453 Chungking Express

[Telstar]

How big is your TV?

42"... which I know isn't supposedly quite large enough to REALLY showcase the diff between HD and standard def, but I've had no problem in seeing the dramatic upgrade from SD to BD on loads of titles. Chungking, sadly, is not one of them.

[swo17]

Well, I haven't done the exact comparison that you have, but are the other SD->BD upgrades you're comparing from releases that came out at the same time, and that were based on the same transfers?

[Telstar]

Well, I haven't done the exact comparison that you have, but are the other SD->BD upgrades you're comparing from releases that came out at the same time, and that were based on the same transfers?

Good point, but many of the more noticeable upgrades I'm thinking of are in fact titles based on the same transfers. Just this week I found myself amazed at the difference between the blu-ray and SD of The Proposition, and the leap from the most recent special edition of Casablanca to the new BD is also pretty thrilling.

[cdnchris]

Good point, but many of the more noticeable upgrades I'm thinking of are in fact titles based on the same transfers. Just this week I found myself amazed at the difference between the blu-ray and SD of The Proposition, and the leap from the most recent special edition of Casablanca to the new BD is also pretty thrilling.

I don't know if The Proposition is a fair comparison, though, since the transfer on the DVD is one of the worst SD transfers I've seen of any recent release. They obviously did a whole new one for the Blu-ray release. (I can't speak of the Casablanca Blu, but the HD DVD was pretty impressive.) Criterion used the exact same transfer for both the DVD and Blu-ray and the fact they don't look all that different at a glance speaks well of their SD releases. The only Blu I've seen so far from them is Bottle Rocket and it looks fantastic, but the DVD release is still incredibly strong in comparison.

[Matt]

Has anyone figured out how to use the "timeline" feature on the Blu-ray? It doesn't respond to any buttons on my remote. Is this a feature on all of Criterion's Blu-rays?

[jorencain]

It's on "Bottle Rocket" also. It just seemed like another way to select each chapter. I spent about 10 seconds looking at it, so that's all I got.

[bkimball]

Has anyone figured out how to use the "timeline" feature on the Blu-ray? It doesn't respond to any buttons on my remote. Is this a feature on all of Criterion's Blu-rays?

It responds fine to my remote. I have a Sony BDP-S350 player. I simply use the generic color buttons to splice bits together. I believe this is a really nice feature for a formal academic discussion, but will have little to no use for the home viewer.

[Matt]

I'm using a PS3. I got shapes, not colors on my remote. But if memory serves, Criterion uses a PS3 as their primary player; how do they get it to work?

[cdnchris]

I'm using a PS3. I got shapes, not colors on my remote. But if memory serves, Criterion uses a PS3 as their primary player; how do they get it to work?

I'm assuming, like me, they have the remote. I couldn't take the controller thing anymore. Also, if you hit the triangle, you get a pop-up on screen with all the colour buttons.

[Matt]

I'm using a PS3. I got shapes, not colors on my remote. But if memory serves, Criterion uses a PS3 as their primary player; how do they get it to work?

I'm assuming, like me, they have the remote. I couldn't take the controller thing anymore. Also, if you hit the triangle, you get a pop-up on screen with all the colour buttons.

Ah, thanks. I actually bought this so I could use this. I suppose I could program some color buttons into the latter if I ever feel I might use this feature.

I watched this with Rayns' commentary last night. It's not bad - very breezy and off-the-cuff (read: unrehearsed), a little gossipy (he knows all these people very well), but not uninformative. I might have preferred a slightly more scholarly analysis being as this is Wong's most innovative film, but Rayns certainly brings insights into it that no one else can. The only thing that bugged me is that he kept referring to scenes long after they had passed on the screen because he was, at the time, busy talking about something else. If he'd only have structured his thoughts according to the timecode or something.

That "Moving Pictures" segment (all 12 minutes of it) is a shockingly lightweight extra. Still, nice to have, I guess, if only as a document of a time when Chris Doyle and Wong Kar-Wai still spoke to each other. Having only ever seen the previous Miramax version (but seen it about a dozen times), the new subtitle translation takes some getting used to. This is a great film, though. One in which I still discover new things every time I watch it. Makes me sad that Wong has become so stagnant as a filmmaker, though.

[bkimball]

Revisiting quite a bit of Godard this year and returning to this film on Blu-Ray resonated with me much more with this second viewing. The theme of expiration and ultimately rebirth in life - relationships, mortality, even national identity - is more poignant than I had given credit to this film for. I enjoyed how the free form narrative allowed the two cop's stories to cross paths, but not equal time was spent on them. In addition, I think that Cop 223's screen time was shorter than Cop 663 was a good decision. Tony Leung carries his heart sickness much more poignantly and therefore, is more engaging to watch.

