#0000D/#453: KAR-Wai, Wong : Chungking Express [1994] {Hong Kong}

KAR-Wai, Wong {Hong Kong}

Chungking Express [1994]

Spine #0000D/Spine #453

Blu-ray

The whiplash, double-pronged Chungking Express is one of the defining works of 1990s cinema and the film that made Wong Kar Wai an instant icon. Two heartsick Hong Kong cops (Takeshi Kaneshiro and Tony Leung Chiu Wai), both jilted by ex-lovers, cross paths at the Midnight Express take-out food 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 & the Papas’ “California Dreamin’” into tokens of romantic longing.

102 minutes

Color

Monaural/5.1 Surround
in Cantonese

1:66:1 aspect ratio

Criterion Release 2008/2021

Director/Writer

Wong Kar-wai was 36 when he wrote and directed Chungking Express.

Other Wong Kar-wai films in the Collection:

#0000D: As Tears Go By (1988)
#0000D: Days Of Being Wild (1990)
#0000D: Fallen Angels (1995)
#0000D: Happy Together (1997)
#0000D/#147: In The Mood For Love (2000)
#0000D: 2046 (2004)

The Film

Film Rating (0-60):

60

The Extras

The Booklet

Sixteen-page booklet featuring an essay by Amy Taubin.

Commentary

#453 only: Featuring noted Asian cinema critic Tony Rayns.

1996 Episode

Of the British television series Moving Pictures featuring interviews with Wong and DP Christopher Doyle.

#0000D only: Deleted Scenes

U.S. theatrical trailer

Extras Rating (0-40):

39

60 + 39 =

99

By Director
By Spine #