Wong Kar-wai originally envisaged a three-part anthology but was so taken with the individual stories that he expanded them to the point where it made more sense to separate them into two films. The second film is Fallen Angels (1995), a more hard-boiled crime thriller but with the same distinctive visual style and directorial panache. 

As the director explained, “The main characters of Chungking Express are not Faye Wong or Takeshi Kaneshiro, but the city itself, the night and day of Hong Kong. Chungking Express and Fallen Angels together are the bright and dark of Hong Kong.”

The two stories in Chungking Express both concern policemen who have just been left by their girlfriends and who retreat into obsessive and maudlin behaviour to deal with the breakup. In each case they encounter very different women, more practical and philosophical, who help them resurface. The two stories have deliberate echoes of each other, giving the feel of a series of variations on a theme, which in turn highlights the important role of music and motifs, such as food and airplanes.

Among the director’s body of work, the film is notable for its wry humour. Where it is more typical of his style is in the saturated colours and kinetic cinematography made famous by his 2000 film, In The Mood for Love.

“Chungking Express … is Hong Kong from the inside … the city refracted through an optic of fast food, Hollywood glamour and early new wave shooting style.” Jonathan Romney, The Guardian (1995)

“This is the kind of movie you’ll relate to if you love film itself, rather than its surface aspects such as story and stars. If you are attentive to the style, if you think about what Wong is doing, “Chungking Express” works. If you’re trying to follow the plot, you may feel frustrated.” Roger Ebert, rogerebert.com (1996)