Chungking Express
From Free net encyclopedia
Chungking Express (Template:Zh-tspl) is a 1994 Hong Kong movie written and directed by Wong Kar-wai, starring Takeshi Kaneshiro, Brigitte Lin, Tony Leung and Faye Wong. The Chinese title means "Forest of Chungking", referring to the metaphoric concrete jungle of the city, as well as to Chungking Mansions in Tsim Sha Tsui, where much of the first part of the movie is set. The English title refers to Chungking Mansions and the Midnight Express food stall that Faye Wong's stands outside during the end of the film.
Tagline: If my memory of her has an expiration date, let it be 10,000 years...
Contents |
Plot outline
The movie comprises two different stories, told one after the other, each about a romance involving a policeman. The first policeman is the Taiwanese-born Cop 223 (Ah Wu, played by Kaneshiro; "Wu" is the Chinese pronunciation of the Japanese "Takeshi"), who has broken up with his girlfriend May. Every day he purchases a tin of pineapples with an expiration date of May 1. By the end of that time, he feels that he will either be rejoined with his love or that it will have expired forever. The second is Cop 663 (Leung), who is dealing with his breakup from a flight attendant (Valerie Chow). He meets a new girl (Faye Wong) at a local lunch counter, who falls for him secretly, and who breaks into his apartment during the day to redecorate.
Except for a moment when the first story ends and the second story begins, the two stories do not intertwine. However, the characters from each story are briefly glimpsed during the part of the movie about the other characters.
Analysis
Both stories, about disconnections, loneliness and being alone in the vast city, are photographed by Wong's longtime collaborator Christopher Doyle in the style of a music video, leaving impressions of movies from Jean-Luc Godard (signs, slogans, pop music) and from John Cassavetes (improvised dialogue and situations).
Some critics, among them M. A. Abbas, have likened the motif of expiration dates to the imminence of the 1997 handover of Hong Kong to the People's Republic of China (May 1st being, among other things, May Day). A similar theory relating the handover of Hong Kong to Wong Kar-wai's story has been posted at a Brigitte Lin website.
Miscellaneous
Quentin Tarantino, whose Pulp Fiction won the 1994 Cannes Film Festival's Palme d'Or, thus overshadowing the release of Chungking Express, liked the movie so much that he decided to promote it. A slightly different cut of Chungking Express was released through Tarantino's Rolling Thunder Pictures label, both theatrically, to specialty theatres, and to video. The latter featured bookended remarks by Tarantino.
Faye Wong's Song "Meng Zhong Ren (夢中人)" (literally "people in a dream"), a Cantonese cover of The Cranberries' "Dreams" is played several times in the movie. Also, because "California Dreamin'" by The Mamas & the Papas was Faye Wong's character's favourite song, it was played extensively as well, causing some viewers to find it repetitive and others to view it as a euphonious theme song.
Originally planned as a three-story film, Wong Kar-wai's relocated the third segment, about a love-sick hitman, to an entirely different movie. For this reason, his next picture Fallen Angels is usually considered a sequel to Chungking Express.
Cast and roles
- Brigitte Lin - Woman in blonde wig
- Tony Leung Chiu Wai - Cop 663
- Faye Wong - Faye
- Takeshi Kaneshiro - He Zhiwu, nicknamed Ah Wu, Cop 223
- Valerie Chow - Flight attendant who breaks up with Cop 663
- Chen Jinquan - Manager of the takeway restaurant 'Midnight Express'
- Kwan Lee-na - Richard
- Huang Zhiming - Man
- Liang Zhen - The 2nd May, who works at the 'Midnight Express'
- Zuo Songshen - Man
Awards and nominations
1994 Golden Horse Awards
- Winner - Best Actor (Tony Leung Chiu Wai)
- Winner - Best Picture
- Winner - Best Director (Wong Kar-wai)
- Winner - Best Actor (Tony Leung Chiu Wai)
- Winner - Best Editing (William Cheung Suk-Ping, Kwong Chi-Leung, Hai Kit-Wai)
- Nomination - Best Actress (Faye Wong)
- Nomination - Best Supporting Actress (Valerie Chow Kar-Ling)
- Nomination - Best Screenplay (Wong Kar-wai)
- Nomination - Best Cinematography (Christopher Doyle, Andrew Lau Wai-Keung)
- Nomination - Best Art Direction (William Cheung Suk-Ping)
- Nomination - Best Original Film Score (Frankie Chan Fan-Kei, Roel A. Garcia)
In addition, there was a survey result published in Sight and Sound (the monthly magazine of the British Film Institute), saying that Chungking Express came in at number eight after it asked fifty leading UK film critics to choose best films from the past 25 years. It is being described to be the best among all the Asian film.
See also
External links
- {{{2|{{{title|Chungking Express}}}}}} at The Internet Movie Database
- Quotes from Chungking Express
- Essay: Identity and Chungking Express
Template:Wong kar-waide:Chungking Express fr:Chungking Express it:Hong Kong Express ja:恋する惑星 zh:重庆森林