CHUNG KING EXPRESS - PERSONAL STORY AND REVIEW

I needed to go to the toilet, I asked the guy standing near the escalator, in English first, then in French, ' Ou est la toilette,?' He directed me to a small coridoor, through which there was a petite toillete. I walked in and saw that there were two standing cubicles, upon which one could take a leak, I pushed the door to the only sitting toilet, not because I wanted to sit down and pee, but because the two standing cubicles were right next to door, however there was someone inside occupying the throne, with no other option I went to the standing cublicles near the door.

As I was doing my best to finish what I had started as quick as I could, a man of Chinese heritage entered, he had a tuxedo on, but then again we were all in tuxedos, because this was Cannes 2007, but unlike me he was wearing sunglasses. The lighting in the toilet was really dim, so with sunglasses on it must have been really, really dim. The guy came and stood next to me and got ready to evacuate - my main concern was whether he would evacuate on to me, I quickly finished off and left the toilet.

Fast forward, one month. I see a DVD stashed amongst a bunch of books and other random stuff, I pick it up and its 'Chungking Express' this dvd was given to me by a friend of mine, Rickman, as a birthday present, I remember watching the first five minutes and falling asleep.

I pop in the DVD again, and this time I watch - I watch 5 minutes, I watch 25 minutes - I watch the whole film.

This film turned out to be a miracle for me, perhaps one of the best films I had ever seen. I started doing some research on the film, who the actors were, Faye Wong, Maggie Cheung, Tony Leong, and the director Wong-Ka-Wei.

I checked google images of Wong, and I realised the guy int he sunglasses taking a piss next to me was the director, of my now favourite film! If I knew what I knew then, I would have turned to him mid piss and said to him, 'thats 90's film, Chung King Express is my favourite film and I only saw it this year!' I am sure our paths will cross again.

The film, if you are not used a different visual style will confuse you, you might even think what you are seeing is bad filmmaking. There are strange cuts, weird music and no real plot, though there is a semblance of story. The film is split into two parts, and is more interested in evoking feelings within you than wowing you with Nolanesque plot twists. The film evokes, feelings of joy, nostalgia, romance; the film is a celebration of 'being.'

The music, that saturates the film complements both story and character. Due to the film not having any real plot has the advantage of repeat viewings, you are given the chance to hang out with a bunch of characters who are just normal people, and even though you might have Maggie killing people, its believable. The gritty realism never depresses, instead it conjures up a time period that has since vanished. The Chung King Mansions is a real place in Hong Kong and can be visited, though the take-away Fay Wongs characters worked has now turned into a Mcdonalds.

Having been to the Chungking Mansions, it is difficult to separate the film from the reality, perhaps the mansions in real life are a plethora of seedy coridoors and shops but the film manages to elevate the area to show that even in the 'worst' of places great people with hopes, desires and California Dreams exist, and these characters ultimately have the power to inspire individuals that live half way round the world and who get to meet them decades later.

5/5