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Annie Cheung

“If memories could be canned, would they also have expiry dates? If so, I hope they last for centuries,” Takeshi Kaneshiro’s character He Zhiwu says in Chungking Express.
Three decades after its 1994 release, Wong Kar-wai’s Chungking Express continues to impress and inspire.
Considered one of the greatest films not only in Hong Kong cinema but all cinema, Chungking Express follows two lovesick policemen – Zhiwu and “Cop 663”, played by Tony Leung Chiu-wai – adrift in a concrete jungle. Both begin unlikely romantic entanglements, one with Brigitte Lin’s drug dealer and the other with Faye Wong’s waitress.
Chungking Express redefined storytelling and demonstrated that films do not always need an epic plot, says Kenny Ng Kwok-kwan, director of the Centre for Film and Moving Image Research at Hong Kong Baptist University.
We consider three of the defining elements that make Chungking Express a pop-culture phenomenon.

1. Cinematography
Chungking Express uses what is known as “step printing” to produce an uneven camera frame speed in order to highlight the characters’ loneliness in a fast-paced city.
Wong used the same technique for Ashes of Time (1994), Fallen Angels (1995) and In the Mood for Love (2000). It was also used in the Oscar-winning Everything Everywhere All At Once (2022), which pays homage to Wong’s style of filmmaking.
Australian cinematographer Christopher Doyle once explained in an interview that they stole the neon light and made use of the ambient light in Hong Kong to make the low-budget movie look striking.












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The film’s influence stretched beyond the big screen; couples used it as a reference for their pre-wedding photos. Replicating the movie’s setting, colours and lighting, they were photographed in old-fashioned Chinese restaurants.
Chungking Express’ definitive dreamy, ethereal tone and palette also became the hallmark of “Hong Kong style” on social media. Tourists would replicate its tone when taking photos during their travels in Hong Kong.
Ng says Chungking Express makes use of a documentary filming technique to capture the livelihoods of the multi-ethnic traders of Chungking Mansions in Tsim Sha Tsui, where much of the action is set. At the time this was novel.












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2. Soundtrack
The Mamas & the Papas’ “California Dreamin’” is heard repeatedly in the second half of the movie. Ng says having a theme tune was vital for Hong Kong filmmakers in the 1980s and 1990s, given the influence of local television culture.
This segment of Chungking Express also features Dinah Washington’s “What a Difference a Day Makes” and Faye Wong’s Cantonese cover of “Dreams” by Irish band The Cranberries.
Chungking Express introduced dream pop to the Hong Kong music scene, and it had a big influence on Wong’s 1996 album Fuzao, and on singer Candy Lo Hau-yam, who became known for her songs in the genre.

3. Locations
Chungking Express was shot in multiple Hong Kong locations, but two stand out – Chungking Mansions and the Central-Mid-Levels Escalator, in Central.
Ng says many Hong Kong films are location-driven – for example, action movies and gangster films appear to be shot in its urban maze – but Chungking Express is one of the few Hong Kong films to make use entirely of urban spaces to drive the relationships it depicts.
One iconic scene, a still from which was used on promotional posters for the film, has Wong kneeling, her eyes darting from side to side, as she rides the Central to Mid-Levels escalator.
At the time of shooting it had only been operating for a year, and the film helped make it, and Chungking Mansions, into tourist draws.


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Faye Wong in a still from 1994 film Chungking Express. Photo: Jet Tone Production

Brigitte Lin Ching-hsia in a still from Chungking Express (1994), a classic Hong Kong film. Photo: Jet Tone Production

Tony Leung Chiu-wai and Faye Wong in a still from Chungking Express. Photo: Jet Tone Production

Faye Wong on the then newly opened Central-Mid-Levels Escalator in Central, Hong Kong, in a still from Chungking Express. Photo: Jet Tone Production

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Takeshi Kaneshiro, one of the ‘most good-looking’ actors in Hong Kong cinema and star of some of Wong Kar-wai and Peter Chan’s best movies, is a man of mystery

Takeshi Kaneshiro at an interview with the Post in July 2004. Kaneshiro, who debuted as a singer in Taiwan in 1992, has not been seen on the big screen since 2017 – but remains as popular as ever. Photo: SCMP

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Takeshi Kaneshiro and Brigitte Lin in a still from “Chungking Express” (1994). 

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Takeshi Kaneshiro in an interview with the Post in December 2006. Photo: SCMP

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Wong Kar-wai film’s cinematography, soundtrack and use of Hong Kong locations for shooting produced a defining moment in Hong Kong cinema


Wong Kar-wai film’s cinematography, soundtrack and use of Hong Kong locations for shooting produced a defining moment in Hong Kong cinema.
