Chungking Express

Chungking Express 1994 Directed by Wong Kar-Wai Cinematography by Christopher Doyle 103 minutes 35mm Justified as one of his best, Wong Kar-Wai’s Chungking Express deals with themes of emotional struggles through love and loneliness in a unique and captivating way. Following two separate love stories centered around love and human connection, the film is beautifully shot with stunning visuals. The first love story follows a melancholic policeman who is full of nostalgia from a past relationship. He meets a woman at a shop he frequents who is going through something similar. They connect through their shared feelings of sadness and form an unusual friendship. The second story follows another cop, who had gotten broken up with in the 1st of April. Taking it as a joke, he gives her one month to come back to him before moving on, eating a can of pineapple every day that expires on May 1st, the same day their love will expire. He then forms a new spontaneous relationship with a woman who has connections in the underworld. Both stories are very straight forward, but the execution of the narrative is creatively unique. There are two couples both yearbing for love, but four separate lonely, antisocial, daydreaming characters as well. The film stands out in many ways with its color palette that is rich and vibrant with colorful neon lighting, making it a sensory experience that feels dreamlike, much like the state a few of the characters seem to be living in. Wong Kar-Wai also gives us an incredibly fresh take on the romance genre by dealing with love and heartbreak in an atypical way. He allows a strong sense of melancholy seep through the film, by taking his time letting the story unfold, leading to a slower pace that allows the audience to fully absorb the characters and emotions they’re feeling.  Christopher Doyle works wonders capturing Wong’s vision perfectly with long takes and camera angles and movements that bring both the setting and characters to life. The camera lingers on certain people and their surroundings to contribute to the films realism and emotion. Every shot is intentionally framed to capture the vibrant and chaotic essence of Hong Kong. The innovative use of color and light is timeless in the sense it has influenced countless filmmakers since its release. The movie is drenched in bright neon hues that are both vibrant and moody, often having an effect that is disorienting and intoxicating, almost mirroring the energy of our characters. Doyle used a number of innovative camera techniques. The handheld camera movements create a feeling of both heightened intimacy and unpredictability. His technique of step-printing where individual frames are repeated multiple times create a choppy and disorienting effect. This combined with the fast-paced editing styler create a frenetic energy that exquisitely reflects the chaos of the urban landscape, which is typically the only company our characters have at times. The cinematography of Chungking Express is a masterclass in storytelling that’s a stunning achievement in cinematic artistry.  (Wong Kar-Wai makes me feel like a can of expired pineapples and I want Faye Wong to break into my apartment. Beautiful, wonderful, brilliant, stunning. I love the lingering feelings that seem permanent from the people around you that are temporary. The representation of how the biggest emotion we know can make us feel so small. I love seeing love. Watching people who are lost trying to navigate a life that is so lovely and catastrophic at the same time reminds me of who I am and why.) Personally: 5/5 Realistically: 4.5/5