Chungking Express is a 1994 Hong Kong arthouse romantic comedy-drama film written and directed by Wong Kar-wai. The film consists of two stories told in sequence, each about a lovesick Hong Kong policeman mulling over his relationship with a woman. The first story stars Takeshi Kaneshiro as a cop obsessed by his breakup with a woman named May, and his encounter with a mysterious drug smuggler. The second stars Tony Leung as a police officer roused from his gloom over the loss of his flight attendant girlfriend by the attentions of a quirky snack bar worker.
US theatrical release poster
Shops inside Chungking Mansions
Central–Mid-Levels escalators
The departure hall of the former Kai Tak Airport is featured in the film
An art film, art cinema, or arthouse film is typically an independent film, aimed at a niche market rather than a mass market audience. It is "intended to be a serious, artistic work, often experimental and not designed for mass appeal", "made primarily for aesthetic reasons rather than commercial profit", and containing "unconventional or highly symbolic content".
Carl Theodor Dreyer, pictured here in 1965, directed the 1928 film The Passion of Joan of Arc.
U.S. photographer and filmmaker Man Ray (pictured here in 1934) was part of the Dadaist "cinéma pur" film movement, which influenced the development of the art film.
Actress Lena Nyman from the Swedish film I Am Curious (Yellow)
Italian director Federico Fellini