Kattiera Nana I think this is a new genre that they're all sort of working their way through it and haven't got all the kinks worked out yet but it's a genre that works for me.

Wordiezett So much average

KnotStronger This is a must-see and one of the best documentaries - and films - of this year.

Taha Avalos The best films of this genre always show a path and provide a takeaway for being a better person.

Ulf Kjell Gür "Somehow I've become very cautious. When I put on a raincoat, I put on sunglasses too." An inspiring, different and innovative film. A minor masterpiece if the film also had provided important elements like character development and gestaltung. In "Chungking Express" the actors are sadly turned into puppets. Exposing their private peculiarities and poses. The dialogue is sometimes purely Freudian; - What are you doing in my apartment? - You asked me to visit.

Parker Lewis I love Chungking Express.If you're into a movie for pro-forma plot line or how fast a car goes in Fast and the Furious or how many people are chomped on by dinosaurs, then Chungking Express isn't for you.Chungking Express is a movie to be experienced, to be savoured, to be enjoyed. Maybe it's because I've been to Hong Kong a few times and it's amazing seeing the sights incorporated into Wong Kar-Wai's vision and Christopher Doyle's cinematography.The ending was bittersweet but I loved the Cantonese rendition of a famous Cranberries hit.The atmosphere of Chungking Express is pure Wong Kar-Wai - congratulations on a top movie.

sharky_55 One centimetre separates the two stories of Chungking Express. Two cops drift in the aftermath of the breakdown of long term relationships. Cop 223 wanders and buys cans of pineapples, hoping that their expiry dates are just false promises and that he will be given a second chance. Cop 663 stops by the Midnight Express food stall each night on his shift, but cannot seem to move on from his stewardess ex-girlfriend. This is the night-life of Hong Kong at its most vivid, taking its cues from the French New Wave; the hand-held camera barrels around cramped alleyways and corners bursting with the hum drum of the makeshift shops, neon signage and lights are deliberately overexposed, and each setting carries its own colour coding. The streets are cool blue, crowded yet lonely. Cop 223's apartment is sterile and bathed in green; he's one of those people that get super tidy after a breakup, instead of the opposite. The bar has an orange-red glow where he negotiates a lonely encounter with our other primary character, a drug dealer with a blonde wig, coat and sunglasses. There is also the step-printing effect that this movie is famous for - replicating frames which creates the staggering, blurry effect that would normally be associated with a drop in frame rate and shutter speed. This ups the kinetic chase scenes to almost sensory overload; the dim hallways, the multicoloured lights streaking all along the streets, car horns blaring from all directions. Wong Kar Wai isolates these characters within a paradox; they wander the streets of Hong Kong, one of the most densely populated cities in the world, but find themselves to be lonely at the end of each night. More than once, we find ourselves staring at Faye compartmentalised and squished between the shelves in the frame, with a sort of voyeuristic longing behind the gaze. Doyle and co. will use strong telephoto lenses to enhance this theme; one choice scene involves Leung beckoning her to lean in before whispering a joke. While they may be mere centimetres from one another, the focus instead has his face crisp and in the foreground while hers is further away and blurred. There is no better way to express 'close yet so far away'. The most iconic technique is the way WKW freezes our primary characters in these little moments while the rest of the Hong Kong crowd bustles and rushes past them. It's a breathtaking effect that locks them down within their own small pocket of eternity. The first instance is the most striking scene in the film; the big doe eyes of Faye staring across at Leung as he seeks to indefinitely delay the bad news and finality of what lies inside the envelope. Later this feeling is visualised the same way again, as he waits for a date that will never show, distracting himself by pushing coins into a jukebox. These seconds drag on agonisingly while the city rushes on, careless of their little crisis. Some detractors have complained about the repetition of the soundtrack and how it drones on and on. I think this marks, to some extent, the difference of attitudes and contexts of the western and eastern viewer. We are blessed to have musical and media overload, to have chart-topping hits at the touch of a button and more musical range than we could ever consume. For the Hong Kong of Chungking Express, pop songs leak through, and those that do, are treasured dearly. See how the camera sways in motion to a working Faye as she dances to California Dreaming for the umpteenth time. For her, it represents not literal California (although she does visit, and it isn't up to the fantasy), but the desire to escape the rat race of Hong Kong and travel. For Cop 663, it is that hazy, dreamlike apartment that she shared with his ex which contained all his love and comfort. As the cinematography overexposes the light coming in through the windows in those nostalgic rooms, it links itself to the reconciliation scene in the convenience store where the lights blare just as brightly and he finally finds his closure. Time for a new 'California'.

gsygsy The first half of this movie is excellent. It is carried by two charismatic stars - Brigitte Lin, Takeshi Kaneshiro - who act very well. It's a fun mix of detective story and wry romance. The second half is a whole other movie, thematically linked only by the most tenuous of threads, featuring the great Tony Leung, but ultimately dependent on the narrower talents of pop star Faye Wong. Her gifts are stretched very thinly indeed by the large amount of screen time she's given. I'm sorry to say I was so bored after twenty minutes of her whimsy that I started to doze.Wong Kar-Wai makes visually stylish movies. From what I've read about them, their peculiar energy seems partly to stem from scenes and story-lines being cobbled together at the last minute. It's a risky strategy, but clearly it can succeed. Sometimes, as in HAPPY TOGETHER, this improvisatory approach can sustain a whole picture. CHUNGKING EXPRESS is only a half-full glass. It's the second half that's empty.