It is made clear judging from the cinematic stylings of Wong Kar-wai that Chungking Express drew much influence from French New Wave cinema. Jean-Luc Godard’s Breathless is a fine example of the film movement and parallels can be drawn between the two films. Sans cinematic perspective, the two resemble one another simply within their loose plot lines of love and love lost. In order to truly appreciate the works, the audience must forget everything they know about continuity in edits and cannot expect a conclusion that reveals all, but rather one that is quite ambiguous. The characters are nothing special but through certain cinematic techniques can be admired for what they are. These techniques rarely follow the traditional “rules” of filmmaking, but are effective in setting a mood unique to films of the New Wave. I would call it very comfortable.
I recall a specific shot from Chungking: the nameless Cop 663 sprints into his home after seeing the quirky snack bar worker dancing around his apartment from afar. The camera follows the cop hastily as if the camera man is trying to win a race against the cop, not minding the steadiness or accuracy of the shot. Several scenes follow this pattern, giving the film a natural, spontaneous, feel of documentary realism. In his film, Godard aimed for a similar quality insisting on natural lighting and natural background noises throughout. In one scene on the streets of Paris, the main characters’ voices are nearly drown out by an ambulance. Breathless is famous for its unsettling jump cuts that jar the viewer, while subtly drawing them closer to the characters, Patricia and Michel, and their playfully romantic relationship. The edits could be described with the same adjectives: playful and romantic, as Breathless is briskly paced and slowly paced all at once.
“Chungking Express” is a 1994 Chinese drama directed by Wong Kar-wai and divided into two separate stories – both heavily influenced by the French New Wave. Although many films from the French New Wave could have parallels drawn to “Chungking Express”, the one that seems the most similar is Jean-Luc Godard’s “Breathless”, with the complete lack of recognition of the typical format of a film and the linear storytelling that goes along with most films. Whereas “Breathless” came to fruition mainly by accident and created successful uses of jump cuts and breaking the 180-degree rule, among other techniques, “Chungking Express” pays homage to the works of directors such as Godard and Truffaut, while expanding on these ideas. Like “Breathless” the story-telling has no strong, cohesive plot, but is rather stream-of-consciousness in the way it jumps from one seemingly unimportant event to the next. It is the filming of everyday life, but instead of being gritty like that of Italian neo-realism, it is flashy and stylistic, giving romanticism and glamour to everyday life.
Both films are ambiguous both in their meaning, their presentation, and their ending. The theme of love is also consistent throughout both films, but there is a glaring difference between the two: where “Breathless” ends with a note of pessimism and cynicism as Michel, dying, looks up at his love who has betrayed him, “Chungking Express” ends with a cautious optimism as the two lovers decide to leave together. The ambiguity of the two endings is twisted to make one show the cruelty of love and life, and the other to show how it can be just like starting over. Just like the song, “California Dreamin’”, that repeats itself over and over, the ending to “Chungking Express” ends on a hopeful, if not longing, note. Godard portrays what he sees as a typical (or atypical relationship) through the use of uncommon film techniques and Kar-wai takes those techniques and uses them to portray a completely different story. Many of the films of the French New Wave use style to show realism; “Chungking Express” uses the same style to show optimism conquering realism.
Although I hate to be the third person to speak on this, the stylistic similarities between “Chunking Express” and “Breathless” are so prevalent, with even Roger Ebert comparing Wong’s style to that of Godard, that it is really my only choice. The first parallel between Express and its French predecessor is the lack of a cohesive plot structure, with the directors focusing more on the films as films rather than stories. This allowed the directors to put their own creative flairs into the films, whether it be the jump cuts or the unusual amount of camera movement, which disorients the viewer in a way that can only be described as alluring. However, both films do contain loose narratives which are very similar in that they both blur the line between grief and humor as related to crime and love.
The films also employ similar tendencies in regard to mise-en-scene as a vehicle for pseudo-Americanism. The characters of both film are costumed in things that represent America as it is seen by other countries, with Michel in his homage to Bogart and the drug smuggler in a noir-style raincoat as a means of concealment. The female leads in both films invoke an image one would have of a liberated American women, as demonstrated by their pixie hair cuts and need to travel, Faye to America and Patricia to France. Both films emulate this idea of western influence further with the pop culture references, from the characters watching old holly wood movies to California Dreamin, as well as a multitude of shots of signs and advertisements in both films which give it a glamorous appeal. In addition to the depiction of Americanism in the films, both were influenced by film noir as a style, as demonstrated by the illegal activity at the heart of the narrative and the urban setting of both (Hong Kong is the new Paris which was the new New York). This speaks on the ever evolving nature of film, in which Godard was influenced by early film yet made it his own and in doing so became someone who Wong chose to emulate.
