Original (Cantonese) Title: Chung Hing sam lam
Director: Wong Kar-Wai
Initial Release Country: Hong Kong
(China )
Times Previously Seen: none
Semi-Rapid-Fire Summary
In 1990s Hong Kong , young
police officer #223, He Qiwu, is battling loneliness in the wake of a lost
love. His girlfriend has broken up with him just a few weeks prior, and he
tries to deal with it by leaving voice messages for her on a daily basis. He
has also given himself a deadline of 30 days, which he counts using expiration
dates on can of pineapples, within which to hear from her. He tells himself
that if he does not hear from her, he will abandon his hope of a
reconciliation.
When the 30 days is up, Qiwu devours all of the cans of
pineapples and heads to a bar to drown his sorrows. After several drinks, he
spots and comes on to a beautiful woman in a blond wig. Unbeknownst to Qiwu,
the icy woman is embroiled in a drug smuggling double-cross and is in the bar
for some quietude. Still, she eventually succumbs to Qiwu’s persistent overtures
and brings him up to her hotel room. Any amorous hopes that Qiwu may have are
dashed, though, as the woman promptly falls sound asleep, leaving him to eat
room service food and watch movies on the hotel television.
Qiwu tries to move past his former love with booze and some pick-up moves.
The day after, Qiwu has left the woman in the hotel room,
and he seems on the verge of mentally moving past his ex-girlfriend. However,
he receives a birthday message from her, perhaps giving him some shred of hope.
At a short-order restaurant frequented by Qiwu, another
police officer, #663, is battling his own romantic breakup. Between getting
coffee and food at the restaurant, he reminisces over a romance with a
beautiful flight attendant. He copes by simply doing his duty as a cop and
making humorous observations to the inanimate objects in his apartment, many of
which belonged to his ex.
Taking notice of 663 is Faye – a somewhat flighty young
woman who works the counter at the restaurant. Very secretively, Faye’s
interest in 663 grows. In a turn of events, she ends up with a letter and
apartment key from 663’s ex. Rather than passing them along to the dejected
officer, Faye keeps the letter and uses the key to explore his tiny apartment
while he is away at work. At first, she simply looks around, but eventually she
begins to clean and care for the dwelling. This seems to be the only way that
the socially awkward young woman can try to connect with the object of her
infatuation.
Cop #663, lost in his own thoughts as the love-struck Faye gazes on.
After a few weeks of her clandestine care-taking, Faye is
caught in the apartment by 663. Though shocked, the man is not critical. In fact,
he allows Faye to stay a while and the two fall asleep on his couch. The
following day, 663 and Faye plan to have an actual “date” at a nearby
restaurant and bar. However, Faye stands up 663, leaves her job at the restaurant,
and actually departs Hong Kong altogether. In a perhaps not-coincidental turn,
she becomes a flight attendant in order to see the world. One year later, Faye
returns to find that 663 has bought and is renovating the restaurant. The two
talk a while, though we cannot be sure whether they will have any kind of
future together.
My Take on the Film:
Chungking Express is a good movie that certainly shows a lot
of skill from a then-young director. It’s quirky, thoughtful, and stylish in
places. I can’t say that I was blown away, though.
In telling the story of the two lonely police officers, we
get some very heartfelt slices of life in the hyperactive East Asian metropolis
of Hong Kong . The stories of He Qiwu and Cop 663
are ones that come across as very authentic, and you can’t help but feel for
both men. They seem to represent two of presumably countless other people in
the vast city that can’t seem to find the romantic connections that they crave.
The ways that they deal with their loneliness are quite different from one
another, but show them both to be very sympathetic in their humorous attempts
to cope with their dilemmas. It all has a feel rather reminiscent of the French
New Wave films of Godard and Truffaut from the 1960s. In particular, Band ofOutsiders has the same genuine playfulness mixed with a tragedy that,
admittedly, is more palpable.
Only being loosely connected to one another, the movie comes
off as really two shorter films, stitched together only by the short-order food
stand that they both frequent. The first story, that of Qiwu, I found to be the
more engaging of the two. Qiwu is love-struck and pines away over his
ex-girlfriend by marking off the days after their breakup by buying cans of
pineapples, all of which will expire 30 days after his April Fool’s Day
dumping. He tells himself that he will give his ex until May 1st to
allow him back into her life. It’s a funny little system that reflects the
little ways that we lie to ourselves in order to cling to past happiness. In
Qiwu’s case, though, it clearly doesn’t work very well, as he falls in love
with the mysterious woman in the blonde wig. The evening of unsatisfied amore
in the hotel room is another slightly comical yet sad moment in his life. You
end up feeling for him, though in a very realistic rather than classically
romantic way.
Qiwu's loneliness is cast in a rather humorous light, through his pineapple can counting system.
The tale of Cop 663 is one of a different sort. It has its
own feel, but it has some of the same lighthearted wistfulness of Qiwu’s story.
663 is a slightly older man who seems more controlled and world-weary than
Qiwu. Tony Leung, who is phenomenal in this as well as Kar-Wai’s later film In
the Mood for Love, has the amusing quirks of consoling his household goods
while seeming oblivious to some of the most obvious things. Faye’s initial
quiet interest in 663 is charming at first, but for me it lapses into
disturbing stalker behavior – something akin to a more eerie version of the
title character’s antics in the playful French film Amelie. I don’t know that
this was Kar-Wai’s intent, but it is the impression I came away with.
Nevertheless, the story certainly held my attention, even if I wasn’t left
completely satisfied at the end.
Aesthetically, the film is rock-solid. Thanks to excellent
camerawork, the film conveys Hong Kong as a
vibrant, ever-churning mass of bodies, buildings, and colors. Some of the
scenes in Qiwu’s story use an impressionistic, herky-jerky style of editing
that I’m not a fan of, but it didn’t distract. A lot of the movie is simply
enjoyable to look at, something that is also further honed in In the Mood for
Love.
663's observations of and to the various inanimate objects in his apartment add a really warm, amusing layer to his seemingly passive demeanor.
One little nuisance has stuck with me since I watched this
movie several days ago. In 663’s story, Faye is obsessed with the song
California Dreamin’ by the Mamas and the Papas. The song is played no less than
four times within a forty-five minute span, and it wore me out. Ever since I
watched it, I can’t get the song out of my head, it was so firmly jack-hammered
into me by the movie. I don’t care how appropriate a song is in a film story or
even how good a song it is, no tune should be played this many times in any
movie. It just wears thin.
Will I watch this movie again? I doubt it. I would, however,
recommend it as a good one.
That’s a wrap. 97 shows down. 8 to go.
Coming Soon: Ulysses’ Gaze (1997)
I’ve had a hell of a time even trying to find a copy of this
one. I have to be skeptical of a “masterpiece” that’s not even in print, in
this day and age when everything you could imagine is at your fingertips. Maybe
I’ll be surprised…
Please be sure to pick up all empties on the way out.
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