Hong Kong film director Wong Kar-wai's third film "Chongqing Forest" attracted widespread attention as soon as it was released. It was actually filmed during a pause in the production process of East Evil and West Poison. "Dong Xie Xi Du" is a well-made Chinese martial arts costume film that was made much earlier and in a way more mainstream. In contrast, "Chongqing Forest" represents the continuation and further development of Wong Kar-wai's film style.
Wong Kar-wai's film style was developed through his first two films, "Mong Kok Carmen" and "The True Story". In the process, with each step forward, Wong Kar-wai's narrative seems to become more aimless and more disorganized.
In some movies, there is very little backstory - we jump right into the action without knowing the background of the main characters. Here, it's the opposite: the backstories of both stories are the most compelling focus , and a good portion of both stories are spent on somber reflections on the recent off-screen two cops' romantic breakup.
In Chungking Express, the story consists of two separate stories, in sequence, telling the story of police patrolling near Chungking Mansions.
In the first story, Takeshi Kaneshiro plays the plainclothes policeman He Zhiwu, also known as Police Officer "223". He wandered around a midnight fast food restaurant where he was on the phone, hoping May, who had just dumped him, would leave a message for him. To get through his now empty life, he sets himself random tasks like vigorous jogging and eating a certain amount of canned pineapple (May's favorite) every day. What we see here is the external manifestation of a man's inner emotional wasteland. He thought that if she didn't come back to him before his birthday in a month, then it was all over and he would have to give up.
223, while melancholy reflecting, discovers that a mysterious woman (Brigitte Lin) wearing a golden wig, sunglasses and a trench coat is involved in drug smuggling with some local Indians. Eventually, the time limit imposed by cop 223 on his girlfriend expires, and he decides to fall in love with the mysterious woman he meets : just betrayed by her accomplices and fleeing a deadly shootout.
Coincidentally, 57 hours before the movie starts, 223 has already met this woman by accident . This is one of Wong Kar-wai's recurring themes: missed opportunities and connections. There is a fascination with chance, lucky encounters in many stories and films, because we only observe the real encounters in our experiences, not the ones that are missed. But in our imaginations we think about all the missed encounters and connections that could have happened but didn't. That's where Wong Kar-wai's story comes in - not in the physical world of reality, but in the dreams and imaginations of his movie characters.
Due to 223's persistence and the blonde woman's fatigue, despite their second encounter, they do bond and go home together. But it wasn't a perfect pairing, and nothing romantic happened. Both characters have their own unique problems, and both are lost in their own inner dreams. Blonde falls asleep in bed, and 223 returns to the counter at the midnight snack bar , unaware of a new employee, Affi, who will be the heroine in the film's second story.
As soon as Affili appears, the camera follows her narrative thread, and the second story begins . A Fei, played by singer Faye Wong, loves pop music, especially "California Dream". She began to be secretly attracted to another customer, not 223, but Constable 663, played by Tony Leung.
Every night, when 663 brought food for his flight attendant girlfriend at the food counter, she always watched him silently. But soon 663 was dumped by his girlfriend. 663 then fell into his own romantic grief, at which point he spoke to his apartment and various things related to his girlfriend who had left him. In addition, there is the focus on loss and inconsolable loneliness. Just like 223, 663's life now is full of lack and emptiness.
When a "goodbye" letter from 663's ex-girlfriend was later delivered to the food counter, Affi found a key to his apartment. She pockets the keys and takes the opportunity to start entering Apartment 663, where she dreams of what life would be like in that apartment with her secret lover. But she needs to put her stamp on these living quarters and erase his ex-girlfriend's stamp. Soon, she was subdividing, organizing, and redesigning the entire apartment.
Despite the obvious change, the grieving 663 is completely unaware and continues to talk to new things, like a large Garfield doll that Affili replaces her ex-girlfriend's teddy bears as if they were just old familiar things deformation. To him, the objects themselves are not important: they are just a sounding board for his inner monologue . These whimsical scenes, while absurd, have their own unique charm that graces this sometimes tragic film.
There was a moment in the apartment that made Affili cry. One day, while cleaning 663's bed during a secret visit, she found a long ex-girlfriend's hair under his pillow. For the short-haired Afi, she found herself unable to bear the "absence" of 663's emotional life. For the most part, Affi avoids using words to express herself. In fact, she likes to fill her surroundings with loud rock music that drives the language out of her head. But she does express herself in other ways.
At the end of the film, she becomes a flight attendant herself, and her hair grows. A year later, 663 and Afi finally have their last chance to meet, and they finally have a real connection. The film ends with hope, not despair.
Wong Kar-Wai's film style has attracted more and more loyal fans, but it has also increasingly alienated ordinary moviegoers, and its box-office results have been getting worse.
Nonetheless, it is undeniable that Wong Kar-wai is a romantic. His films are full of romance, capturing the tension and emotion of big city nightlife, often with existential loneliness . Wong Kar-wai brilliantly employs Du Kefeng's skilled photography to capture an important aspect of big city life: despite the crowded environment and countless pedestrians on the streets, there are few opportunities for truly authentic, meaningful encounters. The presence of the crowd is a constant reminder of the feeling of being cut off from real human interaction.
In addition, he visually explores the nature of human temporality . Wong Kar-wai's motion freezes and blurred pixelated shots of various characters, including superimposed shots of characters running, allude to a deeper, more immediate experience of time.
At the same time, some people criticized Wong Kar-wai's films for being confused and worried about the future political status of Hong Kong at that time (1994) when Hong Kong was about to break away from British colonial rule. But I think Wong Kar-wai's postmodernist and existentialist style is just a response and reflection on modern urban life, which is becoming more and more common, which has no direct connection to specific political and intellectual issues . In fact, his films will outlast postmodernist cultural critiques.
Perhaps most noteworthy is Wong Kar-wai's "special" narrative structure, or no narrative structure . In fact, however, Wong Kar-wai's films do have narrative developments, not just aimless loitering. They are imaginary inner journeys, not determined by landmarks in the physical world. This makes his films a mesmerizing cinematic experience and brings them closer to music than text.
It's interesting to compare the men and women in "Chongqing Forest". There are four focal points in the film: the mysterious blonde woman, Constable 223, Fast Food Clerk Affiliate and Constable 663 . Thanks to the inner monologues of men, we can peer into their inner thoughts and feelings, but we cannot peer into women’s hearts in the same way. Seen only from the outside, these women remain opaque and mesmerizingly elusive. Clearly, for Wong Kar-Wai, women are forever mysterious characters: charming, but perhaps ultimately unknowable. For men, the only option seems to be to succumb to their unfathomable temptation (663 ends up buying the fast food restaurant, waiting for Affi to show up).
On the other hand, people like 223 and 663 show their inner pain and vulnerability . They are understandable, women are not. Towards the end of the film, 663 meets his ex-girlfriend again, and he smiles stoically with a friendly, sympathetic smile. However, behind her indifferent smile lies ruthlessness. The difference in our perceptions of the two is staggering.
Remarkably, these two men are so obsessed with their romantic misfortune that they don't care about what's going on around them. This is ironic, because the two forgetful, self-absorbed police officers are supposed to be "watchers" and should be constantly alert to possible threats to the safety of citizens. By contrast, the two main women have a keen eye for the smallest details around them. For example, Affili notices a female hair on the pillow, while 663 notices almost nothing. And we, the audience, are also keen observers—whether it’s the mysterious allure of women or the loneliness of male existence .
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