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Chungking Express: The Criterion Collection
[Blu-ray 4K]
Blu-ray ALL - America - Criterion Collection Review written by and copyright: Noor Razzak (30th June 2025). |
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The Film
 Wong Kar-Wai’s "Chungking Express" is a film of aching transience and restless yearning, one that captures urban alienation and romantic longing through a lens that is as impressionistic as it is emotionally sincere. Released in 1994, during the uncertain pre-handover years in Hong Kong, the film became an emblem of both its time and its director’s unique cinematic language—fragmented, deeply stylized, and hauntingly human. Divided into two loosely connected stories, "Chungking Express" eschews traditional narrative structure in favor of mood, texture, and rhythm. The first half follows a lovelorn cop, He Zhiwu, Cop 223 (Takeshi Kaneshiro), who obsessively consumes canned pineapples with expiration dates that coincide with his emotional deadlines. He crosses paths with a mysterious drug smuggler (Brigitte Lin, in a noir-soaked trench coat and blonde wig), whose stoic detachment mirrors his own emotional vacancy. The second half shifts focus to Cop 663 (Tony Leung), who is quietly unraveling after a breakup, and the quirky snack bar worker Faye (Faye Wong), who secretly invades his apartment and life, replacing despair with possibility. Wong's direction is marked by a dreamy, kinetic style that redefines the romantic drama. His collaboration with cinematographers Christopher Doyle and Wai Keung Lau yields an intoxicating visual tapestry—speed-ramped motion blurs, handheld intimacy, and use of cramped urban interiors that pulse with neon and shadow. The film’s vibrant aesthetic is not mere ornamentation; it conveys the characters’ disorientation and their emotional drift amid the anonymity of the city. One of the film's most resonant themes is the impermanence of connection. Relationships, in "Chungking Express", are not fixed destinations but fleeting intersections. Time—both mechanical and emotional—is a key motif, emphasized through clocks, expiration dates, and temporal monologues. The repetition of The Mamas & The Papas’ "California Dreamin’" becomes more than a pop cue; it transforms into an auditory longing for escape, for something—or someone—just out of reach. Performances are purposefully understated yet deeply expressive. Takeshi Kaneshiro and Brigitte Lin deliver performances that are quietly magnetic, each embodying characters adrift in their own solitude. Kaneshiro’s portrayal of Cop 223 is a delicate balance of youthful whimsy and existential melancholy; his fixation on expiring pineapple cans becomes a subtle metaphor for his inability to let go of lost love, and Kaneshiro lends the character a boyish charm that masks deeper emotional wounds. Opposite him, Brigitte Lin is enigmatic and world-weary as the unnamed woman in the blonde wig—a femme fatale whose guarded exterior conceals vulnerability. Lin’s stoic intensity and weary glances suggest a life spent evading both danger and intimacy, making her scenes feel noir-inflected yet deeply human. Together, they never quite connect in the traditional sense, but their performances evoke a shared sense of fleeting contact—two lonely souls brushing past each other in the neon-lit haze of the city. Meanwhile, Tony Leung delivers a masterclass in quiet vulnerability, while Faye Wong’s performance is a burst of unpredictable energy that balances innocence with intrusion. Their chemistry builds not through grand romantic gestures but through the subtle choreography of shared space and solitude. What makes "Chungking Express" endure is not just its stylistic innovation but its emotional authenticity. Wong Kar-Wai doesn’t offer narrative closure or conventional payoffs; instead, he captures fleeting moments—the brush of a hand, an unopened letter, a shared glance—as the true essence of romance. In doing so, the film resists cynicism without becoming sentimental. It accepts that not all love is requited, not all stories are finished, and not all pain is visible. In a cinema landscape often obsessed with clarity and resolution, "Chungking Express" remains a luminous reminder that the most powerful stories are sometimes the ones half-told, glimpsed through rain-streaked windows or overheard through a bathroom vent. It is a melancholic, euphoric ode to those transient seconds when strangers nearly become soulmates. While a lot has been reported about the changes Wong Kar-Wai made to these films during the restoration, it's worth noting that the original black & white end credits in Chinese have been replaced with newly created animated credits in color in English and Chinese, with added restoration text.
