More than just mood: how Wong Kar-wai reshapes storytelling through sensation and style.

The widely acclaimed films of Wong Kar-wai are characterized by their sumptuous yet complex visual and sonic style. This study of Wong’s filmmaking techniques uses a poetics approach to examine how form, music, narration, characterization, genre, and other artistic elements work together to produce certain effects on audiences. Bettinson argues that Wong’s films are permeated by an aesthetic of sensuousness and “disturbance” achieved through techniques such as narrative interruptions, facial masking, opaque cuts, and other complex strategies. The effect is to jolt the viewer out of complete aesthetic absorption. Each of the chapters focuses on a single aspect of Wong’s filmmaking.

This tenth-anniversary edition of The Sensuous Cinema of Wong Kar-wai includes a substantial new afterword bringing the story of Wong’s career up to date (including reflections on the Mainland Chinese drama Blossoms Shanghai). Bettinson revisits and extends the arguments of the first edition, surveys the recent key debates on Wong’s filmmaking, and introduces fresh lines of critical investigation. The book will appeal to all who are interested in authorship and aesthetics in film studies, to scholars in Asian studies, media, and cultural studies, and to anyone with an interest in Hong Kong cinema in general, and Wong’s films in particular.

Gary Bettinson is senior lecturer in film studies at Lancaster University. He is co-editor of The Poetics of Chinese Cinema (2016), Hong Kong Horror Cinema (2018), and The Cinema of Stephen Chow (2024), and editor-in-chief of the journal Asian Cinema.