"If memories could be canned, would they also have expiry dates? If so, I hope they last for centuries."

Chungking Express

1994; Hong Kong; 98 min.

Director: Kar Wai Wong

Screenplay: Kar Wai Wong

Music: Faye Wong, The Mamas and the Papas, Dennis Brown, Dinah Washington, Michael Galasso

Cast:

Woman in blonde wig - Brigitte Lin

Cop 663 - Tony Leung Chiu Wai

Faye - Faye Wong

He Zhiwu, Cop 223 - Takeshi Kaneshiro

Air Hostess - Valerie Chow

Manager of 'Midnight Express' - Chen Jinquan

Richard - Lee-na Kwan

Man - Zhiming Huang

The 2nd May - Liang Zhen

Man - Songshen Zuo

"Chungking Express" is an absolutely beautiful and amazing film. "Chungking Express" is the story of two cops and their romantic lives rolled into one. First, we encounter the woman in the blonde wig (Brigitte Lin) and her relationship with Cop 223 (Takeshi Kaneshiro). In a fast-paced segment of drug dealing, high speed chases, and shootings, the audience begins to wonder what exactly the woman in the blonde wig does. just as the audience starts to question that mystery, we are shifted over to another cop romance (cromance?) involving Faye (Faye Wong) and Cop 663 (Tony Leung Chiu Wai). The rest of the film follows the romance between Faye and Cop 663, leaving the audience to wonder what happened to the first part of the story, and what its significance is to the film.  

I love some of the ideas that were brought up in the film. A good film is one that makes you think, and this film definitely did. One idea that I liked was how you can pass by so many people every day without knowing what an impact they could possibly have on your life. I think that idea is just so profound and probably quite true. It's amazing to think of all of the people's paths that you cross and when you may or may not meet them again. On a daily basis, you could have bumped into the person you're going to marry or brushed past your future best friend. I think that by calling the cops in the film by numbers, the director is achieving the same effect. Those cops could be anyone. The numbers add to the anonymity of the characters. Another idea that I liked in the film was the concept of expiration dates. Cop 663 brings this idea up relating to pineapple and his ex-girlfriend, May. I love when Cop 663 talks about if love has an expiration date. In contrast to this idea of expiration dates, there's an idea expressed in this film that time moves on. Your choice is either to move with it and progress or live in the past. But also, is time a constant cycle? While the audience switches stories, we're still dealing with two cops. In the end, (SPOILER ALERT) Faye becomes a flight attendant, just like May was. Aside from the similar professions, a common theme of romance links the two stories together. I think that many elements of this film are very romantic, and even scenes that are fairly graphic are tastefully filmed.

Both the music and the cinematography in this film add to the plot to truly make it amazing. I love the song, "California Dreamin'," and had that leitmotif stuck in my head for the time after I watched the film. The cinematography in this film is absolutely outstanding. I love all of the camera effects that Wong uses. His camerawork is truly innovative and unlike anything that I have seen before. Wong uses many canted angles often, which are usually used by directors as a method to show conflict, as well as many other techniques. Below are some frames that I found particularly amazing:

One method that the director uses is a blurred shot or freeze frame. These help to add to the idea that time goes by even if you are caught up in your own world.

This scene is one of the ones that is shot in a very sophisticated, tasteful manner. For example, this scene uses symbols instead of bluntly showing you what happens between the two.

The director uses reflections many times to show characters in the film. The reflections add another dimension to the character and help the audience to literally see them from another perspective.

I think that it's necessary to go back and re-watch this film. I have a feeling that you could understand more of the plot if you do so. Some of the plot is still somewhat confusing for me - I plan on re-watching "Chungking Express." I may have never come across this film in my career as a film viewer, but I'm glad that I did - this film exceeded my expectations. I would highly recommend this film - it's amazing!

iRate: 5/5 airplanes

Trailer: Click here!