Chungking Express Totally Explained

Everything about Chungking Express totally explained

Chungking Express is a 1994 Hong Kong film written and directed by Wong Kar-wai. The film consists of two stories told in sequence, each about a Hong Kong cop and his relationship with a woman. The first story stars Takeshi Kaneshiro and Brigitte Lin and the second stars Tony Leung, Faye Wong and Valerie Chow.
The Chinese title translates to "Chungking Jungle", 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 where Faye Wong works.

Plot outline

The movie comprises two different stories, told one after the other, each about a romance involving a policeman. Aside for a brief moment when the first story ends and the second begins, the two stories don't interconnect. However, the three main characters from the second story each momentarily appears during the first.

First story

The first story concerns Taiwan-born cop He Qiwu, also known as Cop 223 (played by Kaneshiro). Qiwu's girlfriend May broke up with him on April 1st (April Fool's Day). His birthday is May 1 and he chooses to wait for May for a month before moving on. Every day he buys a tin of pineapple with an expiration date of May 1. By the end of this time, he feels that he'll either be rejoined with his love or that it'll have expired forever. Meanwhile, a woman in a blonde wig (played by Brigitte Lin) tries to survive in the drug underworld after a smuggling operation goes sour. On May 1, Qiwu, looking for romance, approaches the woman in the blonde wig at a bar (the Bottoms Up Club). However, she's exhausted and falls asleep in a hotel room, leaving him to watch movies alone. She leaves in the morning and shoots the drug baron (played by Thom Baker) who had set her up. Qiwu goes jogging and receives a message from her on his pager wishing him a happy birthday. He then visits his usual snack food store where he collides with a new staff member, Faye. At this point, a new story begins.

Second story

In the second story, the unnamed Cop 633 (played by Tony Leung) is similarly dealing with a breakup, this time from a flight attendant (Valerie Chow). He meets Faye, the new girl at the snack bar (played by Faye Wong). She falls for him in secret, and frequently breaks into his apartment during the day to redecorate and "improve" his living situation. Gradually, her ploys help Cop 633 to cheer up, and he eventually realises that Faye likes him and arranges a date at the restaurant 'California'. However, Faye stands him up after a last-minute decision to see the world before settling down; she leaves him a fake boarding pass with a date a year from now. In the last scene, Faye arrives back in Hong Kong, now a flight attendant; she finds that Cop 633 has bought the snack bar and is converting it into a restaurant. They seem to have a future together.

Production

Wong made the film during a two month break from the editing of his wuxia film Ashes of Time. He has said, "While I'd nothing to do, I decided to make Chungking Express following my instincts.", and that "After the very heavy stuff, heavily emphasized in Ashes of Time, I wanted to make a very light, contemporary movie, but where the characters had the same problems." Originally, Wong envisioned the two stories as similar but with contrasting settings: "One would be located in Hong Kong [thatis, Hong Kong Island] and the other in Kowloon; the action of the first would happen in daylight, the other at night. And despite the difference, they're the same stories."
Influential film critic Roger Ebert gave the film a positive review, but was measured in his praise:

"If you're attentive to the style, if you think about what Wong is doing, Chungking Express works. If you're trying to follow the plot, you may feel frustrated...When Godard was hot, in the 1960s and early 1970s, there was an audience for this style, but in those days, there were still film societies and repertory theaters to build and nourish such audiences. Many of today's younger filmgoers, fed only by the narrow selections at video stores, are not as curious or knowledgeable and may simply be puzzled by Chungking Express instead of challenged. It needs to be said, in any event, that a film like this is largely a cerebral experience: You enjoy it because of what you know about film, not because of what it knows about life."

Prolific web reviewer James Berardinelli awarded the film three-and-one-half stars out of a possible four:

"Like John Woo, Tsui Hark, and other directors who learned their craft in Hong Kong, Wong infuses his films with style and energy. His hand-held camera is restless, always moving and shifting. The action sequences are punctuated with unusual shots and stop-motion jumps. By filming Chungking Express in such rich, vibrant manner, the director uses visual images to underscore his themes. Once the viewer gets past bouts of confusion (the film demands more than one viewing), the result is a uniquely memorable look at the ties that bind all people, as presented through two deceptively simple stories."

In addition, in a poll published by Sight and Sound (the monthly magazine of the British Film Institute) asking fifty leading UK film critics to choose the ten best films from the past 25 years, Chungking Express was placed at number eight, and was described as arguably one of the best contemporary Asian films.

Awards and nominations

1994 Golden Horse Awards
- Winner - Best Actor (Tony Leung Chiu Wai)
1995 Hong Kong Film Awards
- 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)

Cast

Brigitte Lin - Woman in blonde wig

Tony Leung Chiu Wai - Cop 633

Faye Wong - Faye

Takeshi Kaneshiro - He Zhiwu, nicknamed Ah Wu, Cop 223

Valerie Chow - Flight attendant who breaks up with Cop 633

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 - ManFurther Information

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