Wai or simply wkw to his many fans, is an autuer that just blows me away. He adds his own signature style to each of his films that is like a watermark. When you are watching a wkw film, you know you are watching a wkw film.

Themes of missed connections, time, yearning, lust… are signature trademarks to his brand. wkw films flow with a lyricism, both visually and literally, that I have never come across before. The dialogue, mis-en-scene, music, story, everything flow together like soft poetry.

I still remember my first wkw film. It was back in 1997; I was 17-18 at that time. I read in EW a review of Chungking Express, which was distributed by Quentin Tarantino’s Rolling Thunder Pictures. I went out to my local video store and got it.

I didn’t know what to expect. I just read the reviews that the “magic” of the film brought tears to Tarantino. I have to say that watching Chungking Express changed my perception and way of watching films in a way that I never thought of. Instead of watching films as a form of entertainment, it is more. There’s actual meaning behind everything that was presented. Dialogue, visuals, mesh and mold and fit exactly where they need to fit. Philosophies are quickly presented in ways that I have never seen presented.

I was enthralled. I was blown away. After watching it, there was a smile on my face that I couldn’t wipe away. This was the beginning of my dream of being a filmmaker, a autuer, like Wong Kar Wai. Everything in that movie, just fell into place. Watching Tony Leung Chiu Wai spill his heart out, giving advice to inanimate objects around his flat; a stuff Garfield, a bar of soap, a used rag — it just made me giggle like a lil’ school girl.

I was in love. It was a feeling I never felt before about any movie or anything. I have literally fallen head-over-heels for this movie.

As I grew up, I got my hands on more and more of his films. I’d even found a horrible transfer of the Hong Kong version of Chungking Express on DVD and watched it over and over. I’d read up on his shooting style, his approach to filmmaking, interviews, news about new films, books specifically about him and his films. I couldn’t get enough of him. I still can’t.

He, in my opinion, is a visionary.

I’m sure there are many fan sites about wkw, and this will be no different. Hopefully, I’ll get the chance to review all the films I have seen of his, and also, write up a few critical essays that describes his works and many films.