Chungking Express is a film comprising of two separate stories, both oddball romances about recently dumped men who end up finding love. When I watched it the first half passed me by almost completely and I never quite grasped the finer points of the story. I picked up on the more whimsical elements (the main character collects tins of pineapple chunks for some romantic reason, relating somehow to the expiration date and the passing of time, that I have actually now forgotten) but overall the narrative only really came into focus for me when it starts to slow down towards its end, where the main character decides he has fallen in love.
And as the first half starts to close and as dawn rises in the story you can take stock of the strange, achingly romantic atmosphere that has been materializing over the final few minutes. It sets the tone perfectly for the second story.
And the second story is something that needs the tone to be set for it. If the first story is strange then the second is bonkers. The way the characters act in it initially seems incomprehensible, sublimely so, but eventually you are sucked into their world. To even reveal that seems like a spoiler for a film like this, which is so beguiling in its eccentricities and absurdities, to analyse them too dryly is probably a disservice to anyone yet to see it. Um... So now that (due to limitations I have forced upon myself, halfway into writing a summary I hoped would be quite in depth) I am unable to reveal anything about the story I have found myself at a dead end. Perhaps the fact I found the story so charming that I can't bear to give away any details about it in an essay I'm writing for my own satisfaction and which no-one else will read is a testament to how much I feel this film is worth watching.
Please do watch it if you have stumbled upon this, it has my highest possible recommendation.
