A mission he goes after quite passionately and religiously as the cans pile up more and more. The date in question represents a lot – to stand for a month since the breakup, sharing the name with is ex – May and also sadly being his birthday. And most symbolically collecting canned pineapples with expiry dates of May 1st. It’s a bit of an understatement to say He Qiwu is not adjusting as he makes pitiful calls to her family, calls to old dalliances and grade school crushes. Something he wished was a joke, but is appearing to be fact as far as his unseen girlfriend is concerned. In a coincidence that feels like a cruel trick from a world with a twisted sense of humor, he is still reeling from a breakup on April Fool’s Day. Related: The 100 Best Films of the 21st Century He Qiwu (Takeshi Kaneshiro), also at times known as Cop 223, lays down the groundwork with a narration that keeps us in the loop of the current circumstances we are witness to.
Story One has us presented with a hapless Romeo of sorts, and a femme fatale of a more realistic world and how the seedy underbelly of the city throws them together. Beyond that though the stories are as different from each other as night and day in tone, as well as outcomes, that nonetheless leaves each character involved changed for the better. Both of these men are unsuccessfully moving past recent breakups with women who have already moved on quite easily. Commenting on the brief encounters one makes in every day life and how when you may least expect, but need the most, a connection can be made.Įach of the stories share similar traits, such as the male leads both being Hong Kong cops that spend time at the Midnight Express snack bar. The film is split into two stories which cross and overlap in the most subtle of ways with small details that weave them together. Before that masterpiece came other tales, and in possibly one of his more unabashedly upbeat films we have the love stories that intersect in 1994’s Chungking Express. Many reading this have seen, or hopefully are at least aware of his best known work – In The Mood for Love (2000).
Wong Kar-wai is a true professional when it comes to presenting romance on the screen.