Film Society x The Student: “Chungking Express”

Tired of the tumultuous two-year production of his previous film, action period piece “Ashes of Time,” legendary Hong Kong auteur Wong Kar-wai opted for a different approach with his next film, 1994 romantic comedy “Chungking Express.” He worked almost improvisationally, writing the script as the film was being shot, and completed the entire project in two months.

Rather than being a simple palate cleanser, however, “Chungking Express” launched Wong Kar-wai into the international spotlight and quickly became one of the most iconic Hong Kong films ever. It recently played at Amherst Cinema to a sold-out house as part of their “Big Screen Classics” series.

“Chungking Express” is a dual narrative. Its two storylines both follow melancholy policemen falling in love, but they do not interweave. One story ends, and the next follows. The film begins in slow motion as a mysterious woman in a blonde wig wanders through a series of rooms. From there, we turn to the story of He Qiwu, a police officer reeling from a recent breakup with his girlfriend, May. He checks constantly to see if she has called him (his phone bank password, “undying love,” presents a bitter irony) and, even more strangely, buys a can of pineapples with the expiration date May 1, every day. He was broken up with on the first of April, and decides to give his love a month. Once the pineapples expire, his love will too. As it finally does, he meets the unnamed woman in a blonde wig at a bar and falls in love instantly. But at this point, the audience knows that she is a wanted drug smuggler and murderer. Before their romance can progress much further, He Qiwu visits his favorite food store at Chungking Mansions. There, he brushes shoulders with a new staff member, Faye, and the film shifts to the second story.

Played by (and sharing a name with) Hong Kong pop superstar Faye Wong, Faye is (like all the characters in “Chungking Express”) a complete psychopath. She enjoys listening to the song “California Dreamin’” by The Mamas and The Papas at peak volume on repeat. As this was my third time seeing the film, I made sure to pay close attention and found that the 1965 pop song plays eight different times.

Every day, Cop 663, played by a never more melancholic and handsome Tony Leung Chiu-Wai, visits the food store and orders the exact same salad for his flight attendant girlfriend. Faye quickly becomes infatuated with him. After his girlfriend dumps him and leaves a breakup note at the store that contains a key to his house, Faye uses the key to repeatedly break into his apartment. She cleans incessantly, replaces his broken things, and at one point even slips drugs in his drinks to knock him out, as he had mentioned not getting enough sleep. When Cop 663 inevitably catches Faye in the act, rather than being horrified, he is enraptured, and instantly falls deeply in love with her.

Though its characters are sad and wistful, “Chungking Express” is — through and through — a comedy, and it is hilarious. The characters are all strange and enigmatic, each with their own indecipherable quirks, so their interactions elicit constant belly laughs. One of the funniest moments in the film comes near the end of the first story. He Qiwu sees the blonde woman at the bar and goes to talk to her. Confident he has the perfect icebreaker, he asks, in Cantonese, “Do you like pineapples?” When she doesn’t respond, he reasons that she must not speak the language. So he asks again, in Japanese. She doesn’t respond. He asks again, in English. She doesn’t respond. Only after asking again in Mandarin, does she finally tell him she understands perfectly and just doesn’t want to talk.

These gags are effective because they are simultaneously absurd and human. Watching He Qiwu ask a stranger in four different languages if she likes pineapples is hilarious but also tragic — the language of pineapples and expiration dates is the only one he knows. Despite its absurdity, the humor starts from a place of character and resonates so strongly because the characters are so unique and so interesting.

Nonetheless, the key factor that makes “Chungking Express” so special is not the characters, and it is most certainly not the loose string of events that constitute its plot. Some reviewers critique the film as style over substance, but they miss the point. For a film like “Chungking Express,” the style is the substance. Wong Kar-wai and cinematographer Christoper Doyle employ slow motion, low frame rates, an array of strange lenses, layers of reflections, and a cacophony of other cinematic techniques to create a distinct aesthetic that is, above all else, insanely cool. In some moments, a character will be seen in the foreground of the frame performing an action in extreme slow motion, while the background of the frame is populated by crowds of people moving by in low frame rate extreme fast motion.

These are the kind of things that make me want to jump out of my seat when I see them, filling me with an excitement that the grandest narrative turns could only hope to approximate. It’s easy to dismiss the importance of stylish flares, but “Chungking Express” exemplifies a kind of progressive cinema, one that rejects the literary and theatrical conventions that center plot and character in favor of a uniquely cinematic tradition. The aesthetic choices do not exist to serve the narrative, but rather, the narrative exists to serve the aesthetic. Put simply, “Chungking Express” is a vibespiece — and the vibes could not possibly be better.

That’s not to say the film lacks substance in the traditional sense. There’s plenty of narrative depth to pick apart over several viewings. But it doesn’t matter if you follow the plot or keep track of all the details. You just need to soak in the sounds and images placed before you. It’s a film only comparable to the other works of Wong Kar-wai. Its aesthetic is completely singular despite countless attempts to replicate it.

All of this comes with a cherry on top: “Chungking Express” boasts one of the most iconic movie soundtracks ever. In addition to the heavy dose of “California Dreamin’,” the brilliant dream pop soundtrack includes Cocteau Twins, The Cranberries, and Faye Wong herself, and it turns “Chungking Express” into a nearly transcendent experience. The fact that it’s not even Wong Kar-wai’s best film (I prefer “Fallen Angels” and “Happy Together”) makes for a compelling case that he is among the all-time best filmmakers. Even if, one day, “Chungking Express” is lost to time, its aesthetic will live on forever.