Chungking Express

Chungking Express – 1994, Wong Kar-wai

As a ‘bro who loves films’, and considers himself knowledgeable on the subject of cinema, I feel pressured into liking Wong’s modern Honk Kong classic.

I watched it for the first time yesterday and after a few minutes I felt like it was all very familiar. There are two reasons for this. One is that the style of the film has been copied in a lot of other Chinese and Western films made since (the fact that filmmakers are still taking obvious cues from Chungking Express means the film still feels fresh 16 years on). The other is that the way that Wong took the energy and pace that was common in contemporary Honk Kong films, but gave it a New Wave twist with it’s unconventional (at the time) narrative structure.

Chungking Express is split into two separate stories that have a couple of overlapping characters and locations. 1994 also saw the release of Pulp Fiction (the two films played the international movie festival circuit together). Every year since then seems to have featured at least one prominent film (independent or otherwise) with irregular or multiple plots..

The two tales each involve a lovelorn policeman involved with a woman, but never as involved as he’d like to be. The two halves of the film each have a certain structure (beginning /middle/end) but the endings are typically ambiguous and leave the audience wanting to know more. The first story in particular has an interesting premise and could have been expanded into a 90 minute film, but we are left wondering who that woman is and why she did it.

The second story features a less compelling plot but more compelling characters, one of them played by The Worlds Finest Actor Tony Leung, the other by ‘The Chinese Madonna’ Faye Wong. The second part is better that the first almost to the point that it is tempting to recommend skipping the first all together. So in that sense it’s a very uneven film.

But as with the best ‘art house’ cinema, the story is not the most important thing. Wong wants the audience to enjoy what they are watching. He wants you to be happy, and a brief look at the general opinion on the web proves that this film does make people happy. Though I suspect that’s because they all want to be Faye Wong’s character.

So give it a go. Enjoy the obvious beauty of it all. But don’t feel too bad if you’re not too keen.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3hHznB-_Gbs&feature=related

As with a most films shot in Hong Kong, the city is a character in itself. The locations add a lot of atmosphere. I found it a little depressing that the two male protagonists live in such crappy apartments. Are HK policemen paid so little?