I know I will die with either a camera in hand or a woman on top - what more could one ask of life?

You see the world, you end up in jail three or four times, you accumulate experience. And it gives you something to say. If you don't have anything to say then you shouldn't be making films. It's nothing to do with what lens you're using.

I am known for what I'm do. But I'm not a five-year-old Hong Konger, I'm not a kid demonstrating in the streets.

I think the point of cinematography, of what we do, is intimacy. Is intent, is the balance between the familiar and the dream, it is being subjective and objective, it is being engaged and yet standing back and noticing something that perhaps other people didn’t notice before, or celebrating something that you feel is beautiful or valid, or true or engaging in some way.

I know I will die with either a camera in hand or a woman on top - what more could one ask of life?

I think the point of cinematography, of what we do, is intimacy.

My best film is always my next film. I couldn't make Chungking Express now, because of the way I live and drink I've forgotten how I did it. I don't believe in film school or film theory. Just try and get in there and make the bloody film, do good work and be with people you love.