Fallen Angels (1995)

A disillusioned killer embarks on his last hit but first he has to overcome his affections for his cool, detached partner (imdb)
Cast and Information
Directed By: Kar-Wai Wong
Written By: Kar-Wai Wong
Starring: Karen Mok, Leon Lai, Takeshi Kaneshiro, Michelle Reis, Charlie Yeung, Fai-hung Chan, To-hoi Kong, Man-Lei Chan, Lee-na Kwan, Yuk-ho Wu, Toru Saito
Genre: Drama
AKA: Duo luo tian shi
Country: Hong Kong
Where to Stream
Loading...


Fallen Angels belongs to 39 collections
1. Features under 91 minutes (collaborative: moderated by epiphany - 56 stars)
2. boobs (collaborative: moderated by Pickpocket - 51 stars)
3. They Shoot Pictures 1,000 Greatest Films (2008 revision) (collaborative: moderated by Scottathon - 39 stars)
4. They Shoot Pictures 1,000 Greatest Films (2010 revision) (collaborative: moderated by MMAlpha - 32 stars)
5. Netflix Instant (collaborative: moderated by somnivore - 29 stars)
6. Neo-noir (collaborative: moderated by iconogassed - 28 stars)
7. Onion AV Club: The New Cult Canon (collaborative: moderated by theficionado - 28 stars)
8. Best of criticker: Drama (collaborative: moderated by avgcrtckr - 18 stars)
9. They Shoot Pictures 1,000 Greatest Films (2011 revision) (collaborative: moderated by PeaceAnarchy - 14 stars)
10. Films available in HD (collaborative: moderated by kubricksucks - 13 stars)
11. Christopher Doyle, Cinematographer (collaborative: moderated by paulofilmo - 10 stars)
12. David Thomson's 1000 Films (collaborative: moderated by MMAlpha - 7 stars)
13. They Shoot Pictures 1,000 Greatest Films (2007 revision) (collaborative: moderated by Scottathon - 4 stars)
14. Hitman (collaborative: moderated by td888 - 3 stars)
15. LoveHKFilm: The Best 200 Hong Kong Films Ever (public: edkrak - 3 stars)
16. Criterion Collection (Blu-ray and 4K) (public: PepeCamello - 3 stars)
17. Solo Genital Stimulation (Female) (collaborative - 2 stars)
18. mwgerb's Netflix Instant Queue (public: mwgerb - 2 stars)
19. Top 50 Most Want to See (public: kendell - 2 stars)
20. Tom & Bitches' Infinite Watchlist (collaborative - 1 star)
21. Reza Archive (public: reza899 - 1 star)
22. Foreign - Hong Kong (public: NhanLa - 1 star)
23. The Greatest Movies of All Time - Filmweb's Alternative Top 500 (public: Hadleyreis - 1 star)
24. Young love and hip alienation among urban Asian kids. (collaborative: moderated by PerryStroika)
25. Next Up (collaborative: moderated by davidysteph)
26. zae's DVDs & Blurays (public: zae)
27. Filmspotting Ratings Project: Week 4 (public: PeaceAnarchy)
28. My Home Video Library (public: joseywales)
29. Asia/Pacific Top 100 (public: Sleepy Dogs)
30. Mr. Hallenbeck's Blu-Ray Collection (public: MrHallenbeck)
31. 5x10 Project (public: kendell)
32. Complete Director Project (public: kendell)
33. Filmstruck Wishlist (public: kendell)
34. Forrest Watch List (public: ForrestQ)
35. Best Films I Haven't Seen (public: kendell)
36. m-canon (public: horazalra)
37. DTC List (public: lineuphere)
38. C-1990 (public: cantahta)
39. on PLEX (public: ozdemibr)
Browse the full list of collections
Stars | User | Rating | |
5 | ![]() |
M_A | 90 96th |
Beautiful and twisted, this is a feast for the eyes and ears all the way through. The meat of the film lies in the numerous emotions and feelings one gets out of the experience rather than in the plot or character development. A work of mad genius.
