Pineapples and airplanes

Just watched Wong Kar-Wai's Chungking Express. It's a movie that comes with a lot of hype, feels sometimes like it's the token foreign film that people list on their friendster or myspace page.

Which is odd; not sure why people like it in particular, maybe the mix of music and quick cuts that gives you the sense somthing interesting is happening? The feeling that it's 'arty', that there's Metaphorical stuff going on? I didn't really get into it until Faye Wong's character showed up; there's something so infectious about watching her on-screen, the scenes where she's dancing around--really just moving about--in the take-out joint are great. She's not really graceful, just somehow apt.

She's so cute, and has that Audrey Hepburn-gamine thing going. Plus she wears interesting shirts, thousands of wanna-be hipsters in NYC would kill for the one with the blue heart on it. And California Dreaming is, of course, stuck in my head now.



It's no wonder she's a huge star, in Asia and probably increasingly here. She represents for me all those great Asian and Asian American women, with their cuteness, intelligence, toughness, aliveness and touch of kookiness--there's just something about the way they come across, on-screen and off, that makes then the quintessential modern women and that may be at the root of many an Asian fetish. My guess is the next century may in some ways be defined by the Asian female and their odd mix of practical competence and dreamy cuteness; you're beginning to see it in the fashion world already.

There are lots of other interesting little cinematic scenes--Tony Leung's stewardess-ex crouching down on the escalator to wave as she passes him in his apartment, Leung brushing--and talking--to his stuffed animals, Leung drying out Wong's letter on the hot dog tray. And lots of weirdness as well, like the entire whole first part of the film, and the apartment-rearranging that Wong does to Leung.

My favorite scene of course is where Wong's Cranberries cover is playing in the background as she's bopping about his apartment. It's one of those scenes that has you smiling out loud, and if I were a movie executive I'd have bought the film just on the basis of that.



I've seen a fair number of Wong Kar-Wei's works; I always like them more toward the end, and usually more afterwards. His stories are always obtuse, music is always central, and there's a love story at the heart of the film. He's definitely got his signature style--you always feel half a step behind as scenes zip by and characters and their doubles grope for love.

Per usual, the film reviews don't do much to add to my understanding; Janet Maslin's in the Times does, however, make me shake my head; she gets little details wrong as she recounts the film, and as a result I don't trust her broader characterizations of the film, which is couched in lightly-saying-nothing-but-sprinkling-in-knowing-references-to-things-outside-the-film-so-as-to-avoid-being-wrong critic-speak.

What's the film about? One cop tries to get over his ex-girlfriend May by at first pretending the break-up isn't for real, and then by latching onto another soul alone in a bar. Cop number two gets dumped by his stewardess-girlfriend, gains weight and starts talking to objects in his apartment, while a take-out place worker falls for him, gets his key via a letter his ex leaves for him, starts secretly changing up his apartment to insinuate herself into his life (he doesn't notice for a while), and in the end he falls for her but she decides to stand him up and check out California.

The movie ends with her returning to Hong Kong a year later and unexpectedly running into him at her cousin's shop, which he's bought; they talk, making me think how fatalistic Hong Kong people are about love (she's the one, look for her, follow her, don't let her get away; ditto for you, too, Faye!)

There's elements of the loneliness and disconnectivity that paradoxically hits sensitive people in modern cities; the ever-longing search for love; fixation as a substitute for life; and how we surround ourselves with stuff and infuse it--or not--with meaning.

Anyway, it's still puzzling why so many people list it as among their favorite films. They must not have seen many foreign films in general, other Hong Kong or Wong Kar-Wei films in particular. Sortof like how people loved Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, which like this film I wound up liking, but within the context of its genre despite some nice moments it's not extraordinary.

Screen grab of Faye Wong from Chungking Express via a French site.

As previously noted, a video of Faye Wong singing Dreams by the Cranberries has been posted on YouTube