first of all, let me say i haven't had to much experience with comtemporary foreign films(i spent most of my $$ renting classic ozu, mizoguchi, bresson etc...i feel i should see them first), but here is my choice:

william chang/christopher doyle/wong kar-wai
1)in the mood for love-days of being wild
2)happy together
3)chungking express-fallen angel
4)ashes of time

i grouped in the mood... and days... together because i here they are very similiar(though i haven't seen in the mood)
also chungking... and fallen angel together because they had the same feel, plus it was suppose to be one movie.

i assume everyone know who chris doyle is(anyone seen away with words?).  william chang is wong kar-wai's "art production director", but he is one of wong kar-wai closest
friend and collabarator.  most if not all those amazing visuals shot by chris are envisioned/made by william chang not to mention the editings.

i can write about the great cinematography, art, and dialogues of a wong kar-wai films for hours  i.e the tango dance lesson in happy together, the choppy story lines of ashes of time which all build up to an incredible climax with maggie cheung "the women" scene at the shore, the magnificent care-free faye wong in chungking,  the wide angle  experiment in fallen angels, the hynotic personal fave days of being wild 's dialogue...

but the main reason why i chose chris/william/kar-wai is 
that they have influenced the hong kong cinema/culture(and giving me hope) oooooo soooooooo much!!!!
imagine living in hong kong, where 98% of the population is 
chinese...which mean conformity, practicallity, and money are the only norm, then think of the films...

ashes of time: the most espensive hong kong movie made...not to mention it's two year production time, its metaphorical storyline, its set/cinematography...and its financial failure.  not your average hong kong kung fu film!!! 
i think its influence on hong kong's mentallity will last
in times to come.  

happy together:  think nicolas cage and tom cruise in a gay
hollywood film!!  and remember...we are talking chinese...
open homosexuality?  oh...william chang is openly gay.

faye wong's character in chungking...antithesis of your typical chinese.  she works restaurant jobs to make just enough to travel, not to study...so carefree in the modern
day "time is everything hong kong."  

days of being wild's mood/mores...similar to oshima's cruel story of youth.  theme and its other post modernity.  

i've gone long enough...just see it for yourself if you haven't...but the big flaw of wong kar-wai's film is that it's too beautiful, too nostalgia, and where the hell do i meet someone like he zhiwu, faye, or su lizhen?
   
then i watch a hou hsiao hsien film or meet real people...
and i get disappointed because they are just not
tragic/romantic enough!
---nana
