Since I am going through a massive rewatch mission of old Martial Arts films; I decided to include other old Hong Kong/Chinese films to the rewatch party as well and what’s better than Wong Kar Wai’s genius pieces? After seeing this film again, I can fully understand why I loved it the first time. The magic magnifies even after years of first viewing.
As everyone knows, I am not a romance person or someone who cares about the “moving cinema” at all and I can hardly watch an artistic film and completely appreciate it but all of that is in a world and Wong Kar Wai’s productions in another world. Kar Wai is one of the fewest directors that I look forward to watch their romance tales even if I am not a big fan of the genre. Do you know why? Because he’s a master who knows how to portray love with the intense power of silence to make it feel gripping. The man uses only few pages of script and the rest is told through magnificent ways, the rule in Kar Wai’s films is: everything that’s unspoken is stimulating and even what’s spoken is full of wisdom and hidden meanings.
I am surprised at people who say: “Kar Wai’s films don’t have a plot”, I mean are you sure we’re talking about the same director and films? I am a fan of Wong Kar Wai and his splendid of ways of making love stories because many need to understand that romance films shouldn’t always be: met, smiled, fell in love, kissed and Tada Happily ever after tale story just like they shouldn’t be: met, fell in love, disease, death and cries . Wong Kar Wai’s breaks those rules to create outstanding pieces.
Now, let me just stop here or I won’t be able to refrain myself from talking about that brilliant director.
There’s a story behind this film. Actually, Wong Kar Wai found a problem with editing his film “Ashes of Time” (that was releases the same year by the way) so he left it behind then wrote and directed Chung King Express in the meantime. The film is about coincidences, brief encounters, loneliness and painful love but that’s not what this film is all about, there’s also warmth and fun to enlighten the watch.
Chung King Express is divided into separate narratives about two policemen; the first is about the dark heartbreaking side of love led by Takeshi (who gained his breakthrough due to this film) and femme fatale; the inside-conversation he had were simply intriguing in a way that would make you completely understand the character and its suffering. The second story outclasses the first if I may say. It’s not only because it’s less dark or because it had more run-time but also because it takes on other interesting turns. It’s about Tony who suffers the problems of post-breakup until a cheerful soul came along.
The acting was good and the characters were quite fitting for the storytelling. Takeshi still didn’t gain much experience while doing this film so Tony and his female lead merit more credit.
As usual, Kar Wai’s camerawork was amazingly done and the cinematography was quite alluring for the film’s theme. And let’s not forget ‘California Dreaming’ that was a great choice of theme music.
Watch this if:
-You like Wong Kar Wai’s films or you want to meet his work.
-You appreciate different types of love stories.
-You like artistic love films.
Do not watch if:
-You think Kar Wai films “don’t have a plot”.
-You dislike any of the cast.
Chung King Express is a stylish storytelling of love tales orchestrated by the excellent love stories’ director Wong Kar Wai with a notable set of cast.
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Hong Kong Express is no exception. The acting is, not surprisingly, brilliant. Tony Leung in particular delivers his nonchalant, ironical and obsessed cop to perfection. To Kaneshiro the honour of the best line in the movie.
The director often uses a tecnique called step-framing, in which a character is frozen in time while the world around him or her moves at incredible speed. The viewer is therefore often deceived as to the real chronology of events.
So, this is a movie about love, but it's most of all a story of solitude, like those frozen characters, who are as lonely in a metropole as little ants in a moltitude of insects.
I gave it a 8 because I need to spare the 10 for "In the Mood for Love", possibly Kar-Wai's masterpiece so far.
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Written during the day and shot by night is impressive and makes the film an exciting one that adds to Kar-Wai's pool of Asian work. While not his opus, Chungking Express is fascinating on its own. It's a film that's not plot driven but rather pulled and told by jarring cinematography, takeaway-meals and serendipitous tales.
An exotic bright colors and cinematography that's a combination of cris-cross, fast-moving shots that seems like a huge powder of euphoria has been splashed all over the screen. It's not your-typical-romance. It's more about storytelling, dialogue and narrative that's shown through the visuals that allures you.
It's the shakey cameras, the close-ups and the movements that guide you as you want. It's cinematic freedom that speaks pure Kar-Wai style of emotionally resonating narrative, visual uniqueness and stylized touch.
This is a intertwining stories of two cops, both of which are getting over a heartbreak on their own ways yet are told in similar ways through the use of visuals and small references and even candid symbolism that reflect Kar-Wai's poetic storytelling. It's really the second story that shows more of Kar-Wai masterpiece with cinematic sequences, engaging dialogues and great contrast and after effects. It's the little details of slow-motions or Faye's dancing in no. 663's apartment that pulls the cinematographic storytelling forward.
As such Chungking Express just like Kar-Wai's films about love is showing that love-can't really be described. No words. Instead, he shows it through visuals and details and such. This makes the film pure, not romanticized and a alluring ode to Asian cinema.
