Chungking Express

重慶森林 (1994)

Timing: 1:43 (103 min)

7.964/10
2155

7.789/10
47313

7.9/10
110000

All about film

Video 8

Photo 232

Actors and characters

Release date

1994-07-14

Country

Hong Kong

Production

Jet Tone Production

Genre

Drama, Comedy, Romance

Budget

$160 000

Revenue

$0

Website

Director

Wong Kar-wai

Actors

Brigitte Lin, Takeshi Kaneshiro, Tony Leung Chiu-wai, Faye Wong, Valerie Chow, Piggy Chan Kam-Chuen, Kwan Lee-na, Wong Chi-Ming, Leung San, Zhiming Huang
All actors and roles (10)

Scenario

Producer

Jeff Lau Chun-Wai, Yi-kan Chan, Jessica Chan Pui-Wah

Operator

Christopher Doyle

Composer

Michael Galasso

Artist

Audition

Editing

William Chang Suk-Ping, Eric Kwong Chi-Leung, Hai Kit-Wai
All team (18)

• Wong Kar-wai created the character of Bridget Lin, a mysterious woman in a white wig, based on the images of Greta Garbo and Gena Rowlands in John Cassavetes' "Gloria" (1980).
• In 1995, Quentin Tarantino specifically organized a distribution company for the American release to promote the film in the United States.
• In the film, Takeshi Kaneshiro speaks four languages: his character's voiceover is in Mandarin Chinese (Putonghua), he utters several phrases in Cantonese (Hong Kong dialect), he communicates with his former girlfriend in Japanese, and he addresses the enigmatic Bridget Lin in English on one occasion.
• The director initially intended the film to have three stories. Later, the third, unused part was included in the film "Fallen Angels" (1995).
• Apartment number 663, belonging to the police officer, was filmed in the apartment of cinematographer Christopher Doyle.
• Wong Kar-wai worked on this film simultaneously with the project "Ashes of Time" (1994) during breaks in filming – it took only 23 days for the script, staging, editing, and post-production. Kar-wai took on this film to immediately fulfill a contract for two films. He later described "Chungking Express" as a film similar to a road movie – he invented and wrote each new scene at night, and filmed it in the morning.
• Takeshi Kaneshiro's character is named He Zhiwu, or Policeman #223. In "Fallen Angels" (1995), Wong Kar-wai's next film, Takeshi Kaneshiro also played a role. His character is also named He Zhiwu, and while hiding from the police, he states that his prison number was 223.
• The disc the policeman gives at the end is a Japanese edition of the album «The Best of Francoise Hardy».
• A more accurate localization of the title is «Chongqing Express».
• The correct localization of the title is 'Chongqing Express'.
• Quentin Tarantino specifically created a distribution company for the film's release in America.
• Actor Takeshi Kaneshiro speaks four languages in the film: his character's voiceover is in Mandarin Chinese, he pronounces several phrases in Cantonese, he communicates with his ex-girlfriend in Japanese, and he addresses the mysterious heroine Brigitte Lin in English once.
• Apartment #663 of the police officer was filmed in the apartment of cinematographer Christopher Doyle.
• Wong Kar-wai worked on this film simultaneously with the project "Ashes of Time," in between filming – it took only 23 days for the script, staging, editing, and post-production. Kar-wai took on this film to immediately fulfill a contract for two films. He came up with and recorded each new scene at night, and filmed it in the morning.
• Takeshi Kaneshiro's character is named He Zhiu, or Policeman #223. In "Fallen Angels," his character is also called He Zhiu, and while hiding from the police, he says his number in prison was 223.
• The correct localization of the title is "Chungking Express".
• Wong Kar-wai created Brigitte Lin's character, the mysterious woman in the white wig, based on the images of Greta Garbo and Gena Rowlands in John Cassavetes' "Gloria" (1980).
• Police officer No. 663's apartment was filmed in the apartment of cinematographer Christopher Doyle.
• Wong Kar-wai worked on this film concurrently with the project "Ashes of Time," in between shooting – only 23 days were spent on the screenplay, directing, editing, and post-production. Kar-wai took on this film to immediately fulfill a contract for two films. He would come up with and record each new scene at night, and film it in the morning.
• Takeshi Kaneshiro's character is named He Zhiu, or Policeman No. 223. In "Fallen Angels," his character is also called He Zhiu, and while hiding from the police, he says his number in prison was 223.
• The disc that the policeman gives at the end is a Japanese edition of the album "The Best of Francoise Hardy."