Wong Kar-Wai's semi-sequel to his breakthrough
film "Chungking Express" can be read as a parody of the cinematic cliches he minted
the first time around. There's the trademark visual flourishes taken to
the nth degree (dig those wide-angled lenses and gushes of "frozen-time"
photography); the usual cast of oddball romantics and just plain oddballs; and
an eclectic soundtrack which finds time for Massive Attack-like jungle beats and
bluesy piano stabs, not to mention a touching ballad by Chiyi Chin. In contrast
to Chungking Express' almost willful avoidance of connection between its
two storylines, this one has a (gasp!) straightforward if episodic plot in which a hitman (Leon Lai, futilely trying to play against type as a grungy assassin) and his yearning "manager" (Michelle Reis makes a suitably sultry femme fatale) get mixed up with flaky and mute Takeshi Kaneshiro, who wants nothing more than to find romance and run (read: shanghai) a few late-night busineses. Some moments stand out: Reis forlornly masturbating to a Laurie Anderson tune, Kaneshiro shooting home movies of his down-to-earth father, and Lai getting involved with "it girl" Karen Mok, who hams it up in a rainbow-red wig. But despite Wong's best efforts to construct
a straightforward story this time around (or perhaps because of them), the film
doesn't quite equal the sum of its memorable vignettes. At once more prosaic and
more overblown than Chungking Express, it's one of Wong's lesser movies.
Still, it's worth watching for Christopher Doyle's snaky cinematography and the killer soundtrack, if nothing
else. The DVD version is a no-frills affair (no extras, and the English subtitles
are hard-coded), but presents the gritty yet sumptuous look of the film quite
well.