IT'S SO EASY BEING GREEN

Anyone in the mood for love this week? Well I am. I recently revisited the Wong Kar-Wai 2000 classic film and found myself obsessed (again) with the amazing color palettes, shot compositions, and intricately woven tale of unrequited love in 1960s’ Hong Kong. This film is indulgent to the senses, sight, touch, smell, taste, they’re all covered, and all elements culminate into one of my top sources for inspiration. I couldn’t narrow down my love for this movie into one post, so I’m giving you three this week, broken down into themes: Color, Fabric and Pattern, and Composition and Tone.

So with that, here’s my ode to the use of the color Green in the film, specifically shades in the Jadeite family. This color is used delicately, a lamp here, a teacup there, but really makes a strong, lasting impression (so much so in fact that I went and purchased two jadeite cups on ebay right after my first screening). It feels like the color is hinting at something verdant and alive that exists just underneath often busily patterned and age-distressed environments. It offers a visual parallel to the slowly budding love between the two leads, played by the gorgeous Maggie Cheung and very debonair Tony Leung.