Surname 1

Student’s Name

Professor’s Name

Course

Date

Analysis of Chungking Express

Introduction

Chungking Express is a 1994 movie that was directed and written by Wong Kar-Wai.

This movie perceives life as a string of chances to which specific people react (Redmond 48).

Most of the chase scenes, if not all of them are step-printed, which figuratively distorts the lines

of reality in this film to a considerable extent. Chungking Express is a movie that has two

different plots, which encompass chance encounters among the various characters because of the

shared settings. However, due to Hong Kong’s flux, they meet other people, and as a result,

develop unintended emotional connections. Many people who have watched Chungking express

seem to have diverted opinions about Wong’s manipulation and depiction of chance, time as well

as space. Teo postulates that Wong looks at time as a tangible item through expiring objects and

perceives life as something associated with expirations and further emphasizes Wong’s

0utilization of old songs as a portrayal of the expiry of life, hinting at nostalgia. However,

Wong's undefined positioning of the music in cinematic spaces and his manipulation/editing of

time, as well as space, stress the fact that the future is unwritten.

In the part of the film, the song “Things in life” could be heard four times. At first, it is

heard in the scene with the jukebox at a bar. When this music is first associated with the bar

owner, who is a drug boss and the female bartender, it was diegetic since it was coming from a

specific device. The second time this song is heard was when the drug boss had given a death
 Surname 2

sentence to Brigitte Lin. However, this time it is heard as a diegetic off-screen sound since the

audience could listen to the music but would not see its source. With the source of the sound

hidden, this music extends the movie's spatiality, opening up possibilities and giving dimension

to space outside the ocular. The turn of events in this case, from the song being first heard on a

diegetic situation and the second time being due to death, helps in advancing the theme of the

future being unwritten. The change of events from a happy moment to a death shows the

uncertainty of the future.

The extensive work by Michel Chion, a French film sound scholar, gives an ideal

platform that helps in enhancing understanding of how sound has been used in the film

Chungking Express. He draws the relation that when a sound is heard and the source is not seen,

the sound is said to be acousmatic. In the case of Chungking Express, music has been

acousmatized. It is uncertain to the audience whether the music heard during the play is diegetic

or non-diegetic. The narrative of indeterminacy in the film regarding the use of sound

corresponds to the aleatoric nature of life and the uncertainty of the future in Hong Kong. As

such, this indeterminacy contributes to the unwritten future in Hong Kong and the future in

general. Sound in this case is used to show the uncertainty of life in the city and also that the

future is unpredictable.

The film is made up of two stories that have been tied together by Cop 223’s visit to a

sandwich shop called Midnight Express. He notices the counter girl working at the shop, Faye,

and seems to fall deep in love with her although she later falls in love with another man after a

few hours. A few minutes prior, she was also hitting on Brigitte Lin’s character. Memories of

love and romance are fleeting for Cop 223, appearing more of a dream than the reality. The past,

once the concreteness has been rejected or consumed, becomes somewhat different from the
 Surname 3

future. In this case, history becomes as mutative as the uncertain future. Although it is impossible

to change facts, it is possible to change the perception that one has towards the past and the

future. However, Wong Kar-Wai suggests that both of these are fantasies. It is through this line

of thought that it becomes possible to bring together the idea of the disparate narratives of the

stories and the music. At first, Cop 223 was hitting on a Lin and felt that he was in love with her.

However, he reaches the shop and falls in love with the shop girl. At first, it could not be easy to

tell that Cop 223 could fall in love with someone else after he met Lin. Therefore, his falling in

love with the shop girl after a few minutes of falling in love with Lin shows that the future is

unwritten and a turn of events can happen any time.

The musical components and lyrics of California Dreamin’ is atypical of the songs that

are popular in California since it does not mention beaches, convertibles, or girls clad in bikini.

On the contrary, the song suggests that there is a melancholic uncertainty, further advancing the

theme of an unwritten future. The song also happens to be in a minor key; the mode is mutative

since the sixth and seventh scale degrees of the key change depending on the surrounding notes.

