Chungking Express

Chungking Express (Hong Kong, Wong kar-wai, 1994)

Officer 223 (#1): Takeshi Kaneshiro

Officer 633 (#2): Tony Leung

Faye: Faye Wong

Blonde wig woman: Brigitte Lin (or Ching-hsia Lin)

1. Describe one scene in which you noticed sped-up or slowed down motion. What was the effect of the slow or fast motion?

The scene in which the cop 663 was standing by the side of the express bar smoking a cigarette, you see that the director chose to slow down the cops motion while simultaneously slightly speeding up the action of the people walking by on the streets. The effect that this had was that it made the audience also slow down and grasp the feeling that the cop was experiencing in that moment. We realize that the cop was stuck in a melancholic state of mind for a long time while the rest of the world was passing by unaffected by the hurt of a lost love. The slow motion suggested a dreamlike moment wherein the cop may have been reminiscing about the great times that he had with the stewardess. It showed his loneliness as the fast pace of everyone else could not connect with him at an emotional level.

2. Describe one similarity between the first story and the second story – what is the same about these two elements, and what is different?

The similarities between the two stories are that the two cops had their hearts broken from when their girlfriends left them. Both cops are waiting for the girlfriends to come back to them and they both realize that after a certain point they have to get over their past relationship and move on. The way these two stories differ is in how they get over their past relationship and move on. Cop 223 gives his relationship an expiry date. During this time he the Woman with a Blonde wig that he is infatuated with. This infatuation helps him get over the ex-girlfriend after a month of torment. The woman in the blonde wig and cop 223 didn’t end up together but that shear fact that the woman said happy birthday to him was...