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The Hand (Eros) (2004)
Wong Kar Wai, Hong Kong
I don't think any other director could have made this short film as romantic and classy as Wong Kar Wai did. The title of the movie is somewhat subtle, but essentially the story revolves around a women's hand doing a certain act for a certain man. With subject matter like this, you'd expect the movie to have some lowbrow tendencies, but we're talking about Wong Kar Wai here and it's 100% classiness. The two scenes where the aforementioned act is happening on screen should not feel this romantic and clean, but it does. The late Peer Raben's score also stuck with me more so than any other theme in a Wong Kar Wai movie, and that's saying a lot. I obviously have a bias here, but as interesting a concept as Eros was, I would have much preferred The Hand to just continue for the duration of my DVD copy in place of the two other entries. Wong Kar Wai got way more coverage for 2046 back in 2004, which makes perfect sense, but I'd say that he was in much stronger form with The Hand. The sense of yearning and emptiness that is prevalent in so many Wong Kar Wai films is just on crack here. I have no objective evidence to back this statement up, but I this is probably his most under-watched film. Not as elegant as In the Mood for Love or focused as Chungking Express, but trust me, it's just as good.
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