So this is pretty late, but here you go!
Chungking Express (1994) Dir. Kar-Wai Wong Writ: Kar-Wai Wong Stars: Brigitte Lin, Takeshi Kaneshiro, Tony Chiu Wai Leung, Faye Wong Rated PG-13 102 mins. Comedy, Romance IMDB 8.1
I had to watch this film for class, and wow. I’m so glad I did!
Chungking Express is one of the strangest movies I’ve ever seen but it was so good! The movie starts out with the story of a police officer named Wu (Takeshi Kaneshiro) who has been dumped by his girlfriend and is depressed. At the same time we see the struggles of a woman in a blond wig (Brigitte Lin) as she tries to wrangle a group of Indian drug smugglers that are under her watch. They meet up when she loses track of them and spend the night drinking before parting ways. After some spoilery events I won’t reveal, about 40 minutes in the movie TOTALLY CHANGES DIRECTION! At the food stand where Wu phones people, there is a new girl working there named Faye (Faye Wong) and at this point in the film, after meeting her, we leave Wu entirely behind and the film begins following her obsession with another cop (Tony Chiu Wai Leung), as his relationship with a flight attendant falls apart. This longer part of the movie features Faye’s really weird obsession and Cop 663’s very odd personality.
I have to say that I don’t really ‘get’ the first part as it relates to the second, but the first part is so funny that I don’t care. Wu is so adorable (and looks a lot like an asian Tyler Posey if you pay attention) and his inability to get a date is just so amusing.
The second half is so ‘what the hell?!’ that it’s inescapably charming. Faye’s weird, weird obsession is super creepy but since she’s harmless it’s more amusing than ‘ewwww creepy’. Cop 663’s utter obliviousness is hilarious and adorable as well. (Speaking of looking like others, Cop 663 seriously reminds me of Lou Diamond Phillips in a few places, anybody else?) Their weird relationship is just so cute and fun to watch, and everything about this movie is just charming and amusing.
For how odd of a movie it is, I can honestly say I love it!
My Rating: 7/10
Chelsea Loves Movies 