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Re: Chungking Express - what a lovely film!

Hello Victor,

Am delighted to hear that you and your wife enjoyed Chungking Express!

"Which of the two segments did you enjoy most?", is probably the most
asked question after the film. A little background: as I'd mentioned earlier,
the film was shot in about three months-- he wrote the script in the day,
and shot at night most of the way through it , and admitted to not having
a plot in mind until he was in the editing room. He had two DPs for it--
Andrew Lau, who established the style, and later Chris Doyle ( greatest
DP drunk, or so I'm told). Not sure why A Lau left, but HK DPs generally
have really short contracts anyway, in view of the short shooting schedules
they have ( e.g.Johnny To produced 'The Longest Night' was wrapped up
in Macau in something like two weeks !)

The cast, just in case you were wondering: Brigitte Lin (woman in blonde wig)
was a huge star ( generally weepies ) in the 70s, and came out of retirement
in the 90s to do a cross-dressing role ( woman playing a man slowly turning
into a woman ) in the gigahit Swordsman 2. The renaissance of her career
probably hit its zenith through the WKW films with her in it ( 'Chungking' and
'Ashes '). It was gutsy move for WKW to make her almost unrecognizable
in Chungking. Takeshi Kaneshiro ( first cop) is one of the hottest idols in Japan
..prepubescent girls have been known to begin lactating in his presence. He is
part Chinese, and both he and Brigitte were originally from Taiwan. The girl
from the fast food place, Wong Fei, is a singing sensation from Beijing.
She is very, very,very big. It was also her first screen role, if I am not mistaken.
The second cop, Tony Leung Chiu Wai, has been in most of WKW's films, and
he won the Palme whatchamacallit for Best Actor for In The Mood last year (or was it
the year before last, I can't recall )

There are japanese 'Fan Tours' today in HK tracing the path the characters in the film
take: from the airport, to Chungking Mansions, to California ( the bar, that is ), and
all points in between.

Hope you enjoy the rest of the films!

A.



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