The wait for Wong Kar-wai‘s “The Grandmaster” is nearly over. The film is opening this Friday, having been out in some parts of the world for the best part of a year. And while you watch those last few hours count down, you can continue to indulge in our look back at the great Hong Kong director’s career. We have this all-consuming retrospective, and this documentary about the making of “Chungking Express” from a few weeks back, and now one more for you, a similar documentary about the making of 2000’s “In The Mood For Love,” probably Wong’s best-known and most acclaimed picture.
This half-hour show from Wong’s native land features contributions from him and the film’s stars, the ultra-slick Tony Leung and the luminous Maggie Cheung. We recently called the film “a flat-out modern masterpiece” and it is one of very few from the present century to feature highly in critical polls like that of Sight & Sound. The doc touches on the similarities between Cheung’s background and that of her character and the microscopic attention given to the ’60s setting, as well as showing Wong at work in cramped Chinese apartments that cramp his style not one bit. Watch it, then rewatch the movie, then go see “The Grandmaster” (and we’ve tossed in a bonus featurette for you). You have your orders.