Chungking Express


Introduction
Police of NO.223 (Jincheng Wu) was dumped by his girlfriend again, he
thinks everything has shelf life including “love”, but his thought changed
when he first strange encounter with the blonde killer (Brigitte Lin), they have
a warmth night, this short experience makes his heart warm, however, their
love is over when sun rise up.
New fast food restaurant waitress Affi (Faye Wong) falls in love with the
police NO.633 (Tony Leung) who often patronize fast food restaurants. She
knows his mood when she read the letter NO.633’s girlfriend leave to him.
Then, she steal his room key and always sneak into his room to change his
life, finally being caught and he ralized the return of felt emotion. However,
this is the beginning of their love.
Director
Wong Kar Wai (1958--7-17), famous file director in Hong Kong, his film not
only made many film stars, but also created many miracles. His six movies
construct a unique “Wong Kar-wai” type of movie aesthetics, all his movies
have its extreme stylization of the visual images, full of post-modern means
of presentation and the ethos of the urban population keen grasp.


SHOT ANALYSIS
00.02.50
Shot size: The scene begins with a medium close-up on He Qiwu, calling
May’s home from a pay phone. He does not actually speak to her; instead
he talks to her parents, confident that May will call him “when she is ready”.


00.19.08
This is followed by a long shot of him at Chungking Express, where he frequently
waits for May to get off of work. He is lingering in this place because
they used to meet here, but she never comes. This is almost like the stalker
quality of following the person to certain places, except that this is a place
she was once at as opposed to currently at.


00.18.56
Another medium long shot shows him buying the pineapple at the counter.
The clerk informs him that the can will expire the next day.


00.19.01
Another POV shot shows the pineapple’s expire day. It tells He Qiwu love
can be the can of pineapple, it is also will out of expire day.


00.02.50
Sound: The scene only uses diegetic sound. We can hear the noise form
cars. Because He Qiwu speaks to someone on the phone and his voice is
very loud.


01.18.12
Music: Faye was found in the cop’s apartment. He turns on the CD, but
the music was changed. It is Faye’s favorite music. Because Faye is a very
happy girl, she likes consider revising some pop music. It shows different
personalities.


01.02.24
Character Movement: Faye got the cop’s key from his girlfriend. She doesn’t
want to leave any evidence so she opens the door very carefully with gloves.
And she also wears glass to hide herself.
01.05.28
Camera Movement: The camera tilts down to reveal that she quickly hides
under a blanket. He almost spots her. The cop returns to work. Faye then
jumps around on his bed, throwing his sheets around. As he goes by his
window on the escalator, she shouts “Hi!” to him, but quickly hides behind
the curtain. She spends the entire scene hiding and avoiding detection, yet
risks getting caught by yelling at him.
Camera Angle: The angle of the camera is low angle level. The scene wants
to show Faye can see the cop through the window, but the cop doesn’t know
there is someone in his apartment.


01.20.35
Lighting: The light is a low key. But the scene uses candle to make it more
creative and a little romance. Because it shows Faye’s feeling of love. The
candle can sympathize her heart is always warm.


01.38.06
Costume: Faye’s costume has a very big change at the end. She wants to
be a flight attendant finally she achieved her dream. But she wears a very
weird glass, it shows her real personality.


01.29.14
Editing techniques: This scene shows two editing techniques. Low speed
of the cop and high speed of the crowd. As we can see, it shows the long
waiting. He feels disappointed, because she didn’t come.


00.37.29
Depth of field: This scene is shallow focus. Because it focus on this small
object, just because he is waiting for a birthday blessing. This whole view
shows his expectation and lonely love.



Summarize
He Qiwu and Faye are similar in the sense that they both are in love to the
point of obsession. They both exhibit characteristics of obsession to the point
that could be considered stalking. However, there are many differences in
the way they exhibit this obsessive behaviour. He Qiwu is a man, as well as
a cop, brooding over a girl. Faye is a girl, who is longing for a man who is a
cop.



Reference:
http://www.wkw.freeuk.com/cke_rev_1.html
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0109424/