Two policemen. Two elusive women.
In Chungking Express, Wong Kar-wai explores two story lines, told one after the other. The first, about a brokenhearted cop (Takeshi Kaneshiro) who laments losing his ex-girlfriend. He meets an enigmatic woman in a blonde wig (Brigitte Lin), a criminal who lies,cheats, steals, and eventually kills. It’s their fleeting encounter that alters who they are. In the second story, we meet a street cop (Tony Leung) whose infatuation with his flight attendant ex-girlfriend prevents him from noticing that the woman who serves him at the midnight snack bar (Faye Wong) has fallen for him. She shows her affection in quirky ways; breaking into his apartment to clean and redecorate it, even feeding his fish. Her presence leaves him desperate for more. In these two seemingly detached stories, the female leads seduce its viewers (and bewitch their male counterparts) with their mystery and ambitions.
Chungking Express is a melancholic romantic exploration of longing, loss, and memories told through four characters who lose themselves to the intoxication of Hong Kong nights and the promise of dreams. Originally released in 1994, during the golden age of Hong Kong cinema, Wong Kar-wai captures the essence of a city at a time that has long since changed. His vintage aesthetic and hypnotic splices heighten viewers’ experience by emulating a dream. This film isn’t your typical romance. There are no happily ever afters or even a happy for now. In fact, the ending may leave you feeling unsatisfied when the plot doesn’t wrap itself up in a pretty bow. But that’s not why you watch a Wong Kar-wai film. That would be too easy, too cheap, and quite frankly, a let down. I see his films as an immersive experience, often one where we are swept up in emotional angst, and lingering beauty.
One of the main reasons I return to this film so often is Wong Kar-wai’s unconventional exploration of romance; a sense of melancholic longing, a vintage aesthetic, and a fascination with femininity. It’s in femininity that the women in this story are fiercely their own. It’s not only their understanding of their desire, but their insistence on unapologetically surrendering to their desires, that allows for the women of Chungking Express to express, seduce, and pine so singularly. Despite wandering in their emotions that sometimes span from delicate to the untamed, they firmly take control of their destiny no matter how wild, free, or dangerous. Even the policemen’s ex-girlfriends break hearts to pursue their dreams, leaving their former lovers bewildered and full of longing. It’s a similar longing that drives these women, not necessarily toward romantic love, but toward self-discovery.
