Saw Chungking Express. It was great! A Wong Kar-wai film, it has the loopy vague feel of good music. This feel dovetails nicely with the confusing and meandering love stories the film tells. Both revolve around cops trying to get over a woman.
The first one occupies the first half-hour and revolves around "Cop 223" (which character also appears in the also excellent Fallen Angels) who is trying to get over his ex girlfriend, May. She dumped him on April 1st and he assumed it was a joke. When he realizes it's not a joke he continues to self-defensively act flip about the dump. She liked pineapples, so he buys cans of pineapples every day, making sure that their expiration date is the 1st of May. Eventually, it is May 1st and he upsets his stomach, gorging on now-expired pineapple. His ex is his world and his world is expired food. Even the homeless reject rotten food.
The second story revolves around a cop who is beloved by a girl who works at a fast-food bar. She gets hold of a duplicate set of keys to his apartment and sneaks in, redecorating. She replaces his soap with a new bar, puts new clothes in his closets, replaces his ratty dish-cloth. He reacts to this by scolding his soap for letting itself go and becoming fat. He stoically reminds his washcloth, as it drips in his hand, that it may change its appearance but it cries just as easily as ever. He is of course only talking to himself. His admirer is fixing him up the best way she can, but he is resisting the change, preferring instead to wallow in a sentimental sorrow.
As you can see, there's a good dose of whimsy going on here, but it never gets oppressive. It's nicely balanced by excellent atmosphere and a sense of laugh-so-you-don't-cry heartbreak. The ridiculousness of a house-breaking romance and a pineapple addict distract from the kind of miserably sad romances. This film was an excellent companion for my free-floating pre-winter blues. It's a movie that, despite its deeply felt melancholy, feels very cozy to me. It's like a sappy sad pop song after a breakup. Just perfect.
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