Chungking Express (1994, PG-13)

For whatever reason, I always think of this as the quintessential Wong Kar-wai movie.  I couldn’t tell you why, since, while his work is thematically similar and characteristically lush/emotional, his films have a lot of variety.  Ashes of Time, for instance, is very little like 2046.  Certainly, I like In the Mood for Love the best, and to be honest, Chungking Express would probably be somewhere in the middle of my Wong rankings (just because there are so many great ones.)  And yet, when I think Wong Kar-wai, this film is usually what I picture first.

The movie tells two mostly unrelated love stories, not even interweaving the narratives beyond a nod or two; it’s pretty much, “first story, second story, the end.”  In the first, the incurably optimistic, slightly obsessive Cop 223 is cheerfully avoiding coping with a recent breakup.  He’s been ringing his ex-girlfriend’s house to chat with her folks and collecting cans of pineapple with the same expiration date (the date at which he’s decided he’ll finally accept it’s over between them.)  His fixations, however, are interrupted by a chance encounter with an enigmatic, strikingly-beautiful woman in a blonde wig. 

The second story features another officer, Cop 663.  He too has suffered a recent loss in love, but unbeknownst to him, he’s become the object of someone else’s affections – Faye, the daydreamy young woman who works at the midnight express.  When Cop 663’s ex-girlfriend leaves a letter for him at the restaurant, along with her key to his apartment, Faye (who seems a bit like a Chinese precursor to Amélie) takes it upon herself to bring a little brightness to his life.  This is probably the better fleshed-out story of the two, and while I like Cop 223 and the woman in the blonde wig, it’s also my favorite.

This movie has everything that I associate with Wong:  everyday dialogue paired with emotional voiceovers, fantastic imagery, evocative music, inventive character foibles, and romantic angst up the ying yang.  I mean, Cop 223 goes jogging to get sweaty so he won’t have any water left for tears – it doesn’t get much more Wong Kar-wai than that, and we’re talking about a movie that features another man who sees the personification of his own lovelorn-ness in his apartment.  And yet, the film can also be gloriously upbeat at times.  I really enjoy the scenes of Faye trying to secretly introduce Cop 663 to a bit of happiness.  Factually, she’s definitely a stalker, but along with Buster Keaton in Spite Marriage, she’s probably one of the most adorable stalkers in movie history.  And let’s be real – the characters in most romances don’t act the way rational people do, so the bar isn’t as high.

The acting, as usual, is fabulous.  Takeshi Kaneshiro (Jin from House of Flying Daggers) brings an earnest affability to Cop 223 that keeps him from being “too much.”  Brigitte Lin from Ashes of Time is steely as the woman in the blonde wig, but she offers hints of vulnerability, too.  I think Faye Wong is better in 2046, her second movie with Wong, but she makes an engaging and likeable Faye.  And Tony Leung Chiu-wai imbues Cop 663 with a gentle soulfulness – despite my own aromantic asexuality, I get why Faye would be all over that.

Warnings

A little violence, drugs, and brief sexual content.