Two melancholy Hong Kong policemen fall in love: one with a mysterious female underworld figure, the other with a beautiful and ethereal server at a late-night restaurant he frequents.
Two neighbors, a woman and a man, form a strong bond after both suspect extramarital activities of their spouses. However, they agree to keep their bond platonic so as not to commit similar wrongs.
Director:
Kar-Wai Wong
Stars:
Tony Chiu-Wai Leung,
Maggie Cheung,
Ping Lam Siu
Several women enter a science fiction author's life over the course of a few years, after the author has lost the woman he considers his one true love.
A young lonely woman takes a soul-searching journey across America to resolve her questions about love while encountering a series of offbeat characters along the way.
Travis Henderson, an aimless drifter who has been missing for four years, wanders out of the desert and must reconnect with society, himself, his life, and his family.
Director:
Wim Wenders
Stars:
Harry Dean Stanton,
Nastassja Kinski,
Dean Stockwell
Wong Kar-Wai's movie about two love-struck cops is filmed in impressionistic splashes of motion and color. The first half deals with Cop 223, who has broken up with his girlfriend of five years. He purchases a tin of pineapples with an expiration date of May 1 each day for a month. By the end of that time, he feels that he will either be rejoined with his love or that it too will have expired forever. The second half shows Cop 663 dealing with his breakup with his flight attendant girlfriend. He talks to his apartment furnishings until he meets a new girl at a local lunch counter.Written by
Tad Dibbern <DIBBERN_D@a1.mscf.upenn.edu>
The woman in the blonde wig had no apparent opportunity to get the beeper number except from Cop 223 himself the night before, and he wouldn't have started to abandon his beeper as useless if he had just given someone new the number. See more »
Quotes
He Zhiwu, Cop 223:
We're all unlucky in love sometimes. When I am, I go jogging. The body loses water when you jog, so you have none left for tears.
See more »
Alternate Versions
The original Hong Kong release ran 98 minutes. 'Kar Wai Wong' made several changes to the international version, bringing the running time to 102 minutes:
The international version expands the scenes where The Blonde prepares for the smuggling trip and later searches for the smugglers.
Indian music plays during the smugglers' arrival at the airport in international prints; in the Hong Kong version, the title theme plays.
The international version includes the kidnapping of an Indian girl, which does not occur in the Hong Kong version.
The sequence with Zhiwu loitering outside his girlfriend's window appears earlier in international edit.
In the Hong Kong version, the Faye Wong cover of "Dreams" plays over the shot of 663 drinking coffee. The international version strips out the music (leaving only ambient noise), although "Dreams" still appears at the end of the film. The international cut is Wong's preferred version and has been used for most home video releases. The Hong Kong cut was released on VHS/laserdisc by World Video and on VHS/LD/DVD by Mei Ah.
Giving an 11 would be more fair to this masterpiece. Trying to get satisfied with 10 points breaks my heart as much as the stories in the film did which are based on two men suffering from love, like the other millions on the planet. The main difference between this one and other romance films is Chong qing sen ling doesn't picture eternal love, people holding hands in hands, kissing or crying and moaning in pain when it's is over. It's more about lead characters just trying to get over the pain and discovering that undying love was never that strong indeed. Talking about getting over the pain, since it's a Kar Wai Wong nobody will dare thinking a typical work.
At the first time i watched Chong qing sen ling, what hit me was director's original style in telling his stories, how he could make me feel exactly the same mood with the characters and still no tears in the whole movie. (Besides who needs tears while you can get rid of them by making some sports?) In fact if you are terribly under the influence of this film and you are dumbed by your lover too, don't be surprised when you find yourself drinking five or ten glasses of water in a row or something equally stupid as that. Because stupidity is what we are expected to do when messed with love anyway. Before, through or after the relation, it really doesn't matter, does it?
After you watch Chong qing sen ling you won't be the person you used to be. At least California Dreaming will have a special place in your heart, i guarantee that!
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Giving an 11 would be more fair to this masterpiece. Trying to get satisfied with 10 points breaks my heart as much as the stories in the film did which are based on two men suffering from love, like the other millions on the planet. The main difference between this one and other romance films is Chong qing sen ling doesn't picture eternal love, people holding hands in hands, kissing or crying and moaning in pain when it's is over. It's more about lead characters just trying to get over the pain and discovering that undying love was never that strong indeed. Talking about getting over the pain, since it's a Kar Wai Wong nobody will dare thinking a typical work.
At the first time i watched Chong qing sen ling, what hit me was director's original style in telling his stories, how he could make me feel exactly the same mood with the characters and still no tears in the whole movie. (Besides who needs tears while you can get rid of them by making some sports?) In fact if you are terribly under the influence of this film and you are dumbed by your lover too, don't be surprised when you find yourself drinking five or ten glasses of water in a row or something equally stupid as that. Because stupidity is what we are expected to do when messed with love anyway. Before, through or after the relation, it really doesn't matter, does it?
After you watch Chong qing sen ling you won't be the person you used to be. At least California Dreaming will have a special place in your heart, i guarantee that!