Christopher Doyle Interview

[sparkles_n15]

Capturing a moment that can never be repeated
From today's Toronto Star

Christopher Doyle, the acclaimed Hong Kong cinematographer behind Chungking Express and In the Mood for Love, could be forgiven if he felt a little resentful about the new digital world.

With the proliferation of smartphones and other handheld gadgets, it seems as if anybody and everybody could shoot their own movies — and many are doing just that.

Doyle, 58, views changing times through a more positive lens, even though he’s still more of an old-school celluloid guy. The more people use their iPhones to grab video, he reasons, the more they appreciate how hard it is to do well.

“Because of the prevalence of a camera in your phone nowadays, I think people are becoming more astute about the function of the image,” he says from Los Angeles, where he’s working prior to a Toronto visit next week.

“I think that’s a great bonus, a great boost: the audience, because they have hands-on experience, are more cognizant of the function of the image. They are more attuned and probably, technically, more competent than any period of film history. The second thing is the challenge: if (cinematographers) think what we do should be paid for, then we’d better do a good job!”

Back in the pre-digital early 1990s when Doyle was working with Wong Kar-wai on Chungking Express, a modern classic getting the full TIFF Bell Lightbox treatment starting April 21, you really had to sweat to grab unique moving images. (Doyle will be at the Lightbox April 23 for an “In Conversation” session with TIFF’s Noah Cowan.)

Doyle hustled heavy film cameras down the crowded streets and tight spaces of Hong Kong to make this off-kilter romantic comedy, shooting on the fly and in the midst of a teeming metropolis. The film still seems so fresh and nimble, many viewers might think it was shot digitally, but it wasn’t.

Shot in the anxious period before China regained control of Hong Kong, Chungking Express combines two concurrent stories of lonely cops (Takeshi Kaneshiro and Tony Leung) and the women who intrigue and vex them (Brigitte Lin’s bewigged heroin seller and Faye Wong’s stalking noodle seller). The bright colours and crazy quilt urbanity of the shooting locations mirror the alienation and disorientation felt by the characters, which Doyle heightens with jump cuts and other kinetic effects.

Doyle had the advantage of really knowing the sprawling Chungking Mansions where much of the film was shot, because he lived there.

“I had a very small space, literally as big as some people’s garages. But the space pushes you toward certain stylistic choices, certain choices of movement, certain blocking even. The actors move in a certain way because of the implications of the space or the necessities of how one moves within a space — you cut in a certain way because you can’t do anything else!

“The film has that organic nature because it was a response to the energy of Hong Kong nightlife, how it is on the streets, all that kind of stuff. I think this does inform a film. The audience gets a visceral response to the integrity of all the participants’ intentions.”

Doyle has worked with many noted directors, including Yimou Zhang (Hero), Gus Van Sant (Paranoid Park), Jim Jarmusch (The Limits of Control) and M. Night Shyamalan (The Lady in the Water).

But he’s best known for his frequent collaborations with fellow Hong Kong auteur Wong Kar-wai, which also include In the Mood for Love, Happy Together, 2046, Ashes of Time and Fallen Angels.

“We were obviously separated at birth!” Doyle jokes of his close collaboration with Wong.

“The films, especially Chungking Express, were made in that special space with that special energy called Hong Kong. There was an aspiration to do something a little bit out of the ordinary. I think we both have a very, very strong feeling for literature. For us, structure is looking for form that is more novelistic in the sense of magic realism or surrealism or something like that. We talk more about books than we talk about films. Actually, we don’t really talk about the films — we just get on with it.”

The two often work in sync with pop songs or instrumentals that Wong has chosen, tunes that may seen incongruous anywhere else but in a Wong Kar-wai film: for example, the Mamas and the Papas’ “California Dreamin’” in Chungking Express or Nat King Cole’s “Quizas, Quizas, Quizas” for In the Mood for Love.

This latter film repeats one of the most hypnotic sensual scenes in all of cinema, set to yearning strings: nightly walks by the elegantly attired Maggie Cheung, her noodle container swinging by her side, as would-be lover Tony Leung looks wistfully from afar.

“The walking scene where Maggie goes to get the noodles was choreographed to music,” Doyle says.

“We were playing music on set and the rhythm at which Maggie walks, the moment she turns, that dance between the camera and her movement was what we call our ‘Busby Berkeley’ effect.”

Watching Chungking Express today, 17 years after its first release, it’s amazing how current it still seems, despite having influenced countless other directors and films.

It’s also hard not to imagine how much easier it might be to make it today, with the lightweight digital cameras that Doyle could avail himself of.