It is apparent that Wong Kar-wai, director of 1994 “Chunking Express,” was heavily influenced by the innovative styles of the French New Wave. Although the obvious film for comparison would be “Breathless,” I find several connections with Godard’s “Une Femme et Une Femme.” Even though Godard’s film comes from a completely opposite genre (musical comedy), there are clear moments of cinematic semblance between the two films. As my peers have touched upon, neither film really focuses on having a strong plot structure. As this wouldn’t necessarily work for other films and directors of different styles, it actually makes these experimental works cohesive-- even without the narrative always being clear and meaningful. For both films, the characters’ motives and personalities are left to interpretation, as they are generally less complex.
Both films quickly move from shot to shot, using handheld cameras to guide the viewers towards the characters and create an effective sense of realism. This is used to establish as open of a frame as possible, thus making the viewer feel apart of the film’s world. Kar-wai does not implement the jump-cut quite like Godard, but the use of fast pace editing can be recognized throughout several action sequences. Another similarity lies within both directors use of sound. They both repeat diegetic and non-diegetic tracks, in order to create verisimilitude and make the viewer feel familiar and comfortable.
Like Flora, I am hesitant to compare “Chungking Express” to “Breathless” after everyone else. Yet, it seems undeniable that “Chungking Express” director Wong Kar-Wai was extremely influenced by Jean-Luc Godard’s French New Wave film. Costume plays an implicit, yet important role in both films. As Flora mentioned, the female leads share similar pixie hair cuts which seems to emphasize their rejections of traditional female gender roles. This theme is reflected in both films; in “Breathless” when Patricia betrays Michel and in “Chungking Express” when Faye shamelessly chases Cop 663. Furthermore, when Patricia betrays Michel and when Cop 663 nearly catches Faye in his apartment, both female characters are wearing outfits with stripes which symbolize their deceptive personalities.
Wong relies on the song “California Dreamin’” repeatedly. The song plays frequently, diegetically, throughout the film. Its wishful lyrics and catchy tune ultimately foreshadows the separation between Faye and Cop 663. While Godard did not place as much emphasis on the soundtrack of “Breathless”, music plays an integral role in “Breathless”. As Michel and Patricia cruise around Paris in a stolen car, lazy non-diegetic jazz numbers intersperse their witty dialogue and suggests their cavalier, laid back attitudes. Most prominent, cinematically, were the abundance of jump cuts in both movies. The jump cuts most often occur when the characters are in closed frames while in bedrooms or apartment (for instance, when Michel crashes in Patricia’s bedroom or when Faye is exploring Cop 663’s apartment). These jump cuts reiterate the ambiguity that is prevalent in both films.
After reading all of my peers comments on 1994 film, "Chungking Express", I would rather not make the comparison between that film, and the french new wave film, "Breatheless", but like Flora and Ali stated, its practically undeniable the "Chungking Express" was influenced massively by "Breathless". Take into consideration the plot of the film, and how it was portrayed by the visuals. The basic plots of both films is love and how it is shared between a male and a female. But in accordance to the visuals, it is hard to tell that. The french new wave was heavily influenced by the avant garde movement, meaning that scenes in "Breathless" often didn't match one and other, and created a scene of distortion. This is what was created in "Chungking Express" as well. Because of the influence gained from the french new wave, we are shown scenes that create a sense of distortion and confusion. Like Alison stated, "These jump cuts reiterate the ambiguity that is prevalent in both films." Sound as well played an important part to the film.
As Alison stated, Wong Kar-Wai, the director of "Chungking Express" relied heavily on the song, "California Dreamin" to practically create the film. The song foreshadows future events, as well as creates specific moods. Even though, "Breatheless" did not have a specific song attatched to it, the soundtrack played behind the movie creates the mood of the film, as well as foreshadows future events, making the two films extremely similar.
