Fallen Angels Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		4.5
Video		4.0
Audio		4.5
Extras		2.0
Overall		4.0

Fallen Angels Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Dr. Svet Atanasov August 21, 2012

Wong Kar Wai's "Duo luo tian shi" a.k.a "Fallen Angels" (1995) arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of British distributors Artificial Eye. The supplemental features on the disc include the film's original theatrical trailer and a video interview with cinematographer Christopher Doyle. In Cantonese, with optional English subtitles for the main feature. Region-B "locked".

The killer

Wong Kar Wai’s Fallen Angels follows three loners who live their lives on cruise control in busy Hong Kong. The first is a disillusioned killer (Leon Lai, A Hero Never Dies, White Vengeance) who repeatedly reminds the viewer that he is too lazy to pick a direction in his life. He is convinced that even if he did it would not make much of a difference, because people like him have their lives predetermined - they live for as long as they must and die when the right time has come. In his wallet, the killer has a small picture of a woman whom he occasionally claims is his wife. But she is not. Years ago, the killer met the woman and paid her to have her picture taken.

The second character is a beautiful girl (Michelle Reis, The Other Side of the Sea, Beauty and the Breast) with long black hair. She is the killer’s agent. The two communicate with notes and coded messages, which they exchange in cozy bars across the city. When she feels lonely, the girl cleans the killer’s tiny apartment. Occasionally, she also pleasures herself on his bed. Even though she has met him only once, the girl is madly in love with the killer.

The third character is a mute ex-con (Takeshi Kaneshiro, Perhaps Love, Red Cliff) who works at night. He breaks into stores and sells ice cream to strangers who don’t like ice cream, massages dead pigs, or washes the hair of men who are wandering around the city. When he isn’t working, the mute uses a portable camera to tape his father while he sleeps.

Fallen Angels, which was completed a year after Chungking Express, moves fast but not in a specific direction. It is a bit like a beautiful chaotic dream which just happens for no apparent reason. The viewer is invited to enter and experience it. That’s all. There are no hidden messages or important lessons to be learned. The main protagonists also remain too distant to like or dislike them.

What Wong Kar Wai accomplishes with Fallen Angels is what Abel Ferrara has done with many of his films – he allows the viewer to see an entire city differently, feel its pulse. In Ferrara’s films New York is a city of moving shadows and beautiful lights, a dangerous but attractive place where saints and sinners live in harmony. Fallen Angels places the viewer in a Hong Kong that has little, if anything, in common with the city travel agencies promote. As the killer, the beautiful girl and the mute go about their businesses, the viewer gets a glimpse of the back alleys, overcrowded neighborhoods, and chic clubs where ordinary people go to drink and forget about their failures. This is an exotic but dangerous paradise where time and space are essentially redefined.

Fallen Angels was lensed by Australian cinematographer Christopher Doyle, who has worked with Wong Kar Wai on a number of his films, including the acclaimed Happy Together and In the Mood for Love. Doyle has a tremendous eye for detail and understands exactly how time shifts in Wong Kar Wai’s films. In Fallen Angels the imagery is indescribably beautiful, often filled with dazzling colors which seem to evolve with the moods of the main characters.

The film is also complimented by a terrific trip-hop/retro soundtrack that further adds to its unique atmosphere. The main song, "Because I am Cool" by Robison Randriaharimalala, which samples Massive Attack’s "Karmacoma", is maddeningly addictive.

Note: In 1996, Fallen Angels won Best Actress (Karen Mok), Best Original Film Score (Best Original Film Score (Frankie Chan and Roel A. García), and Best Cinematography (Christopher Doyle) Awards at the Hong Kong Film Awards.

Fallen Angels Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Presented in its original aspect ratio of 1.85:1, encoded with MPEG-4 AVC and granted a 1080p transfer, Wong Kar Wai's Fallen Angels arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of British distributors Artificial Eye.

The high-definition transfer appears to have been struck from the same source Kino Video had access to when they prepared their Blu-ray release of Fallen Angels for the U.S. market. This is definitely good news. Aside from some extremely light noise, the film looks wonderful. Christopher Doyle's unorthodox use of light and colors, in particular, give the film a notably seductive look that is often far more interesting to observe and even study than follow the exploits of the main protagonists. The darker sequences are also free of the macroblocking patterns that plagued the DVD releases of the film. The short black and white segments still look quite rough, but this is how they are supposed to look (see screencapture #18). Contrast levels fluctuate a lot, especially when Doyle plays with the neon lights (see screencapture #8), but the film never looks flat. There are no traces of excessive sharpening corrections. Lastly, there are no large cuts, damage marks, flecks, or stains to report in this review. All in all, fans of Fallen Angels residing in Region-B territories should be pleased with the film's technical presentation as it matches the quality of the good U.S. release. (Note: This is a Region-B "locked" Blu-ray disc. Therefore, you must have a native Region-B or Region-Free PS3 or SA in order to access its content).

Fallen Angels Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

There are two audio tracks on this Blu-ray disc: Cantonese DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 and Cantonese LPCM 2.0. For the record, Artificial Eye have provided optional English subtitles for the main feature.

The excellent DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 track is a good enough reason to strongly recommend upgrading your DVD release of Fallen Angels. Frankie Chan and Roel A. García's trippy soundtrack gets a tremendous boost and adds a type of depth and atmosphere to the film that could never be replicated with a lossy track. Essentially, Fallen Angels becomes an entirely different film. The surround channels are also very intelligently used. The dialog is clean and stable. Also, there are no problematic pops, cracks, distortions, or dropouts to report in this review. The English translation is very good.

Fallen Angels Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Trailer - original trailer for Fallen Angels. Music only. (3 min, 1080p).

• Interview - in this video interview, director of photography Christopher Doyle discusses the visual style of Fallen Angels and how specific sequences were shot, the manner in which he interacts with the actors when shooting, his relationship with director Wong Kar Wai, etc. In English, not subtitled. (24 min, 1080/50i).

Fallen Angels Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

This may come as a shock to some but I prefer Wong Kar Wai's Fallen Angels over his Chungking Express. I think that it is a darker and more seductive film, with a better atmosphere. It is one of the great films of the 90s, boasting a style to die for. If you reside in a Region-B country and are yet to add this film to your library, do it now. And then start experimenting with the rest of Wong Kar Wai's early films. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.