Chung Hing sam lam (1994)

this is a film about love that is mired in reality (though shot through the lens of alchemist - truly a visual experience to be savored)though not gritty reality, just every day boring life and love, the sort of love we go through each day ourselves, the kinda incomplete love where two people touch each other briefly and spend more time dreaming of what could be rather than it actually taking place.
The narrative of the film is simple, once you get over the fact that it is divided into two parts. The first half of the film, starring Brigitte Lin and Takeshi Kaneshiro, is perhaps the most overtly post-modern, referencing both film noir and the British handover to China heavily. It is also perhaps the most visually startling, with DP Christopher Doyle pioneering some astonishing camera techniques, which bend, stretch and distort the film, creating an almost hallucinatory effect; it is disorienting, dizzying, and utterly exhilarating. The second half is the most widely-discussed story, and stars Tony Leung and the absolutely adorable Faye Wong. It is a more straightforward romantic comedy, its style more Godardian than the first.In fact, Godard is a useful reference point, particularly A Bout de Soufflé, which Chungking Express essentially separates in half, into film noir and romance. This can be seen in the contrast between Brigitte Lin's femme fatale in the first half, her blond wig and sunglasses reminiscent of Barbara Stanwyck in Double Indemnity, and Faye Wong's strong resemblance to Jean Seberg, the female lead in Godard's film, in the second half.
Wong shot the film in Hong Kong's Chungking Mansions, a densely populated market area, so the flood of neon logos for Western products is ever-present, at times saturating the screen. The way in which Wong brings these logos to the fore suggests a love of Western culture, and a desire to maintain this, under threat of Chinese rule, and the eventual abandonment of Capitalism. This love is reflected in the soundtrack, which is hugely eclectic, incorporating Vangelis-style-Blade-Runneresque synths, mellow, soft-porn-style jazz, ska, bhangra and Western pop, including Faye Wong's Canto-Pop rendition of 'Dreams', by the Cranberries and, most memorably, the Mamas and the Papas West Coast classic, 'California Dreamin''. The song not only alludes to Faye's desire to escape to California; it is representative of the overall 'catchiness' of Chungking Express. This is a film that captures the exuberance and spontaneity of youth.
4/5