Evaluating 'Chungking Express' and 'In the Mood for Love': Wong Kar-Wai’s Love Stories of Loneliness Lucas Beccaro College

“The best approach is to let the film make itself, to let it grow organically, day by day.” -Wong Kar-Wai

Wong Kar-Wai is considered to be one of the most influential Asian filmmakers in history, shaping the filmography of directors 20 years later on the other side of the world such as Quentin Tarantino or Barry Jenkins. Through a comparative analysis of Chungking Express (1994) and In the Mood for Love (2000), this essay illustrates how Wong Kar-Wai’s decision to come back to the essence of cinema, with a liberated and innovative approach towards filmmaking, functions to portray the complex components of romantic relationships. On the surface, both of these films are love stories, but the richness of Wong Kar-Wai’s visual poetry and vocabulary makes it impossible to label them. Chungking Express deals with a youth distressed by a generational malaise in Hong Kong; one that is extremely isolated and that cannot connect emotionally with each other anymore. In the Mood for Love portrays a more settled and mature generation, but one that is still influenced by the landscape of its country, facing betrayal and the disillusionment of their marriage. Both being part of the director’s return to an organic cinema, the two films explore...