I found the Moving Pictures supplement interesting, in as much as showing that Chris Doyle is a nutter. The commentary will follow this week sometime.

Edit: The Tony Rayns commentary was just what I needed. A question that came up with the group that I watched it with was, "Why have the two stories?" I believe Mr. Rayns explained it very well, and it dawned on me how effortless this film seems. I must revisit Wong Kar-Wai now.

[Michael]

For years after numerous viewings, I never felt wowed by Chungking Express. I'm a huge fan of Wong Kar Wai, always championing In The Mood For Love as one of the best films ever made. And also his magnum opus with Happy Together and The Hand tailing behind a bit. Coming home from a long tiring day at work, out of the darkness of the storage where I keep my DVDs, Chungking Express called me. Settling down with dinner leftovers, I decided to spin the CE disc - my very first BR disc. All of sudden the house, the walls and furnitures surrounding me crumbled away intantly! I was back into the neon-blur of Hong Kong but this time something happened, something really miraculous. After numerous CE viewings for nearly 15 years, it never did a thing to me but last night, it was like stumbling over a holy grail. Weird how that happened, how that affected me out of so blue and so unexpectedly. It was damn perfect. All I've been feeling is this warm urge to cuddle with the film, like a fuzzy bear, giddy and refreshed.

[Murdoch]

I guess this will be the thread where I just applaud people for enjoying this film, but how can I not seeing as it is my favorite and remains as caught in my dreams as the first time I saw it? No other film has created such nostalgia in me, where I think back on it as a cherished memory and feel a deep connection to each character, a deep longing to experience the neon-hazed world that they dwell in.

I'm extremely happy you liked it, Michael, because each time a kind word is said about CE it fills me with the utmost joy, I think you described the film beautifully.

[Michael]

I'm extremely happy you liked it, Michael, because each time a kind word is said about CE it fills me with the utmost joy, I think you described the film beautifully.

No, I LOVE it. It's impossible to discuss this film intellectually (at least for me) because it's too emotional, every scene - colors, motions, music - hanging on shades of emotions, like those crying towels in No. 663's apartment. It really leaves me on a high, still ongoing into the next day. How amazing that film is nearly 15 years old! It doesn't age a bit at all.

I don't know if it's me or what. Just a personal journey to share: when I first saw In The Mood For Love, I was completely enthralled and floored. But after repeated viewings over a few years now, it's growing kinda draggy, longer and tiresome despite its exquisite visual art. But CE went the opposite direction for me - from many lukewarm viewings over a stretch of 14 years to being completely devastated by last nights viewing.

[Michael]

The iconic picture of Faye Wong (below) is always attached to Chungking Express, can be found everywhere on the net. Having seen the film so many times, I feel embarrassed for not remembering seeing this picture anywhere in the film. Or was I too starry-eyed by the film that I never noticed it?

[kaujot]

I can't quite remember it either.

[Michael]

It could be a publicity photo. Very adorable though.

[fiddlesticks]

It's absolutely not in the movie; I was looking out for it the last time I watched the film.

[Michael]

I've been reading essays, reviews, and articles related to Chungking Express. Why is it that most of them connect Wong Kar Wai, esp Chungking Express, to Godard? Surely Wong used a lot of jump-cuts and a handful of other techniques Godard made famous but still so many directors use such techniques and similar style between Godard and Wong anyway. But then again, why do people still love to utter Wong in the same sentence as Godard? I think Wong is a lot better director. What Godard sorely lacks is Wong's empthy for characters, both men and women, making Wong's films exceptionally humane, alive and emotional for me. Godard digs the battle of sexes which I always find ultimately exhausting and boring. Wong's women breathe as much as his men because of this, I keep thinking Wong deserves to hold hands with Varda, especially her Cleo, Demy and Rivette, not Godard.

[accatone]

Actually i have not read any in depth essays on Wong but heard about these references. These pop up when ever there is a director or film using stylistic formal effects (for example jump cuts, titel sequences etcetera.). Its very sad that people today still refer to Godards 60s stylistic inventions when praising a new director because these inventions/effects are the mainstream for over 30 years now. In fact its most of the time the pop cultural thing that gets mentioned and that is what Wong often uses to my (little) knowledge. As far as i can say from my watching experiences with Wong - i always had the impression that the formal aspects carry as much weight as the drama/characters so this is probably why people pick on these aspects. Regarding Rivette i am with Michael - to this day i have no clue how people can in whatever way compare Rivette to Godard - or better, share the same love/interest for both. There is an ocean between them! Regarding who is the "better" director is a whole different story…

[Ishmael]

Michael, it's been a long time since I've watched the second disc of In the Mood for Love, but doesn't Wong repeatedly talk about Godard in those interviews? I always thought that was where the Godard comparisons came from--from Wong himself.

