Review of Chungking Express (1994) by William D — 03 Nov 2009
The stylish but superficial Wong Kar Wai is the most over-rated filmmaker in Asia. He is Asia's answer to the clever but shallow Coen Brothers. With 1994's "Chungking Express," Mr. Wong bores us to tears by playing the song "California Dreamin" by the Mamas and the Papas about a dozen times.
Hearing the same song over and over is like Chinese water torture. Mr. Wong's screenplay is another form of torture. We meet four characters who have as much going on in their heads as the goldfish in the main character's aquarium. These human goldfish swim through life blithely and aimlessly, looking for the next scrap of mild pleasure to amuse themselves.
To them, relationships are mild trifles to be enjoyed before one moves onto something else. So we just watch them flit along vacuously. Yet Mr. Wong is not presenting this view of the world in a critical way. He intends his audience to have the same kind of mild pleasure as the characters on the screen do. He brings a sophisticated style of cinematography to the table, but his stories are even more shallow than the average TV sitcom. Why, oh why, does this filmmaker/goldfish continue to get great reviews around the world?
This review of Chungking Express (1994) was written by William D on 03 Nov 2009.
Chungking Express has generally received very positive reviews.
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