Pedja’s Film Collection presents “Chungking Express”

Kar Wai Wong’s “Chungking Express” tells two subsequent stories, each about a policeman and his romance with a woman. The stories are not interconnected apart from one short moment where one story ends and the other begins. Using kaleidoscope color effects and a handheld camera, Wong created a hypnotizing portrayal of the 1990s Hong Kong.

Kar Kai Wong successfully experimented not only with visual expression but also with music, where one gets the impression of rivalry between the music and the dialogues. The theme song is “California Dreaming” by Mamas & Papas. It permeates the film and its sudden onsets and endings create a rhythm which organizes the structure of the storytelling and adds to the overall mood of the film. “Chungking Express” is the first film distributed by Tarantino’s Rolling Thunder Picture distribution company.

Hong Kong director Kar Kai Wong is one of the world’s most significant representatives of the auteur film. He is famous for his unique visual and highly stylistic achievements which reflect author’s personal creative view of the subject, the film and art in general. According to “Sight & Sound” film magazine, published by the British Film Institute, Kar Kai Wong is among the ten most influential directors of the modern age.