Amazon.co.uk Review
Chungking Express tells two stories loosely connected by a Hong Kong snack bar. In one, a cop who's been recently dumped by his girlfriend becomes obsessed with the expiry dates on cans of pineapple; he's constantly distracted as he tries to track down a drug dealer in a blonde wig (played by Brigitte Lin, best known from Swordsman II and The Bride with White Hair). Meanwhile, another cop who's recently been dumped by his girlfriend (Tony Leung Chiu-Wai, from John Woo's Hard-Boiled and A Bullet in the Head) mopes around his apartment, talking to his sponge and other domestic objects. He catches the eye of a shop girl (Hong Kong pop star Faye Wang) who secretly breaks in and cleans his apartment. If you're beginning to suspect that neither of these stories has a conventional plot, you're correct. What Chungking Express does have is loads of energy and a gorgeous visual style that never gets in the way of engaging with the charming characters. The film was shot on the fly by hip director Wong Kar-Wai (Happy Together, Ashes of Time), using only available lighting and found locations. The movie's loose, improvisational feel is closer to Jean-Luc Godard's Breathless than any recent film--and that's high praise. Quirky, funny, and extremely engaging, Chungking Express manages to be experimental and completely accessible at the same time. --Bret Fetzer, Amazon.com
DVD Description
Cantonese and Mandarin with English subtitles
DVD Special Features:
Motion menus
Scene Selection
From the Back Cover
Two cops, two girls and a neon city.
Ditched by a girl he can't forget, Cop No 223 (Takeshi Kanehsiro), picks up a be-wigged and mysterious woman (Brigitte Lin) in a late night bar, little dreaming she's a big time heroin smuggler in deep trouble. Set laregely in the infamous Chunking Mansions.
In the second story, Cop No 663 played by Hong Kong star Tony Leung, is so broken up over an airhostess who's abandoned him that he initially completely fails to notice that the girl who works in the Midnight Express (Faye Wong) has a massive crush on him and has started breaking into his apartment to clean, add extra fish to his tank and put sleeping pills in his water....
