- Wong Kar-Wai's Chungking Express is a strange, beautiful, and memorable film about lonely people trying to make sense of their lives in ways that, quite frankly, just don't make sense. The film is divided into two not-quite-but-almost-separate sections, each of which focuses on odd romantic infatuations that only belatedly become reciprocated. In the first segment, a lovelorn young cop named He Zhiwu (Takeshi Kaneshiro) checks his voicemail every few minutes, expecting a call from his ex-girlfriend May. Man, has he got it bad. When another female friend calls, Zhiwu immediately assumes that May put her up to it. More telling still is the fact that he calls May's parents just for old times' sake. His weirdest ritual, however, involves buying one can of pineapple for each day he and May have been apart. His plan, naturally, is to eat it all on May 1st (also his birthday), figuring that "if May hasn't changed her mind by the time I've bought thirty cans, then our love will also expire."
- Sure enough, May (the month) rolls around and still no sign of May (the girl). Zhiwu heads to a local bar to drink away the pain (surely compounded by eating all that pineapple), when he encounters a woman helpfully listed in the credits as "Woman in blonde wig" (Brigitte Lin). "The Woman" is a mysterious criminal type whose sunglasses, raincoat, and eponymous wig suggest that either she or the writers have been watching too much film noir. Perhaps someone more attentive than me can explain precisely how her drug smuggling operation works, but the relevant detail is that, by the time she encounters Zhiwu, she's had a very rough day. After several hours of reluctant negotiations, she eventually allows Zhiwu to escort her home, only to sack out immediately on the bed. Never one to be discouraged, Zhiwu sticks around to watch some old movies while shoveling copious amounts of food into his face. When you're down on your luck, even that could seem like a pretty successful date.
- The film's second half focuses on a cafeteria worker named Faye (Faye Wong) and her infatuation with a police officer only known as Cop 663 (Tony Leung Chiu Wai). Cop 663 was in a relationship with a stewardess (Valerie Chow), but they recently "changed course." Although the stewardess has left a note for him at the cafeteria where Faye works, Cop 663 is in no hurry to pick it up. Which is just as well, because the note contains a key that Faye "borrows" to enter 663's apartment. In a hilarious set of scenes, Faye redecorates, listens to music, and even collects stray hairs indicative of potential competitors. In the meantime, she tries to get 663 to notice her by running into him accidentally-on-purpose on a regular basis. Finally, he heads home for lunch one day and catches her in the act. "What are you doing in my apartment?" he demands. "You asked me to visit," she innocently replies. Although her "California Dreamin'" wanderlust convinces her to leave for a year, they still manage to make that special connection when she returns.
- On paper, these tales of romance may sound more weird than enjoyable, but the characters are so charming and whimsical and the film's style so unique that the overall experience is unexpectedly wonderful. More striking than the stories themselves are the film's look and sound, which weave neon lights, flashing CDs, and (mostly Western) music of various moods together to create a truly memorable vision of Hong Kong. Spectacular too is Wong's occasional employment of low-frame rates and long exposures to create a strange impressionistic sensation the likes of which I had never seen prior to this film. When you watch Chungking Express, it really feels like you're staying up all night with Zhiwu and listening to the radio with Faye. It's difficult to imagine much higher praise than that.
