Two melancholic Hong Kong policemen fall in love: one with a mysterious female underworld figure, the other with a beautiful and ethereal waitress at a late-night restaurant he frequents.Two melancholic Hong Kong policemen fall in love: one with a mysterious female underworld figure, the other with a beautiful and ethereal waitress at a late-night restaurant he frequents.Two melancholic Hong Kong policemen fall in love: one with a mysterious female underworld figure, the other with a beautiful and ethereal waitress at a late-night restaurant he frequents.
- Awards
- 8 wins & 19 nominations
Brigitte Lin
- Woman in Blonde Wig
- (as Ching-hsia Lin)
Tony Leung Chiu-wai
- Cop 663
- (as Tony Chiu Wai Leung)
Piggy Chan
- Manager of 'Midnight Express'
- (as Jinquan Chen)
Lee-Na Kwan
- Richard
- (as Guan Lina)
Thom Baker
- Drug Dealer
- (uncredited)
Vickie Eng
- Barmaid
- (uncredited)
Lynne Langdon
- Complaining Customer
- (uncredited)
- Director
- Writer
- All cast & crew
- Production, box office & more at IMDbPro
Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaSince 'Chungking Express' was filmed in sequence or "like a road movie" as Kar-Wai Wong has said, Wong wrote each scene either the night before or in the morning of the day of filming.
- GoofsIn the part where Faye leaves the apartment and the camera shows her going out, a portion of the camera is seen in the mirror for a brief moment.
- Quotes
He Zhiwu, Cop 223: If memories could be canned, would they also have expiry dates? If so, I hope they last for centuries.
- Alternate versionsThe original Hong Kong release ran 98 minutes. 'Kar Wai Wong' made several changes to the international version, bringing the running time to 102 minutes:
- The international version expands the scenes where The Blonde prepares for the smuggling trip and later searches for the smugglers.
- Indian music plays during the smugglers' arrival at the airport in international prints; in the Hong Kong version, the title theme plays.
- The international version includes the kidnapping of an Indian girl, which does not occur in the Hong Kong version.
- The sequence with Zhiwu loitering outside his girlfriend's window appears earlier in the international edit.
- In the Hong Kong version, the Faye Wong cover of "Dreams" plays over the shot of 663 drinking coffee. The international version strips out the music (leaving only ambient noise), although "Dreams" still appears at the end of the film. The international cut is Wong's preferred version and has been used for most home video releases. The Hong Kong cut was released on VHS/laserdisc by World Video and on VHS/LD/DVD by Mei Ah.
- ConnectionsEdited into 365 Days, also Known as a Year (2019)
- SoundtracksDream Person
Written by Dolores O'Riordan and Noel Hogan
Performed by Faye Wong
(cover of "Dreams" by The Cranberries)
Featured review
There is something very personal and intimate about this film that I missed the first time I saw it. Chunking was recommended to me by a friend of mine whose opinion I value, so I tried it again - and I believe I got it.
Looking back on many of the romantic films I have enjoyed, I noticed that the main characters are usually women. Even those with men don't delve with any sophistication into the male heartbreak. As a result, I am not sure I know how to properly grieve a failed relationship. LOL.
Here the heroes both suffer from failed relationships. In the first story we don't really see anything of his relationship, we just see that he held on a little too long. More important than the relationship or the reason it didn't work is the aftermath and the acute dysfunction with which he approaches the next. In his first 'May Relationship' he claims the failing was not knowing enough about her so he tries to 'get to know' more about his new 'blonde' love.
In the second story, the cop falls in love with a woman he doesn't even know. How about that for consistency of the way many of us dudes love? When we fall for women, we often fall for the idea of what they represent to us at the beginning rather than the reality of what she is. The shot that Wong Kar-Wai captured in the second cop's apartment in which the heroine hid on the wall in plain sight and the cop looked in the bathroom missing her completely was a fair characterization of the film. --- The male characters fell in love with the idea of a predefined woman and missed, in essence the women that were right under their noses.
Ultimately fascinating.
Looking back on many of the romantic films I have enjoyed, I noticed that the main characters are usually women. Even those with men don't delve with any sophistication into the male heartbreak. As a result, I am not sure I know how to properly grieve a failed relationship. LOL.
Here the heroes both suffer from failed relationships. In the first story we don't really see anything of his relationship, we just see that he held on a little too long. More important than the relationship or the reason it didn't work is the aftermath and the acute dysfunction with which he approaches the next. In his first 'May Relationship' he claims the failing was not knowing enough about her so he tries to 'get to know' more about his new 'blonde' love.
In the second story, the cop falls in love with a woman he doesn't even know. How about that for consistency of the way many of us dudes love? When we fall for women, we often fall for the idea of what they represent to us at the beginning rather than the reality of what she is. The shot that Wong Kar-Wai captured in the second cop's apartment in which the heroine hid on the wall in plain sight and the cop looked in the bathroom missing her completely was a fair characterization of the film. --- The male characters fell in love with the idea of a predefined woman and missed, in essence the women that were right under their noses.
Ultimately fascinating.
- JomoRising
- Oct 7, 2005
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Details
- Release date
- Country of origin
- Languages
- Also known as
- Chinching Samlam
- Filming locations
- Lan Kwai Fong, Central, Hong Kong, China(Midnight Express and Restaurant California locations)
- Production company
- See more company credits at IMDbPro
Box office
- Gross US & Canada
- $600,200
- Opening weekend US & Canada
- $32,779
- Mar 10, 1996
- Gross worldwide
- $3,294,092
- Runtime1 hour 42 minutes
- Color
- Sound mix
- Aspect ratio
- 1.66 : 1(original aspect ratio & theatrical release)
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