Wong Kar-Wai brings all of this to life through his use of detail. All of its central characters experience drastic changes in status quo, and spend time actively agonizing over these changes. This apprehension is also at the core of Chungking Express. In the decade leading up to the handover, there was so much anxiety and uncertainty about what the future of Hong Kong would look like. The end of that relationship came in 1997 as the UK transferred Hong Kong over to Chinese control. Chungking Express uses Hong Kong, this tiny space that is not only one of the most densely populated areas of the entire world, but in 1993, also exists as a construct shared by the United Kingdom and China. Not for love, but to navigate the Hong Kong underworld. That woman, wearing a blonde wig and sunglasses (Brigitte Lin) is herself hiding behind a construct. He’s only crushing on a construct, like so many other hopeless romantics.
Of course, this is the kind of thinking that leads to crushes based on nothing except superficial circumstances and aesthetics. By the end of the month, he is willing himself to fall in love with the next girl he sees. They break up on April 1, and he spends the next month buying cans of pineapple that expire on May 1, stockpiling them as a way to externalize his dwindling hopes that she will return. In the first story, Cop 223 (Takeshi Kaneshiro) obsesses over the idea that his ex, May, will come back to him. Longing is the thread between the two halves of Chungking Express. Her infatuation extends to Western music, including repeated (and loud) listens of The Mamas and the Papas song “California Dreamin,’” which is a quintessential song about longing. Not just the normal relationship trappings, but the chance to see the world. Often crushes represent things we want in our life that we don’t have, For Faye, 663 (and his ex) represent a goal. She takes a toy plane, a possible stand in for his flight attendant ex-girlfriend, and crashes it into things. The second half of Wong Kar-Wai’s international breakout film, Chungking Express is very much about having a crush.įaye (Faye Wong) becomes infatuated with Cop 663 (Tony Leung Chiu Wai), and when an opportunity presents itself, she spends a lot of time in his apartment.
They are isolating in that way, allowing us to emphasize our own loneliness, while a (at least partially) fictional version of a person to fill that empty void in our hearts. The downside is that so many crushes are one-sided. The upside is the rush of infatuation, of discovery, the presence of something new seemingly adding more vibrancy to the world, more meaning into everyday things. Chungking Express cemented the arrival of talent long before he went on to deliver In the Mood for Love.Having a crush is one of the most double-edged feelings of human experience. Rather than passion, it evokes a warm fuzzy feeling of being lost in a daydream of neon-lit alter world where melancholia is splashed in abundance. An array of scintillating aesthetic grenades to senses, Chungking Express is a pulpy memoir to hope. Faint shadows to ourselves can be found lying around the dusty closets or underneath messy tables – washing us over with tidal waves of being lovelorn. The cinematography is avant-garde as the scenes are lit up to their own vague sense of perfection. Related to Chungking Express – WONG KAR-WAI’S LOVE TRILOGY These love stories contrasted against the maze of Hong Kong reflects the turmoil of each individual – pinpointing the pining of human touch and desperation for a connection in a city disconnected with its people. The second and much-nuanced half consists of Cop 663 dealing with his recent breakup from a flight attendant while a waitress at his daily luncheon grows affection for him. The first half revolves around Cop 223 who has broken up on 1st April and unable to reconcile with his loss, considers it all a facade. The narrative is divided into two sections dealing with Men Without Women in their lives.
But Wong Kar Wai grapples with the ideas of longing and loneliness alongside drop-dead gorgeous visual extravaganza. Given the narration of Chungking Express in the hands of an amateur would have resulted in a meaningless meandering of suburban Hong Kong.
Chungking Express has perfectly designed interplay of heady music and blurry motions, designed to near perfection, making us feel nostalgic for the moments even when we are watching them unfolding for the first time. Wong Kar Wai leverages this behavior by seducing us into Chungking Express with tunes like California Dreamin’ (The Mamas and The Papas) and Dreams (The Cranberries) looping in the backdrop of a neon-lit atmosphere. The rhythm of known drowns us in comforts – caressing our edges, it numbs our resistance towards falling in the void. Our minds find a home in repetitions, seek solace in symmetric patterns.
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