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Only Wong Kar Wai could open my mind up to the world of romance, sensuality and sensitivity in film. Before discovering his work, almost anything centered around romance was corny and/or stupid to me. Its no mystery that the LARGE majority of films centered around romance are geared towards women, but sometimes its nice to show a non-misogynistic male point of view on the subject every once in a while…which is what Wong Kar Wai does. Had it not been for his work, I wouldn’t have been able to fully understand the work of his contemporaries like Apichatpong Weerasethakul (another male director who explores the world of romance, sensitivity and sensuality among men), Francois Ozon, Lynne Ramsay and yes…Claire Denis (in fact I used a quote from Wong Kar Wai at the beginning of my “Cinema Of Claire Denis” blog entry). The story of how ‘Chungking Express’ came about is pretty cool. For those of you who don’t know, Wong Kar Wai was in the middle of editing his martial arts epic; ‘Ashes Of Time’ (another film you all should check out), and got so stressed and tired of the whole process that he took a 2 month break from working on ‘Ashes Of Time’ to make something more personal on a smaller scale. Furthermore, he made the film in only three weeks, didn’t have a full script (which is apparently a common thing for him), yet still managed to shoot it in sequential order. Whats even funnier is that only until recently did this smaller film (‘Chungking Express’) manage to have more staying power than the bigger epic film that he was taking a break from (‘Ashes Of Time’).

“After the very heavy stuff, heavily emphasized in Ashes of Time, I wanted to make a very light, contemporary movie, but where the characters had the same problems” – Wong Kar Wai

‘Chungking Express’ also managed to become somewhat of a crossover hit in the U.S. (on the indie scene). It was one of the many indie films of the 90’s that somehow managed to have Quentin Tarnatino’s name associated with it. As some of you may know, I’ve had serious problems with Tarnatino in recent years from his highly disappointing ‘Inglorious Basterds’ to his next project which just sounds like “Pulp Slavery” to me. I mean, I’ve always thought he was a (racially) confused spazz, but its been getting worse over the years. When you have Tarantino’s name attached to your project (even if he had NOTHING at all to do with it artistically) its kind of a double edged sword. On one hand, you have the most influential director of the last 20 years (this may be painful for some of you to hear, myself included, but its true) co-signing your film which means that people will obviously go see it. Plus its also nice to know that no matter how big someone gets, they never forget their indie roots and aren’t afraid to stand by a small film.

‘Chungking Express’ is made up of two separate stories told from the perspective of two different police officers (one detective, one beat cop) in Hong Kong who both just recently broke up with their girlfriends, but are hanging on to the possibility that their loved ones will come back to them. Eventually, a new woman comes in to each of their lives and they slowly start to move on. If you ever wanted an example of a “jazzy” film, it would definitely be this. The free form cinematography, lingering shots, sensual body language (especially from the women in the first story) and haunting voice-over narration all drive the jazziness of the film home. Its hard to categorize this (which is a good thing). Its not a comedy yet there’s plenty of light hearted quirkiness and silly moments. Its also not a drama, yet there is a subplot involving criminal activity and someone does get murdered in the middle of the film. And instead of having both plots heavily intertwine with one another (like almost every single ensemble indie film did in the 90’s), there’s only one extremely brief scene in which 2 primary characters from both stories cross paths. Other than that, Wong Kar Wai connects both stories together through similar characters, scenes and themes (both protagonists are cops, they both recently broke up with their girlfriends, they both hang on to the past, both stories feature female love interests dressed in disguised and Wong Kar Wai even throws in similar shots from one story to the next).

In the first story, we follow a police detective who falls in love with a femme fatal/drug trafficker who takes on the disguise of Gena Rowlands from ‘Gloria’. He has no idea she’s a wanted criminal.

The second is about a beat cop who broke up w/ his flight attendant girlfriend and is essentially being stalked by a curious foodstand worker. In the end she dresses up like a flight attendant to humor him.

Whether or not Wong Kar Wai completely knew what he was doing, the outcome was very clever. Instead of making male protagonists that were either complete sensitive pussies or complete masculine manly men assholes, he took a little from both types and disguised them in the form of a cool police officer so that men wouldn’t feel insecure or silly about relating to a male who was in touch with his feelings. Kind of a silly tactic but hey, sometimes its tough for guys to be sensitive or relate to a sensitive character. Thanks to the criterion collection we finally have a much better version of this film (without Tarantino’s grill on the cover). If you wanna lay low for Valentines Day and just stay in or if you’re looking for a film to watch w/ a girlfriend then I highly recommend this.

La canción del titulo suena hasta el cansancio en la historia entre Faye y el personaje de Tony Leung, y es una excelente metafora para esta desigual cinta. O la amas o la odias, pero eso si, es adicitiva la maldita obra.

Primera cinta que observo de Wong Kar-Wai, los eruditos me odiaran, no conozco su obra, se percibe eso si su madurez como cineasta en el maravilloso montaje y fotografía, que siento que inspiró a Danny Boyle (En especial las escenas con los hindues).

El punto bajo de la cinta es en los cliches de los personajes. Wong intentó crear personajes tan fuera de lo comun que terminaron siendo insoportables, cabe resaltar que el rol de Briggite Lin lo adoro, y Faye, aunque empalaga, es adorable. Odio ver a Takeshi Kaneshiro decir frases pendejas de filosofia barata, o peor, a Tony Leung hablar con un Garfield gigante en posición casi erótica (Por favor, no deseas ver a tus actores favoritos asi).

