Chungking Express is the film that made a generation of New Yorkers want to move to Hong Kong, all smeared step-printed motion, canned pineapple with an expiry date and California Dreamin' played until it becomes a personality. Seeing it at a matinee, then walking out into Lower East Side daylight, is a genuinely lovely way to spend a Manhattan afternoon. If you have a day off and want to feel something specific, this is the showtime.
What to expect
A quiet, film-literate matinee crowd fills Metrograph's Ludlow Street theater, which seats fewer than two hundred. The film is in Cantonese and Mandarin with English subtitles and runs a little over an hour and a half. The attached bookshop and bar are open before and after, and the Commissary upstairs serves a full menu.
Good to know
- Metrograph is at 7 Ludlow Street; take the F to East Broadway or the B/D to Grand Street
- Matinees are the least crowded slot and the easiest to walk up to
- The film is subtitled in English from Cantonese and Mandarin
- The lobby bookshop stocks film writing worth browsing before the show
- Dim sum and coffee on East Broadway are a short walk for before or after
- Ask staff about accessible seating when you buy
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Common questions
Do I need to have seen other Wong Kar-wai films first?
No — Chungking Express is the most accessible entry point in his filmography and stands entirely on its own.
Is it in English?
It is in Cantonese and Mandarin with English subtitles.
How long is it?
The film runs 102 minutes with no intermission.
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