Chungking Express
Wong Kar-wai, 1994, Hong Kong, Colour, Cantonese & Mandarin with English subtitles, 102′ mins, Certificate: 12
Is this a romantic comedy? Or a crime thriller? A New Wave drama? A film noir?
Chungking Express is all of these and at the same time none of these. It is instead something unique. A genre, rather, all of its own.
Creatively celebrating all that came before it and at once pushing film-making forward, back to the future, in exciting, unpredictable ways.
Quentin Tarantino was so right!
No wonder it gave birth to two cinema legends: director Wong Kar-wai (In The Mood For Love, Happy Together, 2046) and cinematographer Christopher Doyle.
Kar-wai’s third feature film was shot in just 23 days, in sequence, “like a road movie”, (while its director was taking a break/palette cleanser from filming his epic Ashes of Time), and became one of the iconic, definitive films of the 90s.
With an all star Asian cast, (Tony Leung Chi-wai, Takeshi Kaneshiro, Brigitte Lin who came out of retirement to star in both this and the Ashes of Time, and the pop super star Faye Wong), it tells the story of what happens when two heartbroken policemen cross paths at Midnight express – a take away food stand in the busy, multilayered streets of Hong Kong.
Specifically, of how they fall in love again with two completely different, deceptively easily defined women: an older femme fatale with a blonde wig and a younger, ethereal pixie waitress.
Impossibly, achingly beautiful to look at while narratively raw, quirky and unexpected, it is the art of cinema at its best. Innovative, ageless, wide-eyed, heartfelt.
Reviews:
“Wong Kar-wai is one of the best filmmakers from one of the most significant film movements, the Hong Kong New Wave. I’d argue he is one of the best filmmakers, full stop without any necessary qualifications. And, in my opinion, Chungking Express is his best film. Supposing one plus one still equals two, that makes this one of the best films ever made. ” Joshua Polanski, Boston Hassle
“Wong Kar-Wai’s “Chungking Express” is as fresh as falling rain, a pair of love stories full of pain and humor. Shot fast and sometimes furiously on crowded Hong Kong streets, it speaks in its own highly personal shorthand, expressed through the most fluid of cameras and punctuated with bold whooshes of color and potent bursts of American pop music.” Kevin Thomas, Los Angeles Times
“My love for Chungking Express will never expire. Unlike other, more straightforward feelgood movies, it doesn’t shy away from depicting the rough edges of urban life and how it can leave you feeling unmoored. But it shows how there’s always a chance to make a meaningful connection, hope emerging like a rainbow after the rain, scattering the grey clouds from the sky.” Ann Lee, The Guardian
“A movie that endures past its expiration date, like Chungking Express, doesn’t just bottle time, it changes our perception of it. The film does this with its signature filmmaking technique of step-printing, through which the picture often looks simultaneously still and in motion. The images in this film are a place where the viewer can live, even if, like me, they’ve never been to Hong Kong and don’t speak the languages in the film.” J. M. Tyree, New England Review