Chunking Express was filmed in 1994 and directed by Wong Kar- Wai who used “splashes of motion and color” to create an element of fantasy and dream. He splits the story into two parts about two different people and creates a narrative that is heavily influenced by the French New Wave. The film that sticks out the most from the French New-Wave is Breathless. Breathless was filmed in 1960 and directed by Jean- Luc Godard. Breathless is a cinematic work of art, plot wise it happens to be very simple and straight- forward. There is no implicit implicit meaning in either film. They were created and exist merely for their artistic value. Which was how many French New- Wave films are.
Chunking Express, in the first half of the film, uses motion and colors to create emotion for the viewer, the motion of characters along with the motion of the camera. Often there are shots of characters running onto the screen and then off the screen, then followed by shot of character realization of what they were running form and the fact that they have to stop running. In Breathless the running is replaced mostly with fast car driving, however there are no realizations at the end of the running. Hence the character never stops running from whatever they’re running from. The different use of colors for expression is present in both films, however they do not represent a greater they merely enhance the visual aspects in the films.
Chunking Express is a film directed by Wong Kar- Wai in 1994. This film portrays two different stories at the same time in very unique way.The style that Wai uses reminds me of the French New wave which remeinded me of the film Breathless. The French New Wave was never a formal cinematic movement, but was the name given to films that resemble the now called "Indie Films." A lot of these films were made at a very low budget, with natural light, as well as the use of non-professional actors used along with professional actors. Another aspect of the French New Wave is just creating a film more for the artistic aspect than for the storyline and steotypical cinema. Chunking Express follows this style in which the actors and actresses in the film are not professional. Also the film is very obvious that it was an artistic piece. This is the same for Breathless. Breathless didnt necessarily follow the cinematic techniques for other films. Breathless had a lot of shots that were very long. Another connection between these films is that they both portrayed real life scenarios and situations and filmed it in a way that was very believable. It is very common for films to try to show the "perfect life" but with these films it was very easy to connect to as the viewer. The music in Chunking Express was very important to the film . the song "California Dreaming" was used a lot in the film and I feel was used to bring the film full circle and was also used as a character in the film not only music. I loved the film:)
It is made clear judging from the cinematic stylings of Wong Kar-wai that Chungking Express drew much influence from French New Wave cinema. Jean-Luc Godard’s Breathless is a fine example of the film movement and parallels can be drawn between the two films. Sans cinematic perspective, the two resemble one another simply within their loose plot lines of love and love lost. In order to truly appreciate the works, the audience must forget everything they know about continuity in edits and cannot expect a conclusion that reveals all, but rather one that is quite ambiguous. The characters are nothing special but through certain cinematic techniques can be admired for what they are. These techniques rarely follow the traditional “rules” of filmmaking, but are effective in setting a mood unique to films of the New Wave. I would call it very comfortable.
ReplyDeleteI recall a specific shot from Chungking: the nameless Cop 663 sprints into his home after seeing the quirky snack bar worker dancing around his apartment from afar. The camera follows the cop hastily as if the camera man is trying to win a race against the cop, not minding the steadiness or accuracy of the shot. Several scenes follow this pattern, giving the film a natural, spontaneous, feel of documentary realism. In his film, Godard aimed for a similar quality insisting on natural lighting and natural background noises throughout. In one scene on the streets of Paris, the main characters’ voices are nearly drown out by an ambulance. Breathless is famous for its unsettling jump cuts that jar the viewer, while subtly drawing them closer to the characters, Patricia and Michel, and their playfully romantic relationship. The edits could be described with the same adjectives: playful and romantic, as Breathless is briskly paced and slowly paced all at once.
“Chungking Express” is a 1994 Chinese drama directed by Wong Kar-wai and divided into two separate stories – both heavily influenced by the French New Wave. Although many films from the French New Wave could have parallels drawn to “Chungking Express”, the one that seems the most similar is Jean-Luc Godard’s “Breathless”, with the complete lack of recognition of the typical format of a film and the linear storytelling that goes along with most films. Whereas “Breathless” came to fruition mainly by accident and created successful uses of jump cuts and breaking the 180-degree rule, among other techniques, “Chungking Express” pays homage to the works of directors such as Godard and Truffaut, while expanding on these ideas. Like “Breathless” the story-telling has no strong, cohesive plot, but is rather stream-of-consciousness in the way it jumps from one seemingly unimportant event to the next. It is the filming of everyday life, but instead of being gritty like that of Italian neo-realism, it is flashy and stylistic, giving romanticism and glamour to everyday life.