No es una mala cinta, el ejercicio visual es genial, la versión de “Dreams” en chino es hermosa, Hong Kong es una ciudad genial para filmar, pero no es una obra maestra, es un cliché magistral, eso si, y matenme los eruditos, prefiero “The Cramberries” a “The mama´s and the papa´s” y si, no me fascinó esta película, sobrevalorada.

Wong Kar Wai’s blast of kinetic energy catapulted him into the top ranks of world filmmakers, thanks in no small part to his symbiotic relationship with cinematographer Christopher Doyle, who shoots Wong’s Hong Kong Chungking Mansion like a dizzy melting pot of diversity, neon, and loneliness, where communication and connection are fleeting. In the first story, young broken-hearted cop Takeshi Kaneshiro bumps into drug smuggler Brigitte Lin (in a memorable blonde wig) and almost connect, while in story B, the richer and more romantic, counter girl Faye Wong falls for street cop Tony Leung, breaking into his apartment and subtly making her influence known while he’s at lunch, in a chance that maybe psychological and minor physical change will lead him to love. What Wong is suggesting is that in a metropolis of millions, where the person serving your food or making your clothes doesn’t speak your same language, emotional connection happens as much by chance as it does by exhausting search, and what we’re left with is two possibilities in which none of the four participants quite knows how to take the next step towards happiness. In his follow up, “Fallen Angels”, there isn’t much room for any kind of happiness, in the same Hong Kong milieu, but at least here there’s still a dream, echoed constantly, and memorably, by “California Dreamin’”, Faye Wong’s endlessly catchy theme song.

wow,can;t say just how much i loved this film (and it is only the first viewing..).beautifully shot,beautifully told. this is cinema at its best ! the story of two intertwined men (played with such calamity by Takeshi Kaneshiro and Tony Leung) that try to cope with their heartbreak situation is highly romantic,in some sort of unique way,. have many great unique dialogues,and a superb soundtrack as well(the exception is the mandarin-language cranberries song,.haha). Many comparing this kar-way feature with Godard,and well,it’s not entirely wrong.,there are some element (especially the subject of interaction of human being) that he borrows from Godard.but aside from that,this is his own movie, his own style.,
Actually,the one who makes me fall in love with this film is the second segment (the one with tony leung and faye wong),.just so sweet.,and heartbreaking..
And now my desire to watch more Wong Kar-wai films is gotten bigger and bigger…

Wong Kar-wai’s “Chungking Express” opens with a blur of color, a series of frenetic images capturing the crowded alleyways of urban Hong Kong. As he chases a suspect, Cop 223 (Takeshi Kaneshiro) brushes past a woman wearing a blonde wig (Brigitte Lin). “This was the closest we ever got,” he says in a voiceover, “but 57 hours later, I fell in love with this woman.” For Wong Kar-wai, there’s something erotic about the concept of time. Like the policeman in “Chungking Express,” many of his characters define love in relation to time. Wong’s previous film, “Days of Being Wild,” began with a very similar scene—between Leslie Cheung and Maggie Cheung—in which love was also crystallized into a single moment.

The woman in the blonde wig and 223 share a moment in time but they also share a quickly approaching deadline—the 1st of May—the date 223 has set to give up on his girlfriend, and the date by which the woman in the blonde wig must recover her stolen shipment of drugs. If 223’s girlfriend doesn’t take him back by May 1, then their love, like the 30 cans of pineapple he collects in mourning, “will also expire.” For the woman in the blonde wig, the consequences won’t be quite so romantic. The shared deadline becomes a symbol of common betrayal for both characters, even if neither is aware of it.

The concept of time—in a slightly different sense—also manifests itself in the film with the repetition of music. In the first part of the film, the woman in the blonde wig drinks in a bar while reggae music plays on the jukebox. The same song repeats again in a later scene in the same bar, just before the woman in the blonde wig returns to settle a score. In the second part of the film, the song “California Dreamin’” figures even more prominently. Faye (Faye Wong) plays it almost incessantly while working at her fast food stall. In both cases, the repetitions are diegetic, occurring within the world of the characters. It is as though the characters resist change through repetition, or that Wong uses repetition to confuse chronology.

For the two characters in the second part of “Chungking Express”—Faye and Cop 633— “California Dreamin’” is the definitive theme song for their awkward romance. In several shots of Faye and 633 (Tony Leung), Wong uses a variation of the blur technique he used to begin the film. With the camera stationary, he shows 633 and Faye frozen in slow motion while colorful silhouettes rush across the foreground. In the first part of the film, 223 and the woman in the blonde wig both rush to keep up with the speed of the city; in the second, 633 and Faye watch as time passes them by. Of all the film’s characters, 633 is the most resisting to change—“It takes time to get used to things”—and the least likely to accept that time can change people, like the women he and 223 love.

One part Slackers, one part Amalie, one part LSD flahsback…

I just finished watching this wonderful little movie and I am in awe. The editing in this film is just awesome and the camera amazing. The use of soundtrack to push the story along is alson something to pay attention to. I have to watch it again because it does move quickly, at times. The sudden shift from one love story to another was a bit jarring, but once I got caught up to it, it made sense. That instance reminded me of LInklaters “Slacker” (not “Slackers.”)

It is interesting that if you by the trailer of the movie it appears to be a thriller. This film is not that!

Just a great, fun film. Definitely worth a checking out!