Chunking Express is beautiful but is anyone else a little creeped out?

First off, I want to say I really enjoyed this movie, as as I'll discuss, I kind of feel like I enjoyed it more than I should, considering the problematic things in it. I'm not quite sure how to explain what I liked about it so much, but I think this movie did a really good job of showing rather than telling. Come to think of it, there isn't even really that much dialogue, but there are these little details serve as recurring motifs that build the character really well: the guy who buys pineapples that expire on May 1st because his ex liked pineapples, the girl who keeps on listening to California Dreamin' on really loud speakers. Something about the way these characters are really consistent in their quirks threaded the movie together well.

However! The second story, with the girl that repeatedly breaks into the guy's apartment, re-arranges his furniture, hangs out, and re-decorates and buys him a bunch of new things to "cheer him up" over his breakup? No, no, no. That's not romantic, that's stalking. He simply knows her as the cashier girl who works at his favorite deli! Imagine if you had light flirtation going on with the barista at your local coffee shop or something, and it turns out THEY HAD BROKEN INTO YOUR HOME MULTIPLE TIMES AND SLEPT ON YOUR BED. Yeah, that would be creepy.

It made me really dislike the Faye (the girl), for obvious reasons. She's supposed to be this quirky girl, but trespassing isn't quirky! It's a crime! And she seems to be the "cool girl" stereotype a little, but she's so immature in building the relationship. She's flippant and almost cold around him, but is secretly obsessed with him. He ends up making all the first moves--offering to help her carry the basket, inviting her into his apartment, asking for a date, and at the end BUYING THE DELI AND WAITING FOR HER FOR A YEAR.

And the way it was framed! It's supposed to be cute and funny when he's walking around the house because he feels like someone's there and she's hiding just out of sight. Again, imagine if that was you. You sense a presence in the sanctity of your own home and your suspiciously searching around and this random acquaintance who has a crush on you is actually there the whole time. Not romantic, creepy.

A couple other things: I felt really weird about the parallels between her and his ex, the envelope letter they both leave, how she BECOMES A STEWARDESS. Faye slowly becoming more and more like his ex is not a good way to show that he's over his ex. Also his run in with the ex at the end, she is SO flirtatious, and then she has a boyfriend, and then she demands he pay for her groceries. ????

I actually liked the first couple a lot more, although it could also be Kaneshiro Takeshi.

But I really did like the two of them. Zhiwu and Blonde Lady really fit with the strengths of Chungking Express more than the second couple--they were whimsical, two strangers in a neon city, and the comedic elements were much stronger in this story. Like the woman is this underground drug dealer/murderer, and he's this lovesick cop. It's this weird, but also cliche story, but it's not mawkish in the way that they don't even end up together. She pages him Happy Birthday, and he's really happy about it, but it doesn't show anything beyond that. Looking back, it's also unique in the way the characters are developed separately for most of their story, and then they meet, have drinks, and just hang out in the hotel room. There's something very individual and random about their story. And it feels much more like an adventure than the second one, which I think fits much better with the setting of the big city. It's like the whirlwind romance you dream of having once in your life, where you spend hours with this beautiful person you just met and then you part and never see each other again.

The way he's always eating American fast food. The way he polishes off her shoes at the end. And her iconic outfit of raincoat and sunglasses because "you never know if it's going to be rainy or sunny." I really want to be her for Halloween actually.

I think, ultimately, even the second couple gets away with it because there's really good chemistry, and both stories are boosted by the aesthetic of 90s Hong Kong. I think the 90s aesthetic as a whole is really trendy right now, so I think a lot of people would find this movie worthwhile just for that. I found out Suzy (famous Kpop star) actually did a whole music video explicitly based off of the Chungking Express aesthetic, and the male actor in it actually kind of looks like Kaneshiro Takeshi? The bustle of Hong Kong, the shots awash with a single neon color light, and the longer frame speeds that--it all creates this fantastical sort of world, and I can see how it became so iconic.