Welcome back to Foreign Movie Fridays, where each Friday, I’ll be taking a look at a well-known foreign film and giving my thoughts on it. Today, I will be taking a look at Chungking Express, written and directed by Wong Kar-wai. This movie has been talked about a lot in the film community, where many film enthusiasts and reviewers highlighted its influence as well as its strong visual style and its depiction of heartbreak and loneliness, and it’s not hard to see why; it is one of these movies that you’ll have to see to believe and while you may not grasp its themes the first time, you will be drawn to it from start to finish.
The story of Chungking Express focuses on two police officers dealing with their recent breakups and trying to move on from their perspective relationships. The first story sees officer He Qiwu being dumped by his girlfriend a month before his birthday and falls for a mysterious female underworld figure while the second story sees another officer dealing with a recent breakup with his flight attendant girlfriend and falling for a young snack bar worker named Faye.
Chungking Express is the film that brought director Wong Kar-wai to international prominence, as it became a critical and commercial success and is widely considered to be one of the greatest foreign films of all time.
Wong Kar-wai’s direction is impeccable in each frame, as he’s able to carry the film with his distinctive visual style and bring the film’s two storylines with such intimacy and personality. Through the two policemen’s storylines, the movie is able to capture the feeling of heartbreak and sadness someone deals with following a breakup and attempting to move on from a past relationship, though the process isn’t easy.
The script manages to deal with the themes of heartbreak, love, and loss while also balancing between drama and comedy, the editing keeps the two storylines separate yet similar in tone and feel, and the cinematography by Christopher Doyle and Andrew Lau oozes with energy and adds to the movie’s melancholic atmosphere. The music also adds to the movie’s style, as it’s notable for introducing Dream Pop into the Hong Kong scene. My favorite track of the film has to be “California Dreamin’” as it’s the most memorable song of the film and it fits the mood of Faye’s character.
The performances by the cast are also memorable as each cast member plays their parts perfectly, but the ones that stand out the most are Takeshi Kaneshiro as He Qiwu, Brigitte Lin as the woman in the blonde wig, and Tony Leung as the cop who falls for Faye. However, while it’s a nearly perfect film, it’s not without its flaws, as the film loses its way during the second story and it’s not as strong as the first story. Some attempts at humor can fall flat and the movie can get very messy in its narrative structure, as I was very confused by the story when I saw it and couldn’t fully understand what was going on.
Overall, Chungking Express is one of these movies that you’ll have to watch multiple times to fully understand its underlying themes and meaning.
But it’s also as cathartic as it’s captivating. It’s very messy and it’s very confusing, but it’s also a very satisfying experience due to Kar-wai’s direction, stunning visuals, resonant themes, brilliant performances, and memorable atmosphere.
Abdul