Video
Presented in a widescreen ratio 1.66:1 mastered in 4K 2160p 24/fps and using HEVC codec with only SDR. The 4K transfer is sourced from a new digital restoration approved by Wong Kar-Wai, and the result is a noticeably warmer, more saturated palette. Colors are richly rendered—neon blues, deep reds, and golden hues bathe the frame with heightened vibrancy. Skin tones, while occasionally leaning into the stylized, are consistent within the new color grading approach. Grain is present but tightly controlled, offering a clean yet filmic texture that maintains the organic feel of the original 35mm cinematography. Detail is significantly enhanced compared to previous home video editions. Faces, fabric textures, and city surfaces carry a newfound sharpness that doesn’t feel overly processed. However, Wong’s use of motion blur and step-printing—especially in the fast-paced sequences of the first half—remains deliberately smeared and surreal, an intentional artifact of the film’s visual language rather than a flaw in the transfer. That said, some viewers may take issue with the degree of alteration. This 4K version features changes in framing, color timing, and lighting balance that deviate from both the original theatrical prints and the earlier Criterion Blu-ray release. Scenes appear brighter or more golden than before, and certain shadows are now softened, which slightly diminishes the grittier edge of the film's cinematography. These aesthetic revisions reflect Wong’s evolving vision, but they also rewrite the visual memory many had of the film raising valid concerns about preservation versus reinterpretation. Overall, the 4K Criterion release of "Chungking Express" is a luminous, technically impressive upgrade that foregrounds the director's romantic and stylistic sensibilities. For new viewers, it offers a ravishing introduction to one of his most beloved works. For purists, however, it may feel like a beautiful but altered dream—familiar yet subtly changed, like the memory of a city you once knew by heart.
Audio
The film includes a single track in Cantonese/English/Japanese/Mandarin DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 surround. This mix is clean, immersive, and faithful to the film’s idiosyncratic soundscape. Though not a showy audio presentation by modern standards, it enhances the film’s mood-driven narrative with a subtle but effective use of space, atmosphere, and music. Dialogue is clear and well-prioritized in the center channel, maintaining the intimacy of the characters’ internal monologues and clipped exchanges. The mix doesn’t overly polish the source audio, preserving some of the rougher edges inherent in the film’s original production, which lends it a welcome authenticity. Environmental effects such as rainfall, city traffic, background chatter are gently dispersed across the surrounds, creating a palpable sense of Hong Kong’s claustrophobic yet vibrant urban life. Where the track truly shines is in its handling of the soundtrack, the songs are presented with clarity and warmth, filling the soundstage without overwhelming the dialogue or ambient detail. The music retains a slightly analog texture, avoiding an overly slick remastering that could strip away its emotional punch. While this 5.1 mix isn’t a dramatic overhaul from previous editions, it’s a tasteful and considered presentation that serves the film’s poetic rhythms. Optional subtitles are included in English only and it's worth noting that there were notable subtitle changes made to this release, and they have sparked some controversy among fans and purists. There are revised translations, they tend to be more literal and stripped-down, possibly aiming for accuracy over stylization. As a result, some of the film’s more poetic or quirky turns of phrase have been smoothed out or lost. I would argue that they alter the tone of the characters, particularly the introspective monologues, which in the past had a slightly more lyrical or romantic edge. The new translation leans toward being drier and more neutral. These changes tie into Wong Kar-Wai’s broader revisionist approach to his 4K restorations, where he has actively overseen color grading, image reframing, and, in this case, textual reinterpretation. While some appreciate the effort to bring the subtitles closer to the original Cantonese meaning, personally I feel that the new version lacks the distinctive charm and emotional nuance of earlier subtitle tracks that played a significant role in how the film was originally received internationally.
Extras
Criterion has delivered a decent amount of supplements, despite the extras I was disappointed that Wong Kar-Wai did not provide an audio commentary which would have been helpful for fans to better understand his changes made for this new restoration nor did they include the audio commentary with film scholar Tony Rayns which was included in the previous Criterion DVD and Blu-ray editions of the film. DISC ONE: 4K UHD This disc only includes the film in 4K, all the supplements are on the accompanying Blu-ray. DISC TWO: Blu-ray This disc features the film in standard HD 1080p and includes the following features: A collection of deleted scenes, which include short segments of Wong Kar-Wai describing/introducing the clips, they are: - "The Star" (6:15) - "California Dreaming" (5:57) - "Baroque" (3:20) "Moving Pictures" 1996 episode excerpt from the BBC TV series, featuring Wong Kar-Wai and cinematographer Christopher Doyle (12:12), here the two talk about their collaborations and on the film's visual style. Next is a 2002 interview with cinematographer Christopher Doyle (10:21), Doyle takes us on a journey to the film's Hong Kong locations. Finally we have the Hong Kong theatrical trailer (2:42) The package includes liner notes booklet with an essay by film critic Amy Taubin.
Packaging
Packaged in a keep-case.
Overall
A must-own for fans of Wong Kar-Wai or international cinema in general, but best approached with an understanding that what you’re seeing isn’t exactly the same "Chungking Express" that first captivated audiences in 1994. If you still own the older Criterion release of this film I'd still keep it simply for the preservation of the original version and the inclusion of Tony Rayns' commentary.
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