ReplyDeleteBoth films are ambiguous both in their meaning, their presentation, and their ending. The theme of love is also consistent throughout both films, but there is a glaring difference between the two: where “Breathless” ends with a note of pessimism and cynicism as Michel, dying, looks up at his love who has betrayed him, “Chungking Express” ends with a cautious optimism as the two lovers decide to leave together. The ambiguity of the two endings is twisted to make one show the cruelty of love and life, and the other to show how it can be just like starting over. Just like the song, “California Dreamin’”, that repeats itself over and over, the ending to “Chungking Express” ends on a hopeful, if not longing, note. Godard portrays what he sees as a typical (or atypical relationship) through the use of uncommon film techniques and Kar-wai takes those techniques and uses them to portray a completely different story. Many of the films of the French New Wave use style to show realism; “Chungking Express” uses the same style to show optimism conquering realism.
Although I hate to be the third person to speak on this, the stylistic similarities between “Chunking Express” and “Breathless” are so prevalent, with even Roger Ebert comparing Wong’s style to that of Godard, that it is really my only choice. The first parallel between Express and its French predecessor is the lack of a cohesive plot structure, with the directors focusing more on the films as films rather than stories. This allowed the directors to put their own creative flairs into the films, whether it be the jump cuts or the unusual amount of camera movement, which disorients the viewer in a way that can only be described as alluring. However, both films do contain loose narratives which are very similar in that they both blur the line between grief and humor as related to crime and love.
ReplyDeleteThe films also employ similar tendencies in regard to mise-en-scene as a vehicle for pseudo-Americanism. The characters of both film are costumed in things that represent America as it is seen by other countries, with Michel in his homage to Bogart and the drug smuggler in a noir-style raincoat as a means of concealment. The female leads in both films invoke an image one would have of a liberated American women, as demonstrated by their pixie hair cuts and need to travel, Faye to America and Patricia to France. Both films emulate this idea of western influence further with the pop culture references, from the characters watching old holly wood movies to California Dreamin, as well as a multitude of shots of signs and advertisements in both films which give it a glamorous appeal. In addition to the depiction of Americanism in the films, both were influenced by film noir as a style, as demonstrated by the illegal activity at the heart of the narrative and the urban setting of both (Hong Kong is the new Paris which was the new New York). This speaks on the ever evolving nature of film, in which Godard was influenced by early film yet made it his own and in doing so became someone who Wong chose to emulate.
It is apparent that Wong Kar-wai, director of 1994 “Chunking Express,” was heavily influenced by the innovative styles of the French New Wave. Although the obvious film for comparison would be “Breathless,” I find several connections with Godard’s “Une Femme et Une Femme.” Even though Godard’s film comes from a completely opposite genre (musical comedy), there are clear moments of cinematic semblance between the two films. As my peers have touched upon, neither film really focuses on having a strong plot structure. As this wouldn’t necessarily work for other films and directors of different styles, it actually makes these experimental works cohesive-- even without the narrative always being clear and meaningful. For both films, the characters’ motives and personalities are left to interpretation, as they are generally less complex.
ReplyDeleteBoth films quickly move from shot to shot, using handheld cameras to guide the viewers towards the characters and create an effective sense of realism. This is used to establish as open of a frame as possible, thus making the viewer feel apart of the film’s world. Kar-wai does not implement the jump-cut quite like Godard, but the use of fast pace editing can be recognized throughout several action sequences. Another similarity lies within both directors use of sound. They both repeat diegetic and non-diegetic tracks, in order to create verisimilitude and make the viewer feel familiar and comfortable.
Like Flora, I am hesitant to compare “Chungking Express” to “Breathless” after everyone else. Yet, it seems undeniable that “Chungking Express” director Wong Kar-Wai was extremely influenced by Jean-Luc Godard’s French New Wave film. Costume plays an implicit, yet important role in both films. As Flora mentioned, the female leads share similar pixie hair cuts which seems to emphasize their rejections of traditional female gender roles. This theme is reflected in both films; in “Breathless” when Patricia betrays Michel and in “Chungking Express” when Faye shamelessly chases Cop 663. Furthermore, when Patricia betrays Michel and when Cop 663 nearly catches Faye in his apartment, both female characters are wearing outfits with stripes which symbolize their deceptive personalities.