As such, the minor key turns out to be less stable that the major counterpart. The deceptive

cadence of the opening phrase of V7-bVI has been set to ‘…sky is grey/I’ve been for a walk…’

also adds to the sense of harmonic uncertainty created through the structure of the music. The

conclusion of the song has a cadence of bVII-I which is harmonically weak. In this case, it can

be noticed that the progression in this case lacks the tonally that characterizes a leading tone. It

can also be noted to be ambiguous. As such, it can be seen from this case that just like Cop 663

and Faye tend to be unsure of their futures and themselves, so is the music used in the film,

California Dreamin’. The use of the song, as shown by the tone, promotes the theme of an
 Surname 4

unwritten future due to its lyrics and tone because it uses lyrics of uncertainty to reflect the fact

that Faye and Cop 223 had uncertain futures.

Besides, the song seems to communicate more than the female character, Faye herself.

Additionally, Wong uses the same music repeatedly in various scenes perhaps to depict emphasis

on certain subjects. For instance, in the various scenes where Cop 663 visits the Midnight

Express, the same song by the Mamas and the Papas titled “California Dreaming” plays

(Malcom 97). Wong also moved the music between off-screen, onscreen as well as non-diegetic

space throughout the movie. The undefined placement of the music in the various cinematic

spaces emphasizes the last theme of the film, “The Future is written.” Moreover, it is also hard to

determine whether the music in Chungking Express is non-diegetic or diegetic. This

indeterminacy associated with sound portrays also helps in advancing the theme of an unwritten

future and the aleatoric of life in Hong Kong. Therefore, Wong uses his editing skills to advance

the theme.

It is also notable that Wong’s editing prowess gives the film a largely looping feeling,

which is similar to recurring dreams or a song that one cannot get out of their head. This shows

that Wong’s editing skills give the film an uncertainty feeling, advancing the theme of an

unwritten future. The camera is also rarely stationary. Instead, it is wondering just like the

characteristics, giving one the feel to observe these lives. The reason why one gets the feel to

watch these lives is because the camera is moving and so no certainty where it will capture next;

this creates uncertainty. Further, this camera style has both expressionistic and voyeuristic

aspects that make it unpredictable for viewers. In this case, Wong uses the movement of the

cameras and their unpredictability to advance the theme of an unwritten future.

Further, it is notable that Wong shot Chucking Express when he was on a two-month

break from his editing role. The outcome is that the emitting the film gives viewers the best

fleeting feeling, thus capturing the relentless energy in the society. In this case, the fleeting

feeling captures the relentless energy of the residents. The relentless energy and the fleeting feel

that one gets creates an environment of uncertainty and advance the theme of uncertainty. The

manner in which Wong uses editing in the section shows that one can get a feel of the

uncertainty of life in Hong Kong. The manner in which he shifts between different lights further

communicates this. As such, the theme of an unwritten future in this case is advanced by editing

through the uncertainty and shifting from one color to the next in the film.

Conclusion

Chungking Express portrays a city as a random flux that does not necessarily give rise to

meaningful emotional connections. However, Hong Kong is a space that is characterized by

unlimited possibilities. The resolution of the two plots in the film provides an inspiration that

eventually, coincidence and chance can be transcended by time, change, and the acts of mutual

kindness. Wong Kar-Wai explores specific editing techniques to portray certain moments and

meanings in the movie. For instance, he applies slow and fast motion to capture particular

moments and put more emphasis on them. He also uses sound to portray space and emotion in

the movie. His editing skills help him to successfully advance the theme of an unwritten future.
 Surname 6

Works Cited
Desser, D. (2016). Chungking Express, Tarantino, and the Making of a Reputation. Companion

to Wong Kar-wai. Chichester, West Sussex: Wiley Blackwell, 319-44.

Redmond, S. (2008). Studying Chungking Express. Leighton: Auteur.