Everything will be out of date one day.

The more you want to forget about something, the more clearly you remember it. So if you no longer own it, the only thing you can do is not to forget it.

You will never forget these lines after seeing Wong' films, such as Ashes of Time. These seemingly plain words actually convey deep connotations and to some extent reflect Wong Karwai's ideas when directing a film.

Wong Karwai has made himself a famous brand in today's Hong Kong's film circle, which is flooded by pop-culture. He persists on his own style and cannot be easily imitated. Yet, the mainstream market adores him.

Some people say that just like his films, Wong Karwai always gives us a sense of mystery and some expectations. He is the one who can perceive the fringe, vacuous, absurd, and lonely mind of modern people. Meanwhile, he is able to infuse this kind of vanward idea and experience into his films in the most popular and prevalent way. So when we are trying to understand Wong Karwai, we are seeing and finding ourselves as well.

In Wong Karwai's films, he is good at creating a kind of reminiscent atmosphere. He likes to use such roles as swordsmen, killers, and wanderers to symbolize modern people's concerns of their inner world and the rigid outer life. He is careful about every character in his films and people can find the particularity in each of them.

If you are careful enough, you may find that although many scenes are shot in Thailand, Argentina, and other places, these scenes greatly resemble Hong Kong or the Shanghai of decades ago. Describing himself as a "Shanghai-made, Hong Kong-produced" director, Wong Karwai says that there are many things of great elegance in Chinese culture, and actually you can find your inspiration in making a film from ancient Chinese poetry . Thus, audience can find the traces of the environment where the director grew up and the culture behind it.

On the train ahead, on the way to the dream

Born in China's biggest city Shanghai in 1958, Wang Karwai moved to Hong Kong with his mother in 1962 and grew up there. He loved movies and spent lots of time seeing them every day during his childhood.

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