ReplyDeleteWong relies on the song “California Dreamin’” repeatedly. The song plays frequently, diegetically, throughout the film. Its wishful lyrics and catchy tune ultimately foreshadows the separation between Faye and Cop 663. While Godard did not place as much emphasis on the soundtrack of “Breathless”, music plays an integral role in “Breathless”. As Michel and Patricia cruise around Paris in a stolen car, lazy non-diegetic jazz numbers intersperse their witty dialogue and suggests their cavalier, laid back attitudes. Most prominent, cinematically, were the abundance of jump cuts in both movies. The jump cuts most often occur when the characters are in closed frames while in bedrooms or apartment (for instance, when Michel crashes in Patricia’s bedroom or when Faye is exploring Cop 663’s apartment). These jump cuts reiterate the ambiguity that is prevalent in both films.
After reading all of my peers comments on 1994 film, "Chungking Express", I would rather not make the comparison between that film, and the french new wave film, "Breatheless", but like Flora and Ali stated, its practically undeniable the "Chungking Express" was influenced massively by "Breathless". Take into consideration the plot of the film, and how it was portrayed by the visuals. The basic plots of both films is love and how it is shared between a male and a female. But in accordance to the visuals, it is hard to tell that. The french new wave was heavily influenced by the avant garde movement, meaning that scenes in "Breathless" often didn't match one and other, and created a scene of distortion. This is what was created in "Chungking Express" as well. Because of the influence gained from the french new wave, we are shown scenes that create a sense of distortion and confusion. Like Alison stated, "These jump cuts reiterate the ambiguity that is prevalent in both films." Sound as well played an important part to the film.
ReplyDeleteAs Alison stated, Wong Kar-Wai, the director of "Chungking Express" relied heavily on the song, "California Dreamin" to practically create the film. The song foreshadows future events, as well as creates specific moods. Even though, "Breatheless" did not have a specific song attatched to it, the soundtrack played behind the movie creates the mood of the film, as well as foreshadows future events, making the two films extremely similar.
Chunking Express was filmed in 1994 and directed by Wong Kar- Wai who used “splashes of motion and color” to create an element of fantasy and dream. He splits the story into two parts about two different people and creates a narrative that is heavily influenced by the French New Wave. The film that sticks out the most from the French New-Wave is Breathless. Breathless was filmed in 1960 and directed by Jean- Luc Godard. Breathless is a cinematic work of art, plot wise it happens to be very simple and straight- forward. There is no implicit implicit meaning in either film. They were created and exist merely for their artistic value. Which was how many French New- Wave films are.
ReplyDeleteChunking Express, in the first half of the film, uses motion and colors to create emotion for the viewer, the motion of characters along with the motion of the camera. Often there are shots of characters running onto the screen and then off the screen, then followed by shot of character realization of what they were running form and the fact that they have to stop running. In Breathless the running is replaced mostly with fast car driving, however there are no realizations at the end of the running. Hence the character never stops running from whatever they’re running from. The different use of colors for expression is present in both films, however they do not represent a greater they merely enhance the visual aspects in the films.
Chunking Express is a film directed by Wong Kar- Wai in 1994. This film portrays two different stories at the same time in very unique way.The style that Wai uses reminds me of the French New wave which remeinded me of the film Breathless. The French New Wave was never a formal cinematic movement, but was the name given to films that resemble the now called "Indie Films." A lot of these films were made at a very low budget, with natural light, as well as the use of non-professional actors used along with professional actors. Another aspect of the French New Wave is just creating a film more for the artistic aspect than for the storyline and steotypical cinema.
ReplyDeleteChunking Express follows this style in which the actors and actresses in the film are not professional. Also the film is very obvious that it was an artistic piece. This is the same for Breathless. Breathless didnt necessarily follow the cinematic techniques for other films. Breathless had a lot of shots that were very long. Another connection between these films is that they both portrayed real life scenarios and situations and filmed it in a way that was very believable. It is very common for films to try to show the "perfect life" but with these films it was very easy to connect to as the viewer. The music in Chunking Express was very important to the film . the song "California Dreaming" was used a lot in the film and I feel was used to bring the film full circle and was also used as a character in the film not only music. I loved the film:)