Why Wong Kar-wai spent three days filming a single kiss 150 times
In short: For his 2007 English-language debut, My Blueberry Nights, director Wong Kar-wai obsessed over the minutiae of human connection. By pushing his actors to repeat a simple café kiss 150 times, he sought to capture a specific emotional state, turning a modest road movie into a living, breathing experiment in cinematic intimacy.
My Blueberry Nights began as a concept for an anthology film titled Three Stories About Food. While one chapter evolved into the acclaimed In the Mood for Love, director Wong Kar-wai expanded another short film into this American road drama. To maintain the film's aesthetic, the crew conducted extensive location scouting across the United States, eventually settling on New York, Memphis, and Nevada. Wong’s production style was notoriously fluid; he frequently revised the script at the last minute, leading actor Jude Law to describe the project as a living story that was constantly being decided.
The production process was marked by Wong’s meticulous, often unconventional, approach to performance. He famously cast singer Norah Jones in her acting debut, specifically instructing her to avoid formal acting lessons to keep her performance natural. During filming in Manhattan, Wong’s fixation on single moments became legendary, particularly during a scene at the Palacinka café. Over three days, he directed Law and Jones to repeat a kissing scene 150 times, experimenting with various angles and speeds to perfect the emotional resonance of the encounter.
Critical reception of the film was mixed, with some reviewers praising Wong’s visual style and the strength of individual performances, while others felt the film struggled with thin material and an alien interpretation of American life. Despite these critiques, the film remains a unique artifact of Wong’s career. It premiered at the Cannes Film Festival in 2007 and was later released in various international markets, though it never received a Blu-ray release in the United States. Ultimately, the film serves as a testament to Wong’s desire to recreate states of mind through deliberate, aesthetic-driven storytelling.
The film’s production was also shaped by logistical challenges. When Rachel Weisz, cast as Sue Lynne, became pregnant, Wong adjusted the shooting schedule to film the Memphis scenes last. Similarly, poker scenes were moved from Ely, Nevada, to a custom-built set in Las Vegas after suitable locations could not be found. These compromises, combined with Wong’s last-minute creative pivots, highlight the tension between his artistic vision and the practical realities of filming in a foreign vernacular.
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Sources
- Summary by Intellect · source: My Blueberry Nights
- Also: Wikidata — My Blueberry Nights · CC0
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