Made during the director's downtime on another movie, Wong Kar-wai's 1994 breakthrough captures a Hong Kong filled with characters driven half-mad by love.
I LOVE THIS MOVIE SO MUCH. Seriously, if I were to do an S&S ballot, I’d have Chungking Express in it rather than In the Mood for Love. As great as the latter is, Chungking more fully seems to exist in a unbroken half-real dream state—sort of the ideal for any Wong Kar Wai film.
Glad that Keith mentions the Tarantino connection on the VHS release—the Tarantino endorsement is 100% why I first picked this up at the video store, and then this more or less immediately became one of my favorite films of all time.
Yeah, I think that's the best thing Tarantino has ever done: rubbing his money on foreign films to bring them stateside. I only remember one other one, a Spanish language curse movie that honestly all I remember is the box cover, but this one was something special back in high school.
The other Rolling Thunder import I loved was SONATINE, which remains my favorite Takeshi Kitano film. I was weirdly less enamored of the exploitation films he put out under the label, though I think I should give SWITCHBLADE SISTERS another chance.
Ah! Shit! I didn't remember that he brought Sonatine over too! That might also be my favorite Kitano movie, but it's hard to say when Kikujiro and Brother are also in the mix (although Brother is kind of Sonatine but in LA).
Wow, those are surprising choices for Kitano faves. I think HANA-BI is probably my second choice, though it has just a hair too much sentiment. Two things about SONATINE: 1. It's just sitting there on Paramount+ as a Miramax property no one gives a shit about. 2. It was once included as a bonus feature on the DVD for Kitano's ZATOICHI, which is a fine enough film, but nowhere near as good.
I need to go back to Hana-Bi, because at 20 I think I didn't appreciate it enough in the middle of Kitano's violence. Kikujiro though, that one hit me just right, funny and sweet but without any saccharine sweetness. I need to revisit all of those movies.
I watched Fallen Angels for the first time last year, and was basically indifferent to it, which spurred me to eventually revisit Chungking Express to see if I was less dazzled by Wong overall or if it was that movie. Turns out it was that movie — I just don't think either of the two stories are as strong or interesting as those in Chungking Express. Still maybe the most gorgeous scene ever set in a McDonald's, though.
Chungking Express, though — wow. Hard to choose between this or ITMFL as my favorite Wong overall, and I still need to watch more of his later filmography.
Great piece on one of my personal faves - I’ve long considered WKW my go-to answer for “who’s your favorite director”, and while I’m a little basic in that I consider In The Mood For Love to be THE masterpiece, Chungking Express is probably the one to take to the desert island because I could watch it every day (I’m also a 99 percentile fan of Ashes of Time Redux - that film just creeps farther and farther up in my estimation with every rewatch)
Gonna have to check out that 2001 interview Scott linked!
That bit in Scott’s interview where WKW explains that the year “2046” would be the last year of an unchanged Hong Kong as promised by China - so enlightening
Lol hopefully I didn’t come off as sarcastic! I never put a lot of thought into WHY 2046 before.
I knew it was the hotel room number from In The Mood For Love, which is perfect when you view 2046 as a direct sequel and all of the sci-fi elements as abstractions of Mr. Chow’s frustrations and regrets, but this revelation gives it even more depth.
...probably should have saved this comment for the eventual In The Mood For Love write-up lol
I watched this thing convinced that Tony Leung knew Faye Wong was in his apartment all the time because she did so much stuff in there, almost remodelling the place. Until he caught her.
Part 1 didn't do a lot for me, to be honest, it kind of just stopped (on purpose, yes, I know) and I find that blurry, slow style action that WKW used in Ashes of Time to be kind of annoying.
I LOVE THIS MOVIE SO MUCH. Seriously, if I were to do an S&S ballot, I’d have Chungking Express in it rather than In the Mood for Love. As great as the latter is, Chungking more fully seems to exist in a unbroken half-real dream state—sort of the ideal for any Wong Kar Wai film.
Glad that Keith mentions the Tarantino connection on the VHS release—the Tarantino endorsement is 100% why I first picked this up at the video store, and then this more or less immediately became one of my favorite films of all time.
Yeah, I think that's the best thing Tarantino has ever done: rubbing his money on foreign films to bring them stateside. I only remember one other one, a Spanish language curse movie that honestly all I remember is the box cover, but this one was something special back in high school.
The other Rolling Thunder import I loved was SONATINE, which remains my favorite Takeshi Kitano film. I was weirdly less enamored of the exploitation films he put out under the label, though I think I should give SWITCHBLADE SISTERS another chance.
What, no love for THE MIGHTY PEKING MAN?
THE BEYOND, was Rolling Thunder, too.
Ah! Shit! I didn't remember that he brought Sonatine over too! That might also be my favorite Kitano movie, but it's hard to say when Kikujiro and Brother are also in the mix (although Brother is kind of Sonatine but in LA).
Wow, those are surprising choices for Kitano faves. I think HANA-BI is probably my second choice, though it has just a hair too much sentiment. Two things about SONATINE: 1. It's just sitting there on Paramount+ as a Miramax property no one gives a shit about. 2. It was once included as a bonus feature on the DVD for Kitano's ZATOICHI, which is a fine enough film, but nowhere near as good.
I need to go back to Hana-Bi, because at 20 I think I didn't appreciate it enough in the middle of Kitano's violence. Kikujiro though, that one hit me just right, funny and sweet but without any saccharine sweetness. I need to revisit all of those movies.
I watched Fallen Angels for the first time last year, and was basically indifferent to it, which spurred me to eventually revisit Chungking Express to see if I was less dazzled by Wong overall or if it was that movie. Turns out it was that movie — I just don't think either of the two stories are as strong or interesting as those in Chungking Express. Still maybe the most gorgeous scene ever set in a McDonald's, though.
Chungking Express, though — wow. Hard to choose between this or ITMFL as my favorite Wong overall, and I still need to watch more of his later filmography.
Great piece on one of my personal faves - I’ve long considered WKW my go-to answer for “who’s your favorite director”, and while I’m a little basic in that I consider In The Mood For Love to be THE masterpiece, Chungking Express is probably the one to take to the desert island because I could watch it every day (I’m also a 99 percentile fan of Ashes of Time Redux - that film just creeps farther and farther up in my estimation with every rewatch)
Gonna have to check out that 2001 interview Scott linked!
That bit in Scott’s interview where WKW explains that the year “2046” would be the last year of an unchanged Hong Kong as promised by China - so enlightening
Welp!
Lol hopefully I didn’t come off as sarcastic! I never put a lot of thought into WHY 2046 before.
I knew it was the hotel room number from In The Mood For Love, which is perfect when you view 2046 as a direct sequel and all of the sci-fi elements as abstractions of Mr. Chow’s frustrations and regrets, but this revelation gives it even more depth.
...probably should have saved this comment for the eventual In The Mood For Love write-up lol
I watched this thing convinced that Tony Leung knew Faye Wong was in his apartment all the time because she did so much stuff in there, almost remodelling the place. Until he caught her.
Part 1 didn't do a lot for me, to be honest, it kind of just stopped (on purpose, yes, I know) and I find that blurry, slow style action that WKW used in Ashes of Time to be kind of annoying.
Part 2 was great, thought, loved it.