The whiplash, double-pronged Chungking Express is one of the defining works of nineties cinema and the film that made Hong Kong filmmaker Wong Kar-wai an instant icon. Two heartsick Hong Kong cops (Takeshi Kaneshiro and Tony Leung), both jilted by ex-lovers, cross paths at the Midnight Express take-out restaurant stand, where the ethereal pixie waitress Faye (Faye Wong) works. Anything goes in Wong’s gloriously shot and utterly unexpected charmer, which cemented the sex appeal of its gorgeous stars and forever turned canned pineapple and the Mamas and the Papas’ “California Dreamin’” into tokens of romantic longing.
- NTSC Region 1
- New, restored high-definition digital transfer
- Cantonese with English Subtitles
- Anamorphic Widescreen
- Remastered Dolby Digital 5.1 soundtrack supervised by director Wong Kar-wai
- Audio commentary by noted Asian cinema critic Tony Rayns
- U.S. theatrical trailer
- Episode excerpt from the BBC Television series Moving Pictures, featuring Wong and cinematographer Christopher Doyle
- New and improved English subtitle translation
- PLUS: A booklet featuring a new essay by critic Amy Taubin
Chungking Express is presented in the director’s requested aspect ratio of 1.66:1. On standard 4:3 televisions, the image will appear letterboxed. On standard and widescreen televisions, black bars may also be visible on the left and right to maintain the proper screen format. This new high-definition digital transfer was created on a Spirit Datacine from a 35 mm internegative and a 35 mm interpositive struck from the original negative. Thousands of instances of dirt, debris, and scratches were removed using the MTI Digital Restoration System.
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