Filmmaker gives master-class on his smouldering erotic drama

Wong Kar-Wai, the king of the cool school of filmmaking, gives us a tale of unrequited love and smouldering passion in 60s Hong Kong. Two married people have an affair, but we never see them. Instead, the focus is on the cuckolded pair: Maggie Cheung and Tony Leung. The realisation that their respective spouses are cheating on them ignites desires they have trouble controlling, which makes for gorgeously erotic drama. The fashion is sharp, Nat King Cole's Latin signature tune smooth, and Kar-Wai's regular cinematographer, Chris Doyle, dazzles with a palate of hot colours and stylish camera moves.

With just seven feature films to his credit, Kar-Wai has established himself as the most exciting auteur in Asia. When you watch one of his films - As Tears Go By, Days Of Being Wild, Ashes Of Time, Chungking Express, Fallen Angels, Happy Together - it feels as though it's the first time you've experienced cinema, time and again. His invention and re-invention leaves you breathless. But he career didn't begin with 1988's As Tears Go By; Kar-Wai has a background in Hong Kong television, which is where he started to write film scripts - comedies, whodunits, melodramas - the genre conventions of which have fed into his films. Kar-Wai is coming Edinburgh to close the Film Festival with In The Mood for Love; he'll also be sharing a few of his filmmaking secrets in a Reel Life masterclass. And maybe he'll tell us something about his next project, a science fiction film called 2046. (Miles Fielder)