This movie belongs on my list of top 10 films of the 90's, along with Pulp Fiction, Fargo, Shakespeare in Love, and Schindler's List. Although made in Hong Kong, Chungking Express captures the 90's ethos better than many U.S. made films of the same time period, such as Chasing Amy, Singles, Swingers, etc. It ranks with Breathless in terms of accurately depicting the existential now, our feelings and perceptions. Whether we're jogging, eating, sleeping, or bar-hopping, the common experience that young people share is romance- love lost and gained. The canned-pineapple eating binge that cop #223 (Kaneshiro) goes on is so verite, it's uncanny. Oh, the things we do for love. When his story ends, and the tale of cop #663 begins, it transitions smoothly with a screen shot of kooky counter-girl Faye Wong. For a fleeting moment, she might have been Kaneshiro's next love. Wong takes the movie out of the realm of pulp-fiction, into the world of stalking, as Wong enmeshes herself into the life of unaware cop #663 (Tony Leung).

Writer Monica Sullivan complains about Wong's monotonous re-playing of a pop song (California Dreamin'), and some of her other quirky habits. Listen, Monica, that's what makes a woman endearing!

Now here are a few ways you could have figured out the movie. The actor and actress are both Asian. A quick search through Cinemania comes up with 40 Asian films past 1975. Many of these you can eliminate by time period alone, e.g., Farewell My Concubine, Raise the Red Lantern, etc.  Modern movies like Eat Drink Man Woman, don't feature an airline stewardess. Hong Kong action flicks like Hard Boiled are also rapidly eliminated. Good reviews of Chungking Express can be found on TV guide's website, Monica's book, and Elliot Wilhelm's World Cinema Guide (Videohound). Last, but not least, you can use the aspect ratio (1.66:1) to kick out many candidates. Unfortunately, there seems to be some discrepancy in the databases on the web, and in Orlofsky's Laser Disc Register. They list the A.R. as 1.85:1. For IMDB, you have to use the Chinese title, Chongqing Senlin. Note that Senlin translates to forest. In any event, even if the theatrical aspect ratio is what IMDB claims, it doesn't mean the Laserdisc ratio is the same. You either have to buy/rent the movie, or studiously follow some of the other references I have given you in the past. Mr. Moviegame does more world movies than anyone else on the web. You should have checked his site, where he did a screen shot from the movie, showing Kaneshiro and Brigitte Lin at a late-night bar. His shot also has an A.R. of 1.66:1.

Matthew Kiernan would have used the above screen shot, if he were the guest host. That's a model airplane in a fish tank. He is one strange dude (LOL). Instead of 35 people correctly guessing the movie, there would have been only 3! God help us if he is allowed to do Tokyo Drifter.

A female guest host (like Dorian Tenore-Bartilucci) might have used this screen shot. Chicks love stuffed animals, especially giving them to their boyfriends, or seeing them in their guy's apartment. Trust me.

Sleep well my darling, and good night.

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