Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #6476 in DVD
• Released on: 2009-01-26
• Rating: Suitable for 12 years and over
• Format: PAL
• Subtitled in: English
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 96 minutes

Synopsis
Acclaimed Hong Kong New Wave director Wong Kar-Wai presents a kinetic, offbeat look at his city in these two stories. The first concerns a young woman (Brigitte Lin) who has been double-crossed in a heroin deal and her budding romance with a lovelorn cop (Takeshi Kaneshiro). The second deals with another police officer (Tony Leung) whose air-hostess girlfriend has left him and the shy young waitress (Faye Wong) who lets herself into his flat and cleans for him without his knowledge. Featuring lively, stunning photography from Kar-Wai regular Christopher Doyle and the Mamas & the Papa's "California Dreaming," as part of the poppy soundtrack, this is a dazzling cult favourite.

Customer Reviews

Refreshing Asian Cinema
I saw this film back in September 08, as part of my course and I was pleasantly surprised by this film-it was a refreshing take from the usual Asian horror thats been thrown over here from the East. I must say that I was surprised by the Western influence in the film but the director is the darling of the West-probably helps that he's from Hong Kong so used to seeing elements of Western Culture. This was due to be the opening film of either the Venice or Cannes Festival but the cut wasn't ready in time so the Festival Directors rearranged the whole schedule to fit in the film for the last screening.

The film has 2 stories and most people I've spoken too seem to prefer the latter story (as do myself). The 1st is done in a noir style, femme fetal while the 2nd story is more retro and hippyish I guess is the way to describe it. A little tidbit though-in the 1st story there is a scene involving the male protagonist ringing up girls in his black book for dates. It was only after the viewing that our class was told that during each call he actually spoke a different language-Mandarin, Cantonese, Thai etc. which really only adds to the charm of the film.

This is indeed a film that makes you feel happy after viewing it and will truly change your day...preferably for the better!

disappointingly uneventful
You might think, from the descriptions on the tin (in this case the cover of the dvd, descriptions in Halliwell etc), that this would be a film full of events.

It isn't. It is quite uneventful and inconsequential. Pleasant enough if that is what you are looking for and expecting. The switchover from story one to story two is also a bit bewildering, but only because story one, like story two, has no determinate or conclusive ending.

You might of course think: a bit like life, but you might also think: is that why we watch dvds?

First Half is where this film shines
The two 'stories' of this film are so separate from each other that they don't relate in any way other than thematically - in that they are both about loneliness and trying to find love. The first story is set, as you would expect, in Chungking Mansions while the second mostly takes place in Central (if you know Hong Kong you can recognise the streets - though this film is some fouteen years old now). The second story is also mostly set in the daytime in contrast to the first - this was intentional.

I felt that the ideas of ritualised loss were just more convincing when played by Kaneshiro in the first story and I just didn't like the characters of the second tale so much. Also, there is only so many times you can hear California Dreaming before you want to scream.

This is a very famous and influential film and is worth seeing, especially if you've ever ended up staying in a Chungking guesthouse. But I'd disagree with the other reviewers, and say that it is the first half of the film which is excelent.