Cinematographer Christopher Doyle has worked with some of the world’s most renowned directors over a career that has spanned almost three decades. Best known for his work with Asian directors, perhaps his greatest collaboration over the years has been with Wong Kar-wai. The two first worked together on 1990’s Days of Being Wild but the partnership really hit its stride with 1994’s Chungking Express (above), where, according to the TIFF notes, Doyle transformed Hong Kong into “a woozy array of sublime neons and entropic slow-motion, a dizzying dance of disorientation and displacement.” Amazingly, the film was shot in just two months in the middle of the protracted production of Wong’s epic Ashes of Time.
Doyle will be at the TIFF Bell Lightbox on Saturday April 23 at 7:00pm to discuss his work on Chungking Express and likely many of his other films as well. Tickets are available now.
Chungking Express opens its own engagement at the Lightbox on Thursday April 21st and will play for at least a week.
I was so disappointed in the talk given by Christopher Doyle. Showing up obviously drunk was so low class and no one in your audience (comprised mostly of film students) learned a darn thing about cinematography. It was a waste of time and money. Christopher Doyle’s greatest love is himself and that is what came through loud and clear. You might want to ensure that future guests are sober prior to putting them on stage.
Wow, Lynne, thanks for the report. I wasn’t there personally, and hadn’t heard anything about this. Anyone else attend and have an opinion on the value of the talk?
Hey James,
I was there last night. One’s mileage may vary on the entertainment value of watching and listening to a talented egomaniac give the sort of performance for which he has become famous. I myself enjoyed watching the airless bubble that forms around so many onstage Q &As get rudely and repeatedly punctured. (It was also funny watching Noah Cowan try to keep things moving along, which he managed admirably). But I think that a lot of what Doyle about his work and his long-running collaboration with Wong kar-Wai was very much worth hearing, especially for film students –specifically his observations about drawing artistic inspiration from the shape and size of a shooting location rather than forcing one’s artistic will upon it. Doyle may be in love with himself, but he did a pretty good job of explaining why so many others have fallen in love with his images.