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maybe when we are 0.01 cm away from someone, we can be 0.01 cm away from falling in love
"If memories could be canned, would they also have expiry dates? If so, I hope they last for centuries."Once I read this Wong Kar-Wai quote and I haven’t stopped thinking about it since and it was something like this:
“We all need stories. What happens in our daily lives changes our stories..”
Chungking Express was so unbelievably good as I expected, I feel so full but at the same time so empty. Wong Kar-Wai really knows how to make a story about longing, this movie unlocked an emotion in me that only a few could and I'm sure every person who has watched this probably found the slightest detail to relate to. This left me thinking about life, the amount of people we cross paths with, that one person that comes into our minds at the most random times, that one song that we listened to on repeat but got sick of it but especially, the memories we made and will make that last a lifetime.
Once you get introduced to Wong Kar-Wai 's work that's when your most beautiful moment in life will start because even though you might not have anything going for you right now, you will have these movies.
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A must-see for all lovers of Asian cinema!
When I saw this movie for the first time in 1994, I was so excited that I checked into Chungking House when I was in Hong Kong in 1996! Whether this hostel still exists in the form today, I do not know, but the mood of the first part of the film could actually be perfectly captured...After really watching a lot of series from all parts of Asia in the last 2 years, I decided to dig out my old DVDs and beam myself back 25 years. The fascination caught up with me in the first few minutes! Chungking Express is a must-see for all Asian film lovers! Wong Kar-Wei not only made Asian film history with the unusual pacing at the time and the absolutely unusual camera angles, courtesy of the great cinematographer Christopher Doyle, but continues to influence film aesthetics worldwide to this day. Together with the gorgeous Takeshi Kaneshiro, the truly unusual Faye Wong and my absolute top star Tony Leung, a film has been created that takes the viewer to pre-millennial Hong Kong, but cinematically, in my view, has lost nothing of its modernity to this day.
I won't give anything away about the plot, because the two storylines are quite simple.
My recommendation: just watch it and preferably on a big screen!
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This review may contain spoilers
"It takes time to get used to things"
Chungking Express is more a mood than a story, more style than substance but an entertaining and colorful watch. Lonely and heartbroken people brush up to the edge of madness as they look for love or try to reclaim it. Lives touch briefly with unexpected outcomes.In the first short story, Officer #223 is attempting to win back his girlfriend May, unable to move on. Most evenings he hangs out at the snack bar using the pay phone to try and get in touch with her through relatives and friends. Each day he purchases a can of pineapple with the expiration date of May 1, coincidentally his birthday, and vows after eating thirty of them if she hasn't come back, he will move on. His love lines cross paths with Brigitte Lin's Blonde Wig Woman who is a drug dealer and smuggler who has been double-crossed by the trafficking mules she has prepared.
The whole May 1 expiration date bit was too on the nose, feeling more and more contrived as the bit went along. Brigitte Lin in sunglasses, a trench coat and armed with a gun was at least interesting. It took a while to care about a guy who couldn't get over being dumped. Brigitte Lin's drug dealer, who was never given a name, was more compelling. I eventually began to vibe with this strange emotional bump in the night. At least it got #223 to stop talking about pineapples. "Do you like pineapples?" Yeah, that's a player move. I honestly would have loved to see this relationship play out with both people on opposite sides of the law.
My interest perked up with the second story when Tony Leung looking sexy in a police officer uniform entered the scene. Officer #663 was also nursing a broken heart after his flight attendant girlfriend soared away for new sexual adventures. Faye, the new worker at the snack bar took an instant liking to him. When his girlfriend's letter with the apartment keys ends up in her hands, the movie nosedived for me. Using the keys from the envelope, Faye began breaking in to #663's apartment every day-cleaning, buying new bedding and decorations, restocking items, and generally making herself at home. #663 with his keen observation skills carefully honed by his years as a cop never noticed the differences. He had a habit of psychoanalyzing his soap and dish towel and thought the soap was just getting fat because it couldn't move on from his ex.
Maybe it's a male fantasy that an invisible woman will clean, decorate, and restock their apartment like little cookie elves but if the roles were reversed instead of quirky, we'd find it creepy. A male character hanging out all day uninvited sniffing a woman's things and making himself at home would be stalkerish and not romantic. I quickly lost interest in this story. And as much as I love the Mamas and the Papas' "California Dreamin'"after hearing it for nearly 45 minutes, I'm not going to want to hear it for another decade.
The frozen action overlaid with sped up action, swirly camera action and stop motion running was a director's creativity on overload especially when dazzling colorful lights joined the artistic fray. As I said, this was all about the mood. Different people will see this film through their own expectations. Character development and story resolution were beside the point. How did it make you feel watching the lonely people connecting amid the kaleidoscope of lights?
Rather than being romantic, the stories showed just how desperate some people are for companionship and will latch onto the first person who pays any attention to them. With the exception of maybe the drug dealer, the rest of the characters seemed to being hanging onto their sanity by a thread. Were they lonely because their behavior ran people off or were they behaving strangely because they were lonely? Chungking Express was visually impressive, the narrative-not so much.
