With Canned Pineapple Comes Universal Truth

Chungking Express. I was pre-disposed to like this film. I read about it in a memoir where it helped a struggling hero through a rough patch in his life, and I wanted it to fill me with the same feelings of hope and optimism. Honestly, I had no idea what to expect. Having only ever watched one other subtitled film to date, I didn’t have an accurate platform on which to decide whether or not I was in for an afternoon of hard work. I was pleasantly surprised when the film presented itself to me with a complex form of simplicity; that is to say it is complicated to describe, but a simple pleasure to watch. Unlike Pulp Fiction, or any other film I’ve seen with two or more seemingly unrelated plots, I wasn’t tempted to figure anything out. I was more than content to sit back and watch, captivated, as two very un-extraordinary plots unfolded.

In the first, a tasteful homage to film noir, a lovesick cop meets a mysterious blonde woman at a bar. Both simply seek the comfort of another human being, and they find it in each other. After that night, they never meet again within the confines of the film. As I have just described it, the plot sounds lacking and mundane, but the combination of superb acting and cinematography add elements of enthusiasm and excitement to the story. The moments were undeniably real, the dialogue is perfect, and the cinematography is breathtaking. There is one scene where the blonde woman is running down a crowded street. She is in soft focus, and every other person appears like a headlight in an overexposed photograph. For lack of a better description, it’s beautiful.

The second story follows yet another cop as he copes with the loss of one girlfriend and the potential gain of another. By this point, the genre had made a clean switch to a more buoyant yet realistic take on the romantic comedy. Both the cop, played by Tony Leung Chiu Wai, and the girl, played by Faye Wong, gave performances which, to me, epitomized honesty. I have never wanted to be in love more than I do after watching this film. The stories, though unrelated by characters, focused on a small take-out restaurant called Midnight Express, which acted as a thread to tie together the two plots. By watching Chungking Express, I have discovered the frailty of language barriers. While I did make use of the English subtitles offered to me on the DVD menu, I could understand by the actors’ expressions and movements what was happening, especially in the second half. These actors proved that watching something as simple as everyday life can be interesting, and as humans, we want to see those pure, unadulterated moments of joy and sorrow which go hand in hand in this film. We want reassurance that everything in our lives will work out for the best, even if all we have for proof is a smile and a Chinese cover of a Cranberries’ song to latch on to before the credits roll. To me, a good film is one that captures the essence of what it truly means to live, to laugh, and to love, even in the face of hardship and heartbreak. Chungking Express is most certainly a good film.

“If memories could be canned would they also have expiry dates? If so, I hope they last for centuries.”

Here is the English version of the trailer. Sorry for the low quality.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZkyRcGGeq8E&feature=related