How the French New Wave and the movie Breathless influenced the filmmaking styles of Wong Kar Wai

Running head: INTRODUCTION TO FILM STUDIES
Introduction to Film Studies
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INTRODUCTION TO FILM STUDIES
How the French New Wave and the movie Breathless influenced the
filmmaking styles of Wong Kar Wai
Wong Kar Wai is one of the most well-known filmmakers from the country of China.
He is known to be the auteur of the Hong Kong Second Wave of films. Throughout his
career, the filmmaker had made a number of films which are well-known among both the
filmmakers as well as the film critiques and the film lovers as well. It is being said that Wong
Kar Wai was influenced by the films which got made during the French New Wave,
especially by the films Breathless which was directed by Jean Luc Goddard. It is by watching
this film which made Wai interested in directing films himself. As the filmmaker himself was
interested by the New Wave films of France, this gave him the initiative to bring in the New
Wave in the Hong Kong films as well.
Before beginning to analyse the ways in which the French New Wave had influenced
the filmmaking styles of Wong Kar Wai, it is important for the readers to understand what the
French New Wave was all about. The French New Wave was a film movement that started in
France in the year 1950 by a group of filmmakers, who wanted to bring a new kind of film to
the audiences themselves (Bordwell, pg. 337). This movement, which was launched by these
school of the filmmakers themselves, later influenced many other filmmakers belonging to a
number of different countries itself. These filmmakers and the films which inspired the
filmmakers of the other countries so much that these filmmakers started to adapt the New
Wave Film Movement in their countries as well. One such filmmaker was Wong Kar Wai
himself, who himself became known to the people of his country as the pioneer of the Second
New Wave of the Hong Kong cinemas itself (Bordwell, pg. 337). Thus, it can be said that the
filmmaker got influenced by the films which were made during the times of the French New
Wave. It is because of this reason itself that the filmmaker has been accurately described as
the pioneer of the Second Hong Kong New Wave of the films (Bordwell, pg. 337).

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INTRODUCTION TO FILM STUDIES
It is rightfully claimed by a number of experts that the filmmaker Wong Kar Wai is
heavily influenced by the films and the direction styles of the filmmakers of the French New
Wave itself (Wai, 1994). This is supported by the point that the filmmaker himself was highly
impressed by the filmmaking styles of Jean Luc Goddard in the cinematic adaptation of the
film Breathless (Bordwell, pg. 337). In fact, these experts are also of the opinion themselves
that the it is the filmmaking styles that Goddard himself employed in the making of the film
Breathless, which inspired Wong Kar Wai to start shooting for the film “Chunking Express”,
which is considered to be one of the best films to be directed by the filmmaker himself
(Bordwell, pg. 337). Jean Luc Goddard is considered to be one of the best and most popular
filmmakers of all timers in the world itself and Breathless is considered to be one of the best
films of all times made by the filmmaker himself (Bordwell, pg. 337). The greatness of the
filmmaking styles of Goddard could be seen in the way in which he shoots the film and edits
the scene of the film himself. The most important factor to be considered by the audiences of
the film in this case is the jump cuts which the filmmaker had utilized in the film himself
(Goddard, 1960). It is with the use of the jump cuts that the fil maker has shown to the
audiences about the various happenings in the films itself (Goddard, 1960). Thus, the experts
say that it is all of these factors in the making of the film itself which inspired Wong Kar Wai
to make Chunking Express for himself bringing the second of the New Wave for Hong Kong
and for the Chinese films itself (Bordwell, pg. 337).
Chunking Express is considered to be one of the best films to be made by the
filmmaker Wong Kar Wai (Bordwell, pg. 337). The filmmaker is said to have made the film
based on the filmmaking styles of the filmmaker Jean Luc Goddard, the filmmaker of
Breathless itself (Goddard, 1960). The film is said to be quite popular among both the
filmmakers, film lovers and the film critiques alike (Bordwell, pg. 337). The film and its and
division of the story into two different parts is an example of the influence that the French