It took us until number 43 to hit a movie we own, but haven't actually watched before. I'm sure there's more. Why would we buy a movie we've never seen, you ask?
1. This was the first movie released under Quentin Tarantino's imprint, Rolling Thunder.
2. It's a Criterion Collection DVD, the imprimatur of which at least makes you feel highbrow.
3. Our local video store was closing and it cost basically nothing.
4. Also, this:
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| Sad man with giant Garfield. |
This is a phrase that I'm loath to use, but Wong Kar-wai's Chungking Express isn't quite like any other film I've ever seen. The idiosyncrasy of the film starts with its impressionistic visual style. Set in Hong Kong, much of the film is shot in flashing blurs of color and movement. The impressionist flavor carries over into the performances, which feel like we're only ever seeing glimpses of the real people underneath. Rather than remove the audience from the goings-on, however, the feeling of watching this film go by out of the corner of your eye makes it all the more intriguing and enticing.
The story, such as it is, is split into two discrete halves. In the first half, a baby-faced cop named Qiwu (Takeshi Kaneshiro), who is mourning the loss of his childhood romance with a girl named May, spends a chaste night with an enigmatic drug smuggler in a blonde wig (Brigitte Lin). In the second half, an outwardly straightlaced cop (identified only as 663) (Tony Leung), privately despairing over the airline stewardess who ditched him, is pursued by a quirky shop girl, Faye (Faye Wong).
Other than our protagonists' occupations and rebounding relationship status, the stories are connected by the strange kind of loneliness one can experience in the middle of a dense city. Bitter-sweetly romantic and slightly off-kilter, the film is able to capture that ineffable feeling in a way that feels both real and oddly charming.
At the risk of sounding too British, the film is a lovely time.
But, do we feel the need to watch it again? Not really. Like an impressionist painting, I'm content with the images that half linger in my mind.
FINAL VERDICT: PITCH IT
NEXT UP: CITIZEN KANE