|
|||
4 | ![]() |
Anomaly | 56 24th |
There's a few good scenes in here but they're drowned out by mediocre ones and the completely overbearing style. Often hard to care for the characters and their frequently sociopathic actions. Feels like unprocessed leftovers from Chungking Express, with a fraction of the charm.
|
|||
3 | ![]() |
frederic_g54 | 6 35th |
Almost as if Chunking Express was drunkenly directed by John Woo on a pub crawl through a neon-lit Hong Kong. The soundtrack and cinematography are cool as fuck - love me some Christopher Doyle - but they're wasted on a story that has a hard time balancing its many different moods, characters and tones into one satisfying and coherent whole.
|
|||
3 | theficionado | 88 87th |
|
Hyperkinetic editing, distorted lenses, canted angles, switches to black-and-white, adjustments to speed and clarity of image... Wong employs literally everything in his arsenal in his attempt to evoke these five characters' mad desperation to connect to someone around them, and damned it isn't utterly marvelous. Look at the go-for-broke style here, compare it to the aesthetic rigor of In the Mood for Love, and be amazed. Oh, and it's morbidly hilarious, too.
|
|||
2 | ![]() |
Actionberg | 85 84th |
It's pretty much more Chungking Express, and I ain't gonna complain. Characters' behavior is clearly an exaggerated expression of social intricacies, but upon further reflection, the wonderful thing is that they're not really so far removed from reality. The film walks this fine line between sincerity and absurdity. It's like the embodiments of comedy and tragedy are staring at each other through a mirror and having a conversation about loneliness and communication in a densely urban world.
|
|||
2 | ![]() |
Kavu | 87 89th |
Incredibly beautiful. It's like the first part of Chungking Express with even less plot and even more impressionism.
|
|||
2 | ![]() |
Pickpocket | 3 28th |
Definitely felt like the leftover excrement of Chunking Express, which it was. Has a handful of really cool scenes but there's not really a story to tell and you can only get by on looking cool for so long before it gets boring. Enjoyed the use of music but the cinematography takes you out of the film sometimes, almost as if the cinematographer is saying "look how much of an artist I am!!" WKW has done much better work
|
|||
2 | ![]() |
PeaceAnarchy | 89 92nd |
Wonderful series of fleeting emotional moments with a small cast of interesting characters. As you'd expect the visual and aural style is strong and really enjoyable and together these aspects create a really enjoyable series of moods.
|
|||
2 | ![]() |
joseywales | 85 93rd |
One is the loneliest number.
|
|||
2 | ![]() |
amerigo | 94 98th |
When I first saw the poster advertising Pulp Fiction, I expected that movie to be exactly what this film is--sleazy and chaotic, with moments of intense poignancy. The soundtrack is incredible and the cinematography concentrates on a distorted sensory bombardment all to great effect. It's all sensuous and sultry enough to be vulgar, all the while bizarre and illogical enough to be hilarious. This is what Pulp Fiction should have been and better. A must see film.
|
|||
2 | ![]() |
1qw3er5 | 10 98th |
Style to boot. A Chow Yun Fat esque killer, an energetic mute, a sleek, sexy agent and others punctuate the fast, neon-bleached look of WKW's world. Stunning, visually, and enough obscure narrative and unabashed humor to energize every pan and cut, it's hard to not be entertained, although that's not all a viewer will get from it.
|
|||
2 | ![]() |
Cinema_Asia | 85 92nd |
This film is often overlooked by film buffs in favor of Chungking Express but I feel this is a more viscerally beautiful film. In Chungking Express the emotions were more sentimental while Fallen Angels is more about bittersweet feelings. Several scenes are simply incredible..the low rent motel where you can see the train pass by, the tunnel, and the ice cream truck. Even if you don't get the characters it's not hard to feel a bit sad at the end. KWW films have to be felt and not just viewed.
|
|||
2 | ![]() |
antitype | 99 99th |
A melancholy movie about love and isolation that also manages to be the coolest and sexiest film ever made. I get the feeling that this film exudes the mood and atmosphere of Hong Kong at night. A ravishing, sensual pleasure in every respect.
