Towards the late 80s, Hong Kong critics were already referring to a ‘post-1997’ sentiment. Poised between two “empires,” the British and the mainland Chinese, Hong Kong cinema has unavoidably become a textual field where crises of identity are implicitly set up and played out. The problems of such an identity, of course, became most acute in 1984, when the British government -which had wrested Hong Kong from the Chinese in 1841-agreed to return the colony to the People’s Republic of China in 1997. However, the frivolous quality of Hong Kong’s popular cinema is internally contradicted by another, more serious impulse: a desire to put forward and explore -however indirectly-a Chinese identity. Given the island’s economic evolution as a ruthlessly dog-eat-dog laissez-faire trade and manufacturing center, this movie-making environment (much like Hollywood’s) was never conducive to the development of “art” films. Although Hong Kong movies (like any other form of dominant cinema) carry their own potentially subversive subtexts, their primary function is to make a return on their investment by pleasing as large an audience as possible, as quickly as possible.
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Since it is cinematographic poetry, “Chunking Express” is better seen than told about.What makes Wong’s movies even more remarkable is that they come out of the Hong Kong film industry, which discourages such a sensorially seditious cinema. The people there are wandering, trying to find something, and passing by each other as close as 0.01 cm apart. The Chinese title actually translates to “Chunking Jungle,” a reference to Hong Kong as a concrete jungle. I am being biased here, but the movie with its soundtrack reminds me of Blade Runner: the urban spaces, busy cityscape, and the loneliness in the crowds. If you watch the movie, just let it capture you, and go with the magical flow. It is in the colors, camera angles, details, soundtrack, and atmosphere that it portrays the actual feelings and thoughts of the characters. “Chungking Express” is like poetry of cinematography, yet another masterpiece envisioned by Christopher Doyle. The stories themselves are not as important as the way they are told. Cop 663 and Faye in a very close encounter. She is in love with him, and tries to get him out of his rut by making small changes in his living space. He is so much in his own world and pain that he doesn’t notice how his apartment is gradually changed by a California-dreaming woman, Faye. He lives the pain through a bar of soap and a huge stuffed animal. Wong Kar-wai “Chungking Express”Ĭop 663 reflects his sorrow through the things in his apartment. Cop 223 and a mysterious woman randomly meeting in a bar. He ponders whether everything has an expiration date, and why people are so appalled by things that have expired. To live through his sorrow, Cop 223 keeps buying cans of pineapples each day with the expiration date of May 1 (both his birthdate and May being his ex-girlfriend name). Moreover, in this crowded city where you encounter people all the time (sometimes as close as 0.01 cm) it is so difficult to find a genuine connection. The cops were left by their loved ones, and now they have to deal with the pain.
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Both stories are about love, and connected just by an accident of 0.01 cm. The movie follows two stories, one about Cop 223 (Takeshi Kaneshiro), and other about Cop 663 (Tony Leung). Watching “Chunking Express,” you can really feel that the stories are floating, light and relaxed. I wrote the sequel of the story in one day! Thanks to a brief interruption for the New Year festivities, I had some more time to finish the rest of the scrip (Source: Wikipedia). The first part happened during the night. When I started to film, I didn’t have it written completely. The film was made while Wong was still editing his other wuxia piece, “Ashes of Time”.
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“Chungking Express” is another highly regarded film by Wong Kar-wai (“ 2046”, “In the Mood for Love”).