Free to Air 28th November

Chungking Express is split into two unrelated vignettes — it’s so beautiful and so 90s.

The first story leans into the irreverent, hyper-stylised violence of the time (think Killing Zoe or Natural Born Killers): Brigitte Lin coolly taking out bad guys while Takeshi Kaneshiro wonders aimlessly, hoping someone — anyone — will love him back.

Tony Leung steals the show in part two. You get to see a playful side he rarely reveals as he and Faye Wong circle around each others' solitude. A feeling that is distinctly different to loneliness.

Wong Kar-wai and his longtime collaborator Christopher Doyle were unknowingly building toward In the Mood for Love, one of my all-time favourite films. The framing, the simplicity, the repetition in the music — it’s all here, already taking shape, being refined by the artists at play.

Chungking Express is free to air on Kanopy.

Bon Ap!