Chungking Express, 1994.
Directed by Wong Kar Wai.
Starring Tony Leung, Faye Wong, Takeshi Kaneshiro and Brigette Lin.
SYNOPSIS:
Two stories reveal the love lives of two different policemen who struggle to find love in Hong Kong.
Considered one of the greatest films of the 2000’s, Wong Kar Wai’s In the Mood for Love is a romantic and sensual cinematic masterpiece. Chungking Express, released six years prior, still holds the sensitivity and patience of In the Mood for Love but enjoys a more playful, youthful tone. Both are playing at the BFI Southbank as part of the A Century of Chinese Cinema season throughout September and October. Akin to Kar Wai’s 2000 delight, Chungking Express frames dual narratives (of love and cops) within the hustle and bustle of Hong Kong. A set of moody, tender stories, Chungking Express demonstrates how, behind their stern exterior, men of the law can hold deeply fragile hearts.
The two stories are connected by a brief second. The first story follows off-duty cop, He Qiwu (Takeshi Kaneshiro) as he pines after his lost love May. He is desperate to move on and fall in love with another, and after a night of pineapple-eating, he meets the woman to adore (played by Brigitte Lin). Unfortunately for him, she is a drug-smuggler who is in hiding after shooting multiple street gang-members after a drug-operation goes south. The second story portrays the romance between an unnamed cop (Tony Leung) and a snack bar worker, Faye (Faye Wong). Cop 663 has seen his steamy relationship with an air-hostess hit the skids, and takes comfort in the coffee and conversation with Faye – only for her to use a key his ex has left behind, to tidy and fool around in his flat. The first story, of a klutz falling for a dangerous, gun-toting dame, plays as an action-come comedy-come-romance while the second story is a twee love-story with friendly, quirky characters.
The connection between the stories is minimal, but it works. They both include lonely lovelorn policemen, while the women could not be more different. Perhaps costume, role and disguise is an underlying contrast? The use of uniform in the second story is constantly reinforced, whereby the profession of the characters in the first story is never specified by their outfits (in fact, the mysterious woman is almost in disguise as she claims her raincoat and sunglasses combo is due to her cautiousness about the weather, while his desire to imitate Bruce Willis hints at his inability to serve and protect as he “plays” the tough cop).
But it is the cinematography that steals the show, led by Chris Doyle (who would go on to work on Lady in the Water and Hero). The shuddering camerawork effortlessly captures the city. We squint and look closer to make out who is on screen and how the events are unfolding. It seems to recreate the experience of trying to take in a busy street at night when intoxicated, all hazy and unclear. Neon-lights and crampt spaces are a feature of Wong Kar Wai, and explicitly so in Chungking Express as bodies struggle to move around each other. Strange obsessions and recurring pop-tracks add nuance to characters and almost create a hypnotic and dreamlike world that is a pleasure to be within. Sardines, pineapples and the Mama’s and Papa’s California Dreamin’ become unique, memorable assets to a film that, in the characters alone, you are drawn in.
This may not hold the personal touch in the same manner as In the Mood for Love, and it does miss the presence of a woman as striking as Maggie Cheung (though it does share Tony Leung). But the joy of watching a Wong Kar Wai film in the cinema is in its mystical pull towards a world that, though stylised and romanticised, seems familiar. Indeed, maybe the familiarity of the world is not here on earth, but the romance we see in our dreams.
Flickering Myth Rating – Film ★ ★ ★ ★ / Movie ★ ★ ★ ★
Chungking Express was screened at the BFI as part of its ‘A Century of Chinese Cinema’ season, which runs until 7th October at BFI Southbank, London.
Originally published September 16, 2014. Updated April 13, 2018.