|
|||
2 | ![]() |
goremeat | 86 89th |
A crazy tapestry of a film, woven together by the characters' intense longing for shared experience and connection. Perhaps not quite as sharp as Chungking nor as measured and poignant as In the mood for Love, but another excellent Wong K.W. film, layered with saturated colours, cold greys and a touch of distortion.
|
|||
2 | ![]() |
veeqdee | 80 88th |
You say style like it's a bad thing
|
|||
2 | ![]() |
Proximity | 95 99th |
cuz i'm cool
|
|||
2 | ![]() |
karamazov. | 67 88th |
Aspects of this I still find fucking incredible, but, on rewatch, I certainly overrated what is a wackier, flashier, but ultimately sub-"Gummo" film. Rating may drop further.
|
|||
1 | ![]() |
Zarkon | 83 64th |
One of the most stylized of Wong's films, to the point of excess. The visuals and music are excellent, but the writing is a little too meandering and less 'tight' than Wong's other work.
|
|||
1 | ![]() |
Alex Watkins | 5 91st |
Another lovely mosaic of the lonely and broken-hearted, this time a cast of eccentric nighthawks who exist only in Hong Kong's desolate and dreamy early hours, when the streets are empty of anything save desire. Wong's style has never been more ostentatious or eye-catching, and despite its debt to a very 90s conception of "cool," somehow it's not aged a day.
|
|||
1 | ![]() |
Icarus | 60 27th |
The frenetic style here seems haphazard rather than deeply connected to the narrative or characters. While the melancholy is already here in full force, I much prefer the formal rigor of Wong's In the Mood for Love.
|
|||
1 | ![]() |
kitchen867 | 50 28th |
Style over substance - characters are either "quirky" or cliché but never engaging.
|
|||
1 | ![]() |
randori | 75 67th |
tembel tetikci, iliski beceriksizi menajeri, dilsiz firlama genc, kirik sarisin, hala asik kiz ve kar wai wong'un melankolik, ruyavari dinamik kamerasi-cekici kadraji ile tam bir karmacoma. ask filmlerinin dikkate deger yonetmeninden kalbi kirik meleklerin hikayesi.
|
|||
1 | jonnykungfu | 80 76th |
|
Overwhelming. The closest thing I can compare this to is early Godard, but whereas I find Godard dry and full of contrived coolness, I found this exciting, visceral, and genuinely hip in a way that few filmmakers can achieve. Sure, it's light on plot, but I was never a plot guy to begin with. Overall, a visually stunning, extremely energetic load of style over substance. I will have to reevaluate my opinion of Kar Wai Wong after this one.
|
|||
1 | ![]() |
maakal | 61 17th |
I'm shocked by the universal praise for this mess, and can only attribute it to respect for the director's other works. This was awful, a boring story, annoying characters, pathetic camera tricks. I love his other films, but I just wanted this to be over.
|
|||
1 | ![]() |
dardan | 55 48th |
The premise--isolation in a hurried, deaf crowd embedded in a concrete jungle--held some potential.
|
|||
1 | ![]() |
feublo | 75 41st |
WKW's follow up to Chungking Express let's itself embark in a cool and more fragmented version, that pulls the same ideas to make a melancholic but beautiful eye for human connection. Some clever concepts scattered throughout carry a certain humour and emotion that make it enjoyable.
|
|||
1 | ![]() |
Nolan69420 | 81 84th |
With self narration by each of the characters, the audience gets to peer into their lives. Stylishly shot, with a cool soundtrack, the movie is an intimate look at love and chaos of neon lit, cigarette smoke filled Hong Kong. Funny and poignant, the emotional impact of the film isn’t truly felt until the end.
|
|||
1 | ![]() |
TJ monster | 78 86th |
Nice wide angle lens, nice soundtrack. Satisfying ending even with unconventional plot line
|
Average Percentile 68.6% from 1503 Ratings | ![]() |