Brother Hua, played by Andy Lau, is in the underworld. One day, his cousin A'e (Maggie Cheung) came to Kowloon for treatment and broke into Andy's life. Jacky Cheung's Wu Fen is Andy's younger brother. He has a very bad temper and wants to be beautiful, but he always makes troubles everywhere. Typical success is more than failure. Later, in order to give gifts to his younger brother's in-laws, he borrowed money from brother TONY (Wan Ziliang), and he got into trouble from then on. Finally, Wu Fei decided to do the most dangerous task in the club. At this time, Andy was tired of the fighting in the rivers and lakes, and wanted to retire. After hearing the news, he tried to persuade Wufei to retreat, but was unsuccessful. Out of a strong bromance, he also attended and ended up dying at the police station.
As Wang's first work, "Mong Kok Carmen" is obviously still subject to the rules and regulations of the genre films at that time, and it is still full of traditional gangster elements, grievances and brotherhood. Of course, Wang Jiawei still expelled what he wanted, the humble heartache of the little people in the rivers and lakes, and the love story. These were all "anti-hero" elements that were out of tune with the atmosphere of gangster films at the time. It should be noted that there was no later image of the galaxy at that time. The entire gangster film was a Woo-style brotherly loyalty and a tall hero like Xiao Ma. It's just that Wong Kar Wai at that time was far from subverting the meaning of gangster films, at best it could only be regarded as a novelty.
In the world of "Carmen of Mong Kok", everyone is real and three-dimensional, has their own little emotions, and will be tired of the fighting in the rivers and lakes. The love relationship that was deliberately ignored in traditional gangster movies has also been elevated to a position comparable to the brotherhood between men. The emotional drama between Ah'e and Andy is so delicate that it does not belong to the world at all, and the hot kiss in the phone booth has become an eternity. A timeless classic. Two lines, one is vendetta, the other is sentimental love. The entanglement of the two lines creates a style completely different from the past.
Of course, as Wong Kar-wai, the theme he wants to talk about the most is love, but due to the reality, he has to tell his love story in the gangster rivers and lakes. And the same is true for Hong Kong cinema. To Wong Kar-Wai: This is his only gangster film. He wants to tell his own story, but he doesn't dare to tell it so blatantly. To Hong Kong movies: It turns out that gangster films can still be made this way. more possibilities.
Wong Kar-wai's initial sing-along received a great response, and soon after that, "Tian Ruoyou Qing" was released, in which the shadow of "Mong Kok Carmen" can be clearly seen. Of course, after this ingenious story construction method evolved into a very stylized personal work later, everyone's reaction seemed a little different. In fact, in this film, Wong Kar Wai's ambition to pursue his own style has already made its debut. Isn't the cup hidden by A'e a slight manifestation of fetishism, not to mention the jukebox that can almost become a protagonist in Wong Kar Wai's series of movies. When Andy said, "I can't give you a promise." Did everyone remember rejection, the motif that runs through Wong Kar-wai's works from start to finish? Before Andy died, was it a bit of stream of consciousness when he recalled the street kiss with A'e?
On the screen, although it is not as full of style as the later works, it still reveals a little newness inadvertently in the tradition. The jumps of the shots are very fast, which makes the audience who are accustomed to the lazy narration in Hong Kong movies feel fresh. Several camera angles are also unique, even if they are not as impressive as the shooting characteristics of the entire film without a fixed orientation. The use of framed slow motion makes it even more famous.
Andy Lau, Maggie Cheung, Jacky Cheung, they were all in their youth at that time, and they all had very good performances in Carmen, Mong Kok. Although the breakthroughs were not necessarily great, they also paid a lot of homework. The heroic but helpless Andy, A'e, who is brave and chasing love, and Wufei, who is sad and humble but desperate for face, are all well-made. It can be seen that the help that a good story and a good director bring to the actors is a qualitative improvement.
This film swept more than ten nominations at the Hong Kong Film Awards that year. This phenomenon is of course very common in Wong Kar-wai's films, but what is uncommon is that this film is also very popular at the box office. If Wong Kar-wai knew that his later films would have such a bleak box office, would he still pursue his own style so determinedly?
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