REVIEW: DVD Release: Chungking Express

Film: Chungking Express
Release date: 26th January 2009

Certificate: 12

Running time: 96 mins

Director: Wong Kar-wai

Starring: Bridget Lin, Takeshi Kaneshiro, Faye Wong, Valerie Chow

Genre: Drama

Studio: Artificial Eye

Format: DVD

Country: Hong Kong

There is possibly one and only one context in which you could stare for about 45 minutes at a Taiwanese woman whose identity is utterly protected by a faded blonde wig, a pair of bright red opaque sunglasses and a trench coat, without the slightest impulsion of calling her a weirdo or worse; there is no way this woman is comic or ridiculous, and on the contrary, fascination increases with the secret hope that she may reveal what she hides behind the mask at some point. Wong Kar-wai possesses the hypnotic power that prevents the audience from taking even one eye from her, or the movie.

The film is entitled Chungking Express, which echoes Midnight Express, the name of the snack corner shop located in the outskirts of Hong Kong’s busy streets. As the first narrative tells the audience, people cross one another’s way everyday without knowing each other. As the Midnight Express is the actual place where people can stop for a break from the constant urban hustle and bustle, it stands as well as a crossroads where people can have the opportunity to meet others, and to take the time to create a bond. However, these connections are obviously of no secure balance of interests towards each other; thus, in this framework, Wong Kar-wai catches two Express male-female encounters, that are not directly related, but linked by his desire to explore the construction of potential love stories between a man and a woman in a random environment..

In the first part, the audience follows on the one hand the gentle torments of Cop 223 (Takeshi Kaneshiro – Fallen Angels, House Of Flying Daggers) running after criminals, and after love: his ex-girlfriend May split from him on 1st April – April Fool’s Day - and since then he has bought every day one tin of pineapple whose expiration date is on his birthday – 1st May - the day when ideally his love for her will be completely consumed and the pain will be digested alongside the pineapples. On the other hand, a woman with a blonde wig (Brigitte Lin – Ashes Of Times) is in trouble after she has been tricked in a failed drug-smuggling mission. Both fooled characters end up in the same bar on 1st May, and Cop 223 – determined to fall in love with the first woman he meets - initiates the bond between them.

The second part pictures another policeman, Cop 663 (Tony Leung Chiu-Wai), who stops daily at the Midnight Express, either for coffee at the start of his shift, or for takeaways at the end, which he takes to his girlfriend, an airhostess. Faye (Faye Wong - 2046) is a relative of the snack bar’s owner, has recently started to help him out; as she has fallen for Cop 663, she startles out of her reverie and gets the chance to break into his life and his flat when the latter is left by his ex-girlfriend, too, like Cop 223...


Even though the two stories mix a man and a woman in order to observe the possibility of a love match, there is much more than kind sentimentalism. Wong Kar-wai firstly captures the loneliness of these lives in the alienating city, where they are primarily identified by their job and thus losing their individual identity - we can notice that most of the positive interactions work on duty. Possibly because of these pervading masks, the characters struggle to create bonds. This is accurately illustrated by the absence of dialogue that haunts the scenes in which the making of a relationship could progress (Cop 223 and the woman with a blonde wig in the bar and a hotel room; and Cop 663 and Faye at the counter).

Then, Wong Kar-wai manages to produce the touch of melancholy that stands for his signature in this art. Some sweetness comes out from the pineapples of consumed love, the empty uniform of the ex as a souvenir, or the tune California Dreamin’ that rocks the audience to nostalgia for an imaginary past. This melancholy is reinforced by the subtle expression of sadness among the male characters. At last, Wong Kar-Wai’s new wave way of filming creates vivid motives and energetic pictures in absolute harmony with the congested atmosphere… So many points could be endlessly raised and discussed, but it is also the delight of the audience to find its own pleasure whilst watching.


Another masterpiece based on the recurring theme of random encounters. This movie is a sublime representation of the quest of sentimental love from individual perspectives, and the focus on the process and not the product gives a greater insight of its complexity. MCR