		Year: 1994 Director: Wong Kar Wai Starring: Leslie Cheung, Tony Leung, Brigitte Lin, Maggie Cheung Genre: Arthouse Literal title translation: 'East Evil West Poison'

Leslie Cheung plays a loner who lines up work for assassins for hire: Tony Leung is a young swordsman with a knack of making enemies: and Maggie Cheung portrays the woman in the hearts of both men who sets the story in motion with her "wine of forgetfulness".

This film is impossible to describe from a cause and effect point of view and many people have commented that the narrative is a mess. Things come and go and it feels very much like a disjointed dream. However, it is extremely well thought out (although you may need to watch it more than once to fully understand it). It is also the most complex of Wong Kar Wai's films and apparently took him more than two years to complete. The end result is very atmospheric and rings every last drop of emotion from the audience. Some of the dialogue is truly inspired and you feel for the loss that all of the characters have suffered. The locale is also astonishing, but this is an art film and anyone watching it for the Sammo Hung choreographed fight scenes will be extremely disappointed - they are shot using tracer and connote the action that is happening rather than denote it. The ending is worth waiting for as it ties up the whole plot nicely and the cinematography by Wong regular Christopher Doyle is truly his best work yet. This is one film that stays with you after you have seen it and the audience must really be willing to sympathise with the world that Wong is trying to create.

An extremely well accomplished filmmaking feat that must be watched in the correct frame of mind as a lot of concentration is needed. Not Wong Kar Wai's best film as a whole but it certainly puts his filmmaking skills to the test and you can see the amount of work that has been done by everyone involved. Wong Kar Wai has painted the screen with his vision.