Indie 90s: Chungking Express (1994)
Director: Wong Kar-wai Run Time: 103 min. Rating: PG-13 Release Year: 1994
Starring: Brigitte Lin, Faye Wong, Takeshi Kaneshiro, Tony Leung Chiu-wai, Valerie Chow
Country: Hong Kong
Language: Cantonese, English, Japanese, Hindi, Mandarin, Punjabi, Urdu
Indie 90s: The Revolution That Changed Cinema
The ’90s didn’t just give us great movies, it changed what movies could be. Independent filmmakers that were breaking the rules, finding new voices, and reshaping American cinema.
Our Indie 90s series features twenty-two films in all — all independent, all revolutionary.
About the film:
The whiplash, double-pronged Chungking Express is one of the defining works of nineties cinema and the film that made Hong Kong filmmaker Wong Kar Wai an instant icon.
Two heartsick Hong Kong cops (Takeshi Kaneshiro and Tony Leung), both jilted by ex-lovers, cross paths at the Midnight Express take-out restaurant stand, where the ethereal pixie waitress Faye (Faye Wong) works. Anything goes in Wong’s gloriously shot and utterly unexpected charmer, which cemented the sex appeal of its gorgeous stars and forever turned canned pineapple and the Mamas and the Papas’ “California Dreamin’” into tokens of romantic longing.
About the filmmaker:
Wong Kar Wai is a Hong Kong filmmaker who has established himself as one of the defining auteurs of contemporary cinema with his lush and sensual visuals, pitch-perfect soundtracks, and soulful romanticism. He made his feature directorial debut with As Tears Go By (1988) followed by acclaimed features such as his international breakthrough Chungking Express (1994), Fallen Angels (1995), Happy Together (1997)—which won him Best Director at the Cannes Film Festival—his masterpiece In the Mood for Love (2000), and Ip Man biopic The Grandmaster (2013).
Joined by key collaborators such as cinematographer Christopher Doyle, editor and production and costume designer William Chang, and actors Tony Leung and Maggie Cheung, Wong (or WKW, as he is often known) has enraptured audiences and critics worldwide and inspired countless other filmmakers with his movies’ poetic moods, narrative and stylistic daring, and potent themes of alienation and memory.
Chunking Express (1994) previously screened at the Film Center as part of The World of Wong Kar Wai.
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