Chungking Express (1995)
Chungking Express is one fresh salad. It's evocative of so many things; Summer, Hong Kong, (expired) Del Monte Pineapple, lychees, tuna, disconnected phone calls, chasing, sweat and tears, "California Dreamin", "Cranberries", airport, dreams, beers, open hearts and, broken hearts.
The story is about two heart sick cops of Hong Kong who are both a victim of lovesick. Chasing the love that once was lost and trying to get it back.
The first story stars Takeshi Kaneshiro (He Qiwu), an obsessed cop who meets a drug smuggler (Brigette Lin) whose identity is concealed since a warfarer sunglasses, blonde wig and red lipstick are the only visual you could remember once you had a platonic encounter with her.
Wong Kar Wai uses a metaphor over Kaneshiro’s moving on by remembering the break up whenever he purchase expired Del Monte pineapple in a convenient store. To eat pineapples until it hurts.
"She must have walked a lot that night. Such a pretty woman should have clean shoes"
-Takeshi Kaneshiro
**the protagonist on the first story cleans the shoes of Brigette after he sees that it is untidy.
The protagonist on the second story is a lonely cop who talks to non-living things.
Who would have thought that on this flick, you’ll ever seen a man talking to soap, kitchen cloths and teddy bears as per Tony Leung’s character while he suffers a broken heart after his affair with May, a flight attendant who has a change of heart in the story.
Then there’s Faye Wong, a crew in a snack bar who has a big crush on Tony as he frequents their store to order coffee and or sandwich. When May leaves a letter for Tony, Faye opens it and sees a key. Faye uses the keys to frequently break into his apartment by day to redecorate and "improve" his living situation. She finally tells him of the letter but he keeps delaying taking it or even reading it.
Though Wong Kar Wai does often tend to the literary side (references and influences), his mastery is in the language of cinema, so cutting things down to pure symbolism and simple archetypes rather loses the natural depth given by the feel. That is not to say that Wong Kar Wai doesn’t use symbolism and archetypes, but these are never for traditional ends of moving the plot or making a definitive point or statement of intention.
