Chungking Express

Chungking Express is a 1994 Hong Kong arthouse romantic comedy-drama film written and directed by Wong Kar-wai. The film consists of two stories told in sequence, each about a lovesick Hong Kong policeman mulling over his relationship with a woman. The first story stars Takeshi Kaneshiro as a cop obsessed by his breakup with a woman named May, and his encounter with a mysterious drug smuggler (Brigitte Lin). The second stars Tony Leung as a police officer roused from his gloom over the loss of his flight attendant girlfriend (Valerie Chow) by the attentions of a quirky snack bar worker (Faye Wong).

Chungking Express
US theatrical release poster
Chinese name
Traditional Chinese重慶森林
Simplified Chinese重庆森林
Literal meaningChungking (Chongqing) Forest
Directed byWong Kar-wai
Written byWong Kar-wai
Produced by
Starring
Cinematography
Edited by
  • William Chang
  • Kai Kit-wai
  • Kwong Chi-Leung
Music by
Production
companies
Jet Tone Production Co., Ltd.
Release date
  • 14 July 1994 (1994-07-14) (Hong Kong)
Running time
98 minutes
CountryHong Kong
LanguageCantonese
Box office
  • $600,200 (United States)
  • HK$7.6 million (Hong Kong)

"Chungking" in the title refers to Chungking Mansions in Tsim Sha Tsui, Hong Kong, where Wong grew up in the 1960s. "Express" refers to the food stand Midnight Express, located in Lan Kwai Fong, an area in Central, Hong Kong.

The film premiered at Hong Kong on 14 July 1994 and received critical acclaim specially for its direction, cinematography and cast performances. Since then it has been regarded as one of Kar-Wai's finest works, one of the best films of 1994, of the 1990s, of the 20th century and of all time, as well as one of the best anthologies and romantic comedies ever made.

In 2022, the film appeared at number 88 on the decennial Sight and Sound critics' poll of the greatest films of all time.

This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.