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The fates of four people, only loosely held together by a diner in
Chungking called the Midnight Express (owner played by Chen
Jinquan). There is Cop 223 (Takeshi Kaneshiro), who can't get over his
ex-girlfriend May, so much so that he has all sorts of rituals to remember
her, like only eating cans of apricots expiring on the first of May (not
always easy to find) and such. Eventually, he meets the woman in a blonde
wig (Brigitte Lin), who he meets in a bar where she's getting drunk.
Ultimately she takes him home, but there she just passes out, while he,
fed up with apricots, apparently, empties her fridge. The woman in the
blonde wig though is actually a gangsetr bringing illegal aliens from
India to Hong Kong. But when she loses three of her immigrants -
who eventually find work in the Midnight Express - she finds
herself on the run from the syndicate, so much so, that after a few
shootouts with her old partners, she tosses away her wig, and with the
wig, she loses her identity. Cop 663 (Tony Leung Chiu-wai) is in love
with an air hostess (Valerie Chow), but she leaves him because of a bad
advice the Midnight Express's manager has given him. She leaves a
letter with the manager though, but because of the diner's nosey
personnel, it takes forever for 663 to get the letter. Faye (Faye Wong)
has fallen in love with 663, , but somehow she's unable to tell him. But
she gets her hands on the air hostess's letter before he does, finds a key
to his appartment inside, and starts to secretly take care of his
household when he's out. When one day though, he catches her entering his
appartment, the whole relationship loses his magic ... Months later: Cop
663 has quit his job with the force and - of all things - taken over the Midnight
Express - when his air hostess finally does return.
Not a
big film - like Wong Kar Wai's 2046
from 10 years later - but an enjoyable unspectacular look at Hong Kong's
little people and their whims and quirks, and though the film's three to
four stories might not have too much weight individually, they work in the
greater context of the film, all being about the central subject of
unrequitted love. Add to this a homogenous and involving visual style -
made up of mostly night shots, neon light, primary colours and the
frequent use of smudge motion - and you are left with a fascinating piece
of cinema, and a filmof a quality Wong Kar Wai only rarely managed to
match later on.
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find Chungking Express at adultvideouniverse.com
