FILM CHALLENGE: 67) Chungking Express

67) Chungking Express

Director: Wong Kar Wai

Year: 1994

Plot Summary: Two stories, two lovelorn cops, two objects of desire: one a big-time heroin dealer in deep trouble with her boss after the cargo disappears, the other a seriously flaky take-out waitress who inadvertently gets hold of the keys to her admirer's apartment.

I love Chungking Express in a way that I love very few other films. Like a great, catchy pop song, it's a movie that as soon as its finished you will want to rewind and watch all over again. After all, from the very first second, it will make you feel like your eyes have literally jumped out of their sockets. Christopher Doyle's spellbinding cinematography features an endless flurry of colour and style that gives Chungking Express both a hypnotic and hallucinatory effect and places you right into the lifestyle of 1990s Hong Kong.

In many ways, Chungking Express is, in fact, a love letter to the country and the Chungking Mansions in which the narratives are set. This is apparent through the way that the two stories parallel the British handover of Hong Kong to China. The film was made during this period of transition and these first 45 minutes perfectly sum up the feelings that the country's people experienced during that time.

The use of Western motifs, for example, such as the appearances of songs by The Cranberries and Mamas And Papas, numerous logos for Western products and a character who dreams of visiting California in the second segment, seem to portray the longing for things to remain the same. Moreover, the character of May, the use of the expiry dates and the roles of the British and Chinese characters in the first segment equally evoke a foreboding about the consequences of what is going to happen.

Actually, it's less of a love letter than it is a farewell letter to the Hong Kong that was about to change into something else.

But, this movie isn't just a farewell letter, it's also a celebration of Hong Kong with its onslaught of neon logos, frantic lifestyle and, especially, it's ethnic and cultural diversity. This diversity is symbolised through both the fact that the narrative defies genre mixing crime and noir elements with comedy and romance and through the soundtrack's use of ska, pop, jazz, easy listening and classical music.

The first segment is certainly the most accessible of the two; playing out like a crime story that is also rich in humour, existentialism and philosophy and while this used to be my favourite of the two, it has now become the second one. These last 45 minutes feel almost like a modern remake of Godard's A Bout De Souffle in its lack of narrative and development. However, while Godard's classic was more of an experiment in film technique, attempting to provide a distinction between the old theatrical style of cinema and show that the medium could stand alone in its art, this segment in Chungking Express uses the approach to evoke an emotional response to the images, themes and sound. While it's not the most captivating 45 minutes in terms of storytelling, it's as entrancing as anything that has ever been filmed and will leave you tingling with joy as the film reaches its beautiful climax.

If there's anything to take from this review, it's this: Words alone don't do justice to this innovative, exciting, spellbinding, post-modern masterpiece.

5/5

By Daniel Sarath with 8 comments