Whatever ineffable thing Wong Wong Kar-wai does—let’s call it despondent extravagance—he distilled it into its purest form with Chungking Express, his third film and the one that put the Hong Kong filmmaker on the international map. There are essentially four central characters: a woman (Brigitte Lin) who coordinates a drug-smuggling operation while disguising herself beneath sunglasses and a blond wig; a detective (Takeshi Kaneshiro) pining over a different, unseen woman who recently dumped him; and a beat cop (Tony Leung) whose own failed romance with a flight attendant opens up the door for a potential relationship with a server (Faye Wong) at the snack shop he frequents. Don’t get too attached to any of these characters or their narratives, however gorgeous and enchanting they may be. Wong isn’t interested in their stories, but their moods—and the cinematic ways he can express them. And so neon Coca-Cola and McDonald’s signs throb with yearning (product placement hasn’t had this much meaning since Andy Warhol). The smeared camerawork—which makes certain sequences look like a painting in the process of being animated—casts a hypnotic spell, especially when one character remains in focus in the foreground, the world moving on as they remain morose. Even the water dripping from a towel evokes tears (at least that’s how Leung’s cop describes it). And when Faye’s server turns up The Mamas & The Papas’ “California Dreamin’” blaringly loud at the snack shop, it’s both because it will mean the cop has to lean close to talk to her, and because that’s how intensely she feels the world. For the 100 minutes or so of Chungking Express, we feel it the same way.
