CHUNGKING EXPRESS (1994)

A sense of wistful, romantic longing joins the two stories in Wong Kar Wai’s freewheeling portmanteau portrait of Hong Kong.

“It is a play-pretend, a highly stylised exercise in heartache that is still profound and heartbreaking.” Elena Smolina

“Entirely made of odd little moments of redemption and reconnection amid a city full of danger and light. Blurred colours and rapid bodies together and apart, perversity and compassion alongside each other, pop songs echoing through mindscapes; this is Wong’s most singular film.” Ryan Swen

“Tony Leung’s face is cinema.” Anna Bogutskaya

1994 Hong Kong
Directed by
Wong Kar Wai
Produced by
Chan Yi-kan
Written by
Wong Kar Wai
Featuring
Brigitte Lin Ching-hsia, Takeshi Kaneshiro, Tony Leung Chiu-wai
Running time
97 minutes

Ranked in The Greatest Films of All Time poll

Sight and Sound

Who voted for CHUNGKING EXPRESS

Critics

Manish Agarwal
UK
Marina Ashioti
UK/Cyprus
Anahit Behrooz
UK
Tim Bergfelder
UK
Anna Bogutskaya
UK
José Cabrera
Spain
Justin Chang
USA
Tom Charity
Canada/UK
Jake Cunningham
UK
Caroline Fournier
Switzerland
Karlo Funk
Estonia
Sean Gilman
USA
Shawn Glinis
USA
Belinda van de Graaf
Netherlands
Kevin Harley
UK
Philippa Hawker
Australia
Peter Körte
Germany
Daniel Kothenschulte
Germany
Peter Kuplowsky
Canada
Michael Leader
UK
Ann Lee
UK
Kristen Lopez
USA
Vishal Menon
India
Raymond Phathanavirangoon
Hong Kong/Thailand
David Sims
USA
Mikaela Smith
UK
Elena Smolina
Russia/USA
Rüdiger Suchsland
Germany
Ryan Swen
US
Andreas Ungerböck
Austria
Wim Vanacker
Belgium
S. Louisa Wei
Hong Kong
Jessica Winter
USA

Directors

Aditya Assarat
Thailand
Julie Dash
Ben Reed
UK
Lulu Wang
USA