Yet Doyle still isn’t sold on digital — he still prefers to use film, wherever possible — and he doesn’t think he could make Chungking Express today.

“Oh no, absolutely not!” he says. “I wouldn’t want to, either. Why go back? The energy of the places have changed . . . I think we’ve moved on to different areas of quote-unquote ‘expertise’ or concern or whatever. I don’t want to go back to Chungking Express. That would invalidate it.”

+++

Anyone else attending the “In Conversation” session on the 23rd?

[Safran]

Interesting article - Thank you Jenny :)

[In The Mood For Leung]

Indeed, Doyle has lensed two of the most delightful-to-the-senses films ever: CE and ITMFL.

Those films are very essentially and sensually Hongkong in visuals/color, sound, texture, smell and taste.

They are cinematographical masterpieces!


Thanks sparkles for sharing.

[Safran]

Dear cinephile fellows

Maybe you haven´t found yet:
If you want to read another interesting article about history and recent Chinese/HK/ Taiwan cinema - (Tony pics and WKW mentioned) ......see :

http://www.festival-cannes.com/en.html

- scroll down, click on Tony pic on right side- click on China - and scroll down to HK and Taiwan also ( you´ll find clips of WKW movies and a Tony pic from HHH`s "Flowers of Shanghai")

[sparkles_n15]

Hi Helga, thanks for sharing!

Any questions you can think of to ask Mr. Doyle? I wonder if there will be a Q&A with the audience.

[Safran]

You´re welcome , Jenny !

You will attend the session on 23 rd ? - Wow - Good luck for an exciting experience !
May I suggest ?
Q: Are there any plans for the future - for another collaboration of the congenial and successful Duo: WKW/CD ?
Q: With which director you would like to collaborate somewhen - as a challenge ?
Q: How would you describe your personal forte / exception as a cinematographer ?......and your "weak point" - in your view ?

[sparkles_n15]

It was so much fun listening to Chris Doyle speak last night at the TIFF Lightbox. I sat in the first row, so I got some close up shots to share. I even got his autograph too. Chris was hilarious, a bit of a 'free-spirit'. He came in with a glass of beer, so I already had some expectations of how the evening would turn out.



First pic of him re-enacting how it was like to film Tony in Days of Being Wild. The ceiling was very low in the room, so he had to crouch down with a 40lb camera on his shoulders. (Notice the grimace.) He said that there is a certain intimacy, a sense of isolation with the way the scene was captured. Film is a response to space.

During the night we were shown clips from the movies he's worked on. The first scene was in Days of Being Wild with Tony getting dressed. We saw clips from Ashes of Time, Chungking Express, a special cut of ITMFL he put together (apparently illegally with stolen music, LOL). Then he showed us a clip from Underwater Love, one of his latest works, which is a Pink Musical.



He was a little animated during his talk on stage. Hehe. In his words, "I am the Keith Richards of cinematography."

I was trying to jot down notes during his talk. Some of the things he mentioned: As the cinematographer acts as a bridge, there needs to be a sense of reasurrance and trust formed between the actors and the cinematographer. The audience also needs to feel the sincerity from the images they are shown. He said that film is both objective/subjective. At some point in time, he needs someone to pull him back, almost like an artist taking a step back from a painting to look at the full picture.

Chungking Express was a metaphor for the two aspects of Hong Kong. It was important to capture the energy of where you came from. These became the roadmark of the film. It would be impossible to go back and recreate it.

More of the talk will be posted on the TIFF.net website. I gave the PG13 account. I'm not sure how much they'll have to edit out because of the uh...expletives he used. Haha. He also mentioned how he and Tony were always chasing the same girls. LOL.

[Safran]

Wow Jenny - this is a very good report with very good fotos - compliment ! One really can visualize this dynamic character.
Might have been an interesting evening ! ; )
Greetings to Toronto
Helga

[Eri]

Thanks for the very interesting report, Jenny.

TIFF must be very interesting event for audience. I would love to visit Toronto for this FF if I have the chance.

[Yuka]

Thanks Jenny for sharing.
Very interesting report.
His clothes makes him look more like K. Richard, too.

[sparkles_n15]

TIFF really has a lot of interesting programs throughout the year (Film Festival, HotDocs, Sprockets, etc.). Especially with the new TIFF Lightbox building, they can accomodate special exhibits year round. Saturday was actually my first time there, but I really enjoyed it. It feels very connoisseur.

Here's a pic of my signed Chungking Express postcard.
I had to chase Chris all the way to the bar to get it signed!