Two melancholic Hong Kong policemen fall in love: one with a mysterious female underworld figure, the other with a beautiful and ethereal waitress at a late-night restaurant he frequents.Two melancholic Hong Kong policemen fall in love: one with a mysterious female underworld figure, the other with a beautiful and ethereal waitress at a late-night restaurant he frequents.Two melancholic Hong Kong policemen fall in love: one with a mysterious female underworld figure, the other with a beautiful and ethereal waitress at a late-night restaurant he frequents.
- Awards
- 8 wins & 19 nominations
Brigitte Lin
- Woman in Blonde Wig
- (as Ching-hsia Lin)
Tony Leung Chiu-wai
- Cop 663
- (as Tony Chiu Wai Leung)
Piggy Chan
- Manager of 'Midnight Express'
- (as Jinquan Chen)
Lee-Na Kwan
- Richard
- (as Guan Lina)
Thom Baker
- Drug Dealer
- (uncredited)
Vickie Eng
- Barmaid
- (uncredited)
Lynne Langdon
- Complaining Customer
- (uncredited)
- Director
- Writer
- All cast & crew
- Production, box office & more at IMDbPro
Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaSince 'Chungking Express' was filmed in sequence or "like a road movie" as Kar-Wai Wong has said, Wong wrote each scene either the night before or in the morning of the day of filming.
- GoofsIn the part where Faye leaves the apartment and the camera shows her going out, a portion of the camera is seen in the mirror for a brief moment.
- Quotes
He Zhiwu, Cop 223: If memories could be canned, would they also have expiry dates? If so, I hope they last for centuries.
- Alternate versionsThe original Hong Kong release ran 98 minutes. 'Kar Wai Wong' made several changes to the international version, bringing the running time to 102 minutes:
- The international version expands the scenes where The Blonde prepares for the smuggling trip and later searches for the smugglers.
- Indian music plays during the smugglers' arrival at the airport in international prints; in the Hong Kong version, the title theme plays.
- The international version includes the kidnapping of an Indian girl, which does not occur in the Hong Kong version.
- The sequence with Zhiwu loitering outside his girlfriend's window appears earlier in the international edit.
- In the Hong Kong version, the Faye Wong cover of "Dreams" plays over the shot of 663 drinking coffee. The international version strips out the music (leaving only ambient noise), although "Dreams" still appears at the end of the film. The international cut is Wong's preferred version and has been used for most home video releases. The Hong Kong cut was released on VHS/laserdisc by World Video and on VHS/LD/DVD by Mei Ah.
- ConnectionsEdited into 365 Days, also Known as a Year (2019)
- SoundtracksDream Person
Written by Dolores O'Riordan and Noel Hogan
Performed by Faye Wong
(cover of "Dreams" by The Cranberries)
Featured review
Every day we interact with people. Within the course of 24 hours we can influence someone's life (for better or worse) so deeply that they will never forget us. Is it possible that the next person you fall in love with could be a notorious heroin smuggler or the counter girl at the express luncheonette counter? Wong Kar-Wai, the writer/director of Chungking Express seems to think so. The film is broken into two tales. The first story is mainly about the sadder side of love. Love comes and brings us light and joy, but it also goes and leaves us feeling empty and needing fulfillment. The two main characters in this half of the film, a police officer played dolefully by Takeshi Kaneshiro, and a heroin smuggler played icily by Bridgitte Lin, interact for only ten percent of the story, but their meeting leaves them both with memories that will last life time. The story ends on a high note that shows us that a simple act of kindness can bring the most unreceptive people to appreciate the beauty hidden in life. The second (and far stronger) story centers around two people and their interaction at a fast food counter in the Kwaloon section of Hong Kong. Tony Leung plays the part of a rejected lover perfectly and gives of the air of being sad without ever really being pathetic. Faye Wang's quirky portrayal of the free-spirited counter girl who helps Leung forget about his ex-girlfriend, is exactly what the film needed to counter-balance its darker first half. These characters and their bizarre relationship illustrates that love can manifest itself in any number of ways, many of them unconventional. The mechanism that allows these seemingly disjointed stories together is the camera work. Wong Kar-Wai uses a decidedly unique filming technique for much of the first half of the film; a blurry hand-held technique (think Blaire Witch on drugs) used during the chase scenes. The recurring style in the second half is a time-lapse type shot with people around the main subjects moving very fast and the subjects themselves moving in slow motion (a really cool effect). The camera styles add a common surreal element to each of the stories, while still keeping them somewhat independent. Perhaps the most striking element of the film is the interconnectedness of the characters and situations. There are many establishing shots showing characters inhabiting the same places at different times, and even the same places at the same times without noticing each other. This style of filming can alter the viewer's perception of reality, daring us to believe that we are all extras in somebody else's movie.
- CardMastah
- Apr 12, 2001
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Details
- Release date
- Country of origin
- Languages
- Also known as
- Chinching Samlam
- Filming locations
- Lan Kwai Fong, Central, Hong Kong, China(Midnight Express and Restaurant California locations)
- Production company
- See more company credits at IMDbPro
Box office
- Gross US & Canada
- $600,200
- Opening weekend US & Canada
- $32,779
- Mar 10, 1996
- Gross worldwide
- $3,294,092
- Runtime1 hour 42 minutes
- Color
- Sound mix
- Aspect ratio
- 1.66 : 1(original aspect ratio & theatrical release)
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