J Paul Johnson
Long out of print as a standalone title, Chungking Express, Wong Kar Wai’s deliciously ethereal Hong Kong romance, gets a new-ish release from The Criterion Collection on 4K UHD + Blu-ray disc this week. For those cinephiles who missed out on an earlier Blu-ray before it went out of print or who aren’t willing to part with upwards of $150 ($199 MSRP) for the company’s seven-disc The Art of Wong Kar Wai boxset, this solo release will be welcome indeed—especially for anyone charmed by the film’s sly, sexy wiles. And who would not be?
The film is signature Wong Kar Wai and unmissable Hong Kong cinema. It’s one I looked forward to teaching in my introductory classes and film students in particular tended to love, as Wong’s guerilla filmmaking approach appealed greatly to their own low-budget sensibilities. Wong had set upon the largely unscripted project while waiting for the post-production equipment that would allow him to finish Ashes of Time. With less than two months to do so, he put together Chungking Express from two slightly-parallel but otherwise-disconnected narratives, writing the latter of the two segments in a single day. (A third would be jettisoned and later refigured as Fallen Angels a few years later.)
Both stories feature a lovesick cop and a potential paramour, the two of the connected only by a brief suture in time and place: the “Midnight Express” Hong Kong food station that gives the film a part of its title and much of its ineffable, unmissable vibe. Cops 663 and 223 (Takeshi Kaneshiro and Tony Leung Chiu Wai, respectively) are both suffering the pangs of unrequited love. In the first section, 663 is intrigued by a mysterious femme fatale (Brigitte Lin) whose exotic mystery proves a distraction from his having been jilted. In the second, 223 finds himself pleasantly distracted by the goofy, giddy waitress Faye (Faye Wong) taking his order.
There’s not much of a plot to speak of—each thread could charitably be called “incidents”—but both stories present a guileless charm, cleverly tweaking genre tropes (film noir in the first, screwball comedy in the second) while never succumbing to their clichés. Wong and cinematographer Christopher Doyle take an anything-goes approach to the filmmaking, especially with the giddy, disorienting step-printing effect that distorts time in a quirky slow-fast motion, but also with plenty of Nouvelle Vague jump cuts and extreme close-ups.
All the while, though, Wong and Doyle never lose track of their most precious commodity: their engaging, impossibly charming cast, all of whom found their profile raised internationally following the film’s breakout hit. And there is, of course, that excellent soundtrack—not just The Mamas & the Papas’ “California Dreamin’” but also Dennis Brown’s funky “Things in Life,” Faye Wong’s Cantonese cover of The Cranberries’ hit “Dreams,” and for good measure a little Dinah Washington on top with “What a Difference a Day Makes.”
Both sound and image sparkle here on 4K UHD disc. Granted, in some scenes, like the step-printed opening to the film, there’s no discernible difference to be found between this new restoration and any prior version: Wong and Doyle intentionally magnify the film’s grain for effect. Elsewhere, though, the film looks so good you can hardly take your eyes off it, not that for any reason you would want to. In the noir-tinged first sequence, deep blacks and richly saturated hues surround Kaneshiro and Lin, and in the more brightly-colored second sequence, crisp blues and greens light up Wong and Leung’s fledgling romance. The detail is as fine as is imaginable and improved on the 4K UHD disc from the extant Blu-ray versions.
The film’s 4K digital restoration, presented in its original aspect ratio of 1.66:1, is supervised and approved by Wong Kar Wai. Treated from the 35mm original negative, this is the restoration conducted for the Criterion Collection’s The Art of Wong Kar Wai boxset, where the director notoriously re-colored and re-edited his work, except that here it is replicated on 4K UHD disc. Setting aside the debate about whether the director can or should be faithful to his own originals in the restoration process, this particular presentation of Chungking Express is, simply, beautiful.
Let’s all be grateful that at the very least, cinephiles with less-than-deep pockets can get their hands on an excellent physical media release of Chunking Express. We all had the good fortune that Wong decided, back in 1994, to spend a two-month sabbatical from filmmaking doing nothing but making a film. That little film went on to a robust box office run in Hong Kong, earn international distribution to ecstatic reviews, make stars of its cast, and permanently cement its director’s reputation.
Special Features
As has been the case with more than a few of Criterion’s 4K UHD upgrade discs, the collection offers little new in terms of supplements, letting the remastered film itself be the only star of the show. Here, in comparison to the out-of-print Blu-ray release, Criterion offers up 15 minutes’ worth of new content in the form of deleted scenes, but at the same time deletes from their presentation what had been an instructive, insightful commentary track.
Christopher Doyle. This ten-minute 2002 interview features cinematographer Doyle revisiting the locations where Chungking Express was shot and reflecting about his experiences. The spirit of Hong Kong filmmaking, he says, is “Make it today. It’ll be gone tomorrow.” It’s a lively, sprightly, if not particularly detailed presentation as the ebullient Doyle charms and chats up the locals in between turns addressing the camera. Only at the end is Doyle slightly serious. The segment is filmed in a mix of Cantonese (in which Doyle is fluent, with subtitles) and English (no subtitles available).
Moving Pictures. This 12-minute segment (in English, with occasional Cantonese) from a 1996 British television show features Wong and Doyle talking about the film on location. Like the above Doyle interview, it too is ported from Criterion’s earlier Blu-ray and DVD releases. While it’s a pleasant enough sojourn, it’s not especially insightful.
Deleted scenes. Ported over from the Blu-ray disc included in The Art of Wong Kar Wai boxset Blu-ray (and not available on Criterion’s prior standalone release) are three deleted scenes: “The Star,” “California Dreaming,” and “Baroque.” It’s odd that Criterion’s packaging does not state so explicitly, but there is an introduction from Wong prefacing each of these (in Cantonese, with English subtitles). The director does not address his rationale for the deletions, but nonetheless these—and Wong’s commentary—make for a welcome featurette, totaling about 15 minutes in sum.
Also included in Criterion’s clear jewel-case double-disc packaging are a trailer for the film and the same excellent Amy Taubin essay from the prior edition, “Electric Youth,” presented in a 12-page color foldout insert with new(-ish) cover art and notes on the remaster.
The Blu-ray disc, aside from its label, appears to be exactly the same as that included in the seven-disc boxset from a few years back. One important featurette Criterion inexplicably no longer includes, as it had in its earlier Blu-ray and DVD iterations of Chungking Express, is an excellent commentary track from Asian cinema critic Tony Rayns. Perhaps there is a rationale for its deletion, but it’s sorely missed, as none of the supplements here, save for Taubin’s primer), provide anything of the kind of deep dive into the actual art of Wong Kar Wai a premier production of Chungking Express actually warrants.
So, buyers beware: if you already own the out-of-print standalone Criterion Blu-ray, good on you. You own a collector’s item. You’re missing out on the 4K remaster. If you own the seven-disc boxset, you already own the Blu-ray disc Criterion is packaging here. If you own neither and don’t wish to afford either the high resale price of the older edition or the tony boxset, now, at least, you can score a lovely new 4K UHD edition of one of the 1990s’, and of Hong Kong cinema’s, signature works. You might miss out on what had been an excellent commentary track and may be disappointed by the relative paucity of supplements, but you’re sure to be charmed by the film itself.