9/29/23
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A Compilation of Images Adding Up to Nothing
A movie where even the pretentiousness is unoriginal. To wit: a woman who smuggles drugs looks mysterious in a cliched trench coat and sunglasses at night. Oh, and a ludicrous blonde, bouffant wig. Why does she wear that wig? No reason. The auteur director, Wong Kar-wai, just thought it was a cool visual. Hell, at the end of this segment another woman also wears a blonde bouffant wig. Why does she wear one? Well, because the first woman wore one.Blonde Bouffant Wig #1 kills the boyfriend of Blonde Bouffant Wig #2 who has something to do with her drug smuggling business. Why does she kill him? It seems a deal got botched, but really, who the hell knows. The movie does not trade in specifics. You see, specifics are for the vulgar, unwashed masses who want things to make sense. And our auteur director Wong Kar-wai does not make films for plebeians; he makes films for enlightened critics.
Earlier that evening Blonde Bouffant Wig #1 had bumped into a man who'd been jilted by his girlfriend, May. He eats canned pineapple with an expiration of May 1st because that's his birthday. And his girlfriend's name is May (golly, how clever of the screenwriter to have come up with this!) He eats canned pineapple every day for a month while waiting for his relationship with May to be resolved. He eats a lot of canned pineapples. He meets Blonde Bouffant Wig #1 at a bar and asks "Do you like pineapples?" as his pick up line.
This segment ends at 40 minutes. Since the director figured that was too short for a feature, he added another segment. There is certainly no organic reason for it.. The second movie is about a girl at a food stand who has a crush on a cop. He's been jilted too. She listens to the Beach Boys "California Dreaming" a lot. What is the significance of this? Nothing. But the director plays the song about a dozen times in the course of an hour (that's not hyperbole, the song literally plays every 5-10 minutes), and the excessive recurrence fools the audience into believing it's significant. Yet it's no more significant than the blonde bouffant wigs. Indeed, all that holds the movie's 2 segments together is that they both have random details posing as meaningful details. It seems to have fooled a lot of critics, who gush about this film.
It's just a compilation of images all of which add up to nothing, but empty imagery has always proven catnip for critics. You see, to use lots of nifty terminology such as "non-linear narrative." What does non-linear narrative mean, you ask? Why, it's code for "has no plot" because the director/screenwriter does not know how to construct one. Many say the movie is about loneliness, or about people getting jilted, or about modern, urban relationships. Those are pretty wide open labels that fit thousands of other films. The fact is, this auteur director has not given us any particular plot or theme. He simply knows how to shoot images. Lots and lots of images.
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Story 1 > Story 2
I actually really enjoyed the first story in this movie — it was quirky but endearing and despite some questionable moments, there was a very subtle layer of comedy that actually made the characters seem like very real and relatable people.The second story, however, just didn't click with me very much, whether it was the characters' personalities themselves or the kind of haphazard and illogical direction that the plot went in.
Overall there's still a nice nostalgic feeling to this movie, but I didn't found myself that invested in the plot developments.
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A gem in Asian cinema
Two bittersweet love stories entangled in a beautiful cinematography, a cantonese version of "Dreams", and a simple salad bar that connects them... A beautiful masterpiece that nobody could ever remake for three reasons: no one will be able to recreate the very same visual aesthetics handcrafted by Wong Kar-wai and Christopher Doyle; no one will be able to replace Tony Leung's impeccable acting; and no one will be able to remake the airport scenes (Kai Tak Airport is closed in 1998).Some people call this movie is a hidden gem, but I disagree - This movie has been already listed on many film critic's lists of best Asian films of all time. So, don't blink your eyes while watching the Express.
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This review may contain spoilers
Maravilhoso
Eu achei esse filme real e ao mesmo tempo fantasia!A primeira história é caótica, intensa e termina de forma abrupta.
A segunda tem seu caos, mas ela é feita de forma mais lenta, apesar da loucura da moça eu achei bem feito e lindamente melancólico.
Términos vem e recomeços também, podemos viver da forma que nos sentimos mais confortáveis, mesmo que nós sejamos "estranhos" aos olhos dos outros...
A solidão é mostrada em formas interessantes. Há paixão, romance (?) e companheirismo.
Recomendado DEMAIS.
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Todo puede cambiar en un segundo
Partiendo del concepto de que la vida cambia en un segundo y a 0.001 centímetros de distancia, esta película nos lleva por el frenesí de cuatros personajes que se cruzan y se desvían varias veces antes de finalmente reconocerse. Son dos historias de amor, al menos de los inicios de ellos, que se centra mucho en lo que sucede individualmente con los sentimientos. Así también, se centra en cómo las cosas que nos pasan, nos afectan y nos cambian para siempre. Es hermosa porque es sencilla y realista, sin por eso ser aburrida. La banda sonora es muy buena, y el cover de "Dreams" es probablemente lo más hermoso que te vas a encontrar. Así también, el manejo del director de las cámaras y los tiempos es fresco, y nos saca mucho de la postura hollywoodense que abunda. Un regalo.Was this review helpful to you?