[colinr0380]

Perhaps it was also an apt intial comparison because Wong reinvograted standard, even hackneyed, material through his stylistics. However at the same time I don't really get a sense of interest in the mechanics of cinema, using a love of genre conventions to comment on their power mixed with condemning them for forcing their conventionalities on us as in Godard (I feel Godard starts with pure love for genre and conventions in a film like Breathless, even trying to reinvigorate moribund genres, and then becomes more frustrated with the limitations such conventions place on storytelling and audience expectations. Why can't characters burst out into song or a dance in a non-musical?) I feel Wong 'likes' the genre conventions, and creating characters, more and has no intentions of using such material to 'comment on' the mechanics of film, but instead to create new twists on narrative films within existing mechanisms. In that sense, as much as I love Wong Kar-Wai's films, the term Godardian does not seem to describe a shared philosophical intent of their films any more than it did when applied to Tarantino.

As with most filmmakers who have the term Godardian applied to them, or who list Godard as one of their influences, it seems apt at first when first seeing innovative ways a director treats narrative and genre but then does not apply once a filmmaker finds their niche and settles down. Godard never settled, for better or worse. The only modern filmmaker that comes to my mind as being even in vaguely the same territory is Lars von Trier.

[Michael]

I think I'm getting what you're saying, colin. Wong may be influenced by Godard which is perfectly fine. Every artist is influenced by something. Godard was influenced by several Hollywood films, some noir (Ray, Minnelli, etc). Without this influence, Breathless wouldn't have been made. Certainly Godard created a new cinematic language with Breathless but I think Wong did the same for Days of Being Wild but Chungking Express reached the perfect pitch of that new language. In my 40 year life, I have not seen a film like Chungking Express, it's completely new and still so on its own. Wong still manages to influence younger filmmakers, he did for Tarantino (I noticed a bit Wong in Jackie Brown - this quiet longing for love and greener grass/redemption and resignation) and also Sofia Coppola. Unfortunately Wong seems to have lost his focus, his inspiration in the recent time but I think Chungking Express remains his ultimate masterpiece. What I was trying to say in the previous post I wrote is that the spirit of Chungking Express brings me closer to the Left Bank filmmakers than Godard.

[kupo]

I pretty much live for Wong's cinema, and I, too, have never really understood the comparisons to Godard (for what it's worth, Godard is another director very close to my heart: Pierrot and Vivre sa vie are among the films I love most). As has been mentioned, certain stylistic/aesthetic qualities in Wong's work are qualities often associated with Godard (I say "associated" because it's strange such an aesthetic is so often considered Godardian. Obviously, Godard is a director whose style has constantly evolved. Even most of the rest of his pre '68 work doesn't too closely resemble Breathless), but the two directors have VERY little in common otherwise. Their "projects," if you will, couldn't be further removed. Perhaps recently, a Godard film like Eloge de l'amour, or Dans le noir du temps, shows a thematic similarity between the directors: an interest in human memory, but, still, the directors' approaches and investigation of this topic couldn't be more radically removed from one another.

Certainly, Godard is a director who inspired Wong--Wong has mentioned as much, and his recent short for Chacun son cinema, I Traveled 9000 km To Give It to You, references Alphaville, but I think, in terms of visible influence, there are many other directors to connect Wong to before Godard. I appreciated Taubin's effort in "Electric Youth," but I found the comparison to Masculin/Feminin *extremely* strained.

As for this film itself, it might be my "favorite" film ever. I remember reading a discussion on this board about "comfort food" films, and Chungking would definitely fit in that category for me. I could watch this film every day. It's infinitely charming. However, I don't know that I think it's his "best." The greatest thing about it is certainly its bravura structure: two stories literally brushing past each other, just like all of Wong's characters. This makes the addition of the characters from the second story in brief shots of the first all the more charming and satisfying: they start out, like so many other individuals in this film, as extras. Later, though, they become close friends. Our relationship with them follows the same trajectory of Kaneshiro's cop and Lin's smuggler. Subtle, elegant, charming brilliance.

[Shrew]

I think the comparison is usually drawn because both Wong and Godard usually work without a script, instead using an improvisatory style based on an outline to shape their films. That and much of the kinetic energy of Godard's films is seen in Wong's work, even the later ones. Still, thematically, and in terms of specific stylistics and plotting the men are very different.

Many of Godard's films seem bitter, especially about romance and love. And yes they don't care much for character, hence we remember Anna Karina more than Marianne Renoir or Odile or Nana. Wong on the other hand seems much more optimistic and sentimental about love and especially lost love. Having heard so much about Godard's tumultuous relationships, I realize I know little about Wong Kar-wai's personal life. Not to spark some papparazzi interest, but I do sometimes wonder what the man's love life is like.