Chungking Express

Miramax Films | Release Date: March 8, 1996

8.3	USER SCORE Universal acclaim based on 87 Ratings

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SpangleOct 14, 2016

A truly sad and depressing film, Wong Kar-wai's Chungking Express is an exploration of loneliness, focused in on two men looking for love in the past in Hong Kong. Showing how one can be distressed and left hurt by looking to the past andA truly sad and depressing film, Wong Kar-wai's Chungking Express is an exploration of loneliness, focused in on two men looking for love in the past in Hong Kong. Showing how one can be distressed and left hurt by looking to the past and waiting for it to change, Chungking Express features characters that are so incredibly real, the emotion they communicate cannot be ignored.

With incredibly written dialogue, Chungking Express brings its two lonely men to life with lines that absolutely touch your soul. For example, one describes how a girl who wished him a happy birthday will live on in his memories forever, only to then wonder when a memory expires. Lines such as these will overcome inadequacies in the film as a whole, as they transcend the medium. Instead, it makes the experience feel incredibly real and authentic. Wong Kar-wai's film may feel as though it is occurring at a distance from the audience, but lines such as these make the film realize that there is no distance at all. This is not a romance film, rather it is one about lost love and the pain it can cause. As such, it is an incredibly cold film, but not emotionless.

Stylistically, the film uses a ton of hand-held camera, if not solely hand-held. The end result is a kinetic and chaotic experience that highlights the loneliness of its protagonists. As the city and even their lives (as cops) run around hectically, their love life and home life remain empty and filled with solitude. It is always lovely when a director's style matches some element of the film and offers its own thematic elements. This is very much the case with Chungking Express. Additionally, the film is just simply very well shot. Hand-held cameras can be quite nauseating and annoying when noticeable, yet Chungking Express deftly avoids these trappings and instead utilizes the style effectively. Essentially, it is supposed to put you into the scene. The camera does this here, but certainly not always.

A thoroughly melancholy and moving experience, Chungking Express will make you feel its characters loneliness in a very human way that will more than likely break your heart. Both this and In the Mood for Love (the other Wong Kar-Wai film I have seen), both have this quality that make you think they will be a romance film and certainly play out like a romance film should, but they are anything but romance films. Rather, they are explorations of love and what it does to a person once they feel it and how they feel when it is ripped out of their clutches.… Expand

2 of 3 users found this helpful21

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ahmedaiman9999Oct 18, 2018

I never thought that a movie that explores loneliness would end up being one of the most charming feel-good movies I've ever seen! I mean... I was smiling and laughing spontaneously, and that didn't happen to me since I watched Amélie!

(9/10)

1 of 2 users found this helpful11

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UncleWillardJun 28, 2021

What a winner! I'm so sorry I never got around to seeing this until now. Faye Wong is delightful; truly the Chinese version of the manic pixie dream girl (if you didn't realize it, that's her covering The Cranberries Dreams). She can break inWhat a winner! I'm so sorry I never got around to seeing this until now. Faye Wong is delightful; truly the Chinese version of the manic pixie dream girl (if you didn't realize it, that's her covering The Cranberries Dreams). She can break in my house any time!

I have to admit the first story was slow for me and it took me time to follow what the intent was (is it a thriller? or a romantic comedy? or both?), but it really took off in the second half. It hit all the right notes for me and looked sumptuous.… Expand

1 of 2 users found this helpful11

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gracjanskiDec 19, 2020

I didnt see any sense in this movie: The story is weird, starts criminal and evolves to have stupid love story with weird and boring characters. The California song gets annoying after some time.

0 of 1 users found this helpful01

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BroyaxJan 5, 2019

Je l'avais vu il y a longtemps et j'avais trouvé ça cucul et concon... Avec le temps, en vérité ça ne s'est pas arrangé et ce Chungking sonne bien creux et encore plus bidon qu'auparavant, ses défauts nous sautant au visage de façonJe l'avais vu il y a longtemps et j'avais trouvé ça cucul et concon... Avec le temps, en vérité ça ne s'est pas arrangé et ce Chungking sonne bien creux et encore plus bidon qu'auparavant, ses défauts nous sautant au visage de façon extrêmement flagrante... Surtout que seule la moitié du film est regardable, à savoir la seconde histoire...

La première histoire se borne à nous faire suivre la Miss "lunettes de soleil" qui tire la gueule et trafique de la poudre avec des immigrés indiens avant de se faire elle-même poursuivre par un jeune premier qu'on met un certain temps à reconnaître... le plus chinois des acteurs japonais, Takeshi Kaneshiro ! c'était encore un débutant à l'époque.

La seconde histoire voit un flic incarné par l'excellent et déjà connu Tony Leung, poursuivi à l'insu de son ignorance par l'employée d'une gargotte qui n'écoute que de la musique de merde. Cette musique pourrie est d'ailleurs répétée à l'envi et quasiment en boucle et vrille bien les nerfs comme il faut... comme un leitmotiv romanesque d'une lourdeur sans commune mesure.

Si ce jeu du chat et de la souris est déjà nettement plus mignon -certains diront poétique ?- vu que le flic déconvenu et plaqué par son hôtesse de l'air parle aux objets- il n'en reste pas moins pataud et trop chiant pour espérer convaincre. Finalement, on a donc une moitié de film totalement ratée et une autre très nunuche qui nous les casse. Quel échec !… Expand

0 of 1 users found this helpful01

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keanexMar 27, 2020

This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. This is a movie from 1994 and some of the cheesy video effects haven't aged well. The premise of two romances centered around a small food stand is pretty cool, it feels like that it could have been a short series even. It's a quirky film with two comical, almost manga ridiculous interests and it's cool to see stuff that's clearly out of the norm once in a while. I feel that the switch up of stories in the middle of the movie kept it fresh as well. It seems to have held up well even 26 years later.… Expand

0 of 0 users found this helpful00

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SimaoOct 1, 2020

the way it went from one narrative to a completely different other without us even noticing. genius i think...

0 of 0 users found this helpful00

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JLuis_001Jun 19, 2021

I loved the movie, but a part of me couldn't help but think of Fallen Angels as a kind of Deja Vu, even though I saw it first, after all, the narrative presentation and visuals make them look like twins.

Chungking Express is a compilation ofI loved the movie, but a part of me couldn't help but think of Fallen Angels as a kind of Deja Vu, even though I saw it first, after all, the narrative presentation and visuals make them look like twins.

Chungking Express is a compilation of moments that hardly have a coherent or more direct storytelling, however what elevates it is the quality of its director to make everything attractive, and above all captivating.… Expand

0 of 0 users found this helpful00

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sergenat13Jan 10, 2021

clearly one of the most influential asian movie of the 90s, having to capture the life of 90's Hong Kong the most elegant way and the romance is flourishing with natural scent, also to put that on top with blue-ish beautiful cinematography.

0 of 0 users found this helpful00

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