The Mamas & the Papas classic song California Dreamin' resonates in Hong Kong director Wong Kar-wai's film Chungking Express (1994). WKW was heavily influenced by French New Wave (Truffaut, Godard, Rohmer, etc.) and it shows in the free form disregard for plot structure of his oeuvre and the emphasis of style over psychology. This film, in the form of a diptych (two stories) filmed entirely within the claustrophobic confines of Hong Kong's infamous city-within-a-building housing debacle, Chungking Mansions (built in 1961) stars the Garboesque Brigitte Lin (who retired after this film) and Faye Wong (her first film, now a HK pop music star) who "performs" (her arms flailing behind the counter of the Midnight Express takeaway bar) a Cantonese cover version of The Cranberries' Dream. The frequent pop culture references are reminiscent of the short stories of Japanese writer Haruki Murakami. California Dreamin' is recognizable to a global audience and commoditized as such. Even the Del Monte pineapple tins are exemplars of American culture.
The film is about alienation and loneliness, paradoxical in that 4,000 tenants are crammed into the residence.
No comments:
Post a Comment