Opinion | ‘Global’ Hong Kong mustn’t lose sight of its own beauty
Hong Kong doesn’t need to chase the sameness of Coldplay concerts and viral trends. It needs to be assured in its own taste
It is tempting to read this re-release as political, especially in a city where cultural memory has become a muted form of dissent. In truth, the film captures not the colonial past but the emotional present. What draws people to Wong’s work is not nostalgia – rather, it’s atmosphere, mood or the slow, deliberate pacing of life.
Much of In the Mood for Love was filmed in Bangkok, a location chosen not for strict accuracy but for its ability to evoke a Hong Kong that no longer physically existed. That choice says everything: Wong is not archiving the past; he is conjuring up its emotional temperature and memories of fleeting spaces.
For the director, Shanghai and Hong Kong are not just cinematic backdrops but emotional landscapes. Born in one city and raised in the other, he embodies haipai – Shanghai style – a cross-cultural current flowing between the two cities. His films trace a rhythm once shared by the cities, carried by migration, commerce and memory.