Ho Tsz Hei 3036193059
The text ‘Cuts through Hong Kong’ by professor Seng, demonstrates the film ‘In the Mood for Love’ by Wong Kar Wai on how interior and exterior of spatial collage with transition spaces implies in the film, echoing the relationship between Chow and Su.
I chose a specific aspect of the concept of ‘borrowed time’ to demonstrate film. To tell the entire story, Wong creates a collage of fragmented scenes. He frequently repeated transitional spaces in scenes, such as the interior staircase and corridor inside the Tong Lau and the exterior staircases of the back lane. These narrow transitional spaces echoed the short-term relationship between Chow and Su, in which they began to ‘borrow’ time from each other after realizing their wives and husbands were cheating. While the relationship echoes with a scene of documentary footage of de Gaulle’s visit to Cambodia, it eventually came to an end, resulting in a triple echo. It marks the end of a the era.
The ‘borrow’ meaning seems to be clear in various aspects, the transition seems to be inevitable, like the fact of the handover of HK in 1997.Ironically, after reading the text, I acknowledged the hotel room shooting location,which originally is a British colonial hospital nearby my home. When I visited, it had already been demolished, rebuilt, and transformed into a 30-story-high luxurious apartment. That strengthens Wong’s claim that he knew those permanent landscapes would be gone soon.
You demonstrate the idea of “borrowed time,” referring to the transitional spaces and the relationship between the protagonists. You also write the response by reflecting on your own understanding. However, could you explain the specific reason for focusing on “borrowed time” in responding to this text from all the aspects the author discussed in her pieces?