Chungking Express (1994)

Directed by Wong Kar-wai. Starring Tony Leung, Faye Wong, Brigitte Lin, Takeshi Kaneshiro, Valerie Chow, Chan Kam-Chuen. [PG-13]

Wong Kar-wai’s international breakthrough is a pair of postmodern love stories, only incidentally related, and told back-to-back. Both involve Hong Kong policemen, and are tied to the location of a fast food bar; heartsick Kaneshiro pines for a mysterious woman (Lin) in a blonde wig who turns out to be a drug smuggler, and then Leung is too absorbed with a recent breakup to notice a fast food employee (Wong) has fallen for him. The radically differing tones between the stories has minimal effect on the writer/director’s strategy, as he employs vigorous visuals—sometimes frantic, sometimes woozy—throughout. Genuine emotions often feel elusive here, and there’s a philosophical detachment in the first tale that’s replaced by conventionally cutesy behavior in the second, with its jolting apartment encounters and a swooning hero who talks to clothes, stuffed animals, et al. However, the fast pace, stylish imagery, and preference for pure feeling over didactic conversation keeps it exciting and (at times) intoxicatingly romantic enough to overlook its shortcomings. A third story was written but not filmed; it ended up being the basis for Wong’s 1995 film, Fallen Angels. Released in the U.S. by Rolling Thunder Pictures (Quentin Tarantino’s short-lived distribution company).

79/100