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<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\nEven though Chungking express came out as the 3rd film, the 3rd film Wong Kar Wai produced was Ashes of time, where we can notice he experimented with voice overs.\u00a0That is why I want to talk about Chungking Express where Wong Kar Wai made significant improvements, which we can learn from.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
There are 3 types of voice overs, you have Narration which is about presenting information or retelling a moment.\u00a0Internal monologue, which is the thoughts of the character in the moment. And you have Off screen monologue or dialogue, which you hear either one or two characters talking without seeing them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
What impressed me is that some of the voice overs are hard to distinguish from being either an internal monologue or a narration, as it blends the line between both.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n In Chungking express opening scenes, cop 223 played by Kaneshiro Takeshi, brushes past a woman with a wig played by Brigit Lin.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThis was the closest we ever got, just 0.01cm between us. But 57 hours later I fell in love with this woman.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote><\/figure>\n\n\n\n What is great about this narration is that it still relates to what is happening on screen, romanticizing the moment they pass each other. Even though it does spoil what will happen, it is more of a teaser, which sets the audience up to be curious how they would fall in love, and gets thrown in a loop, when the film reveals the woman is a drug smuggler.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Next scene is where the voice over romanticizes the act of buying an almost expired can of pineapple.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWe broke up on April fools day, so I took it as a joke. I am willing to humor her for a month. Everyday I buy a can of pineapple with an expiration date of May 1st, because May likes pineapples and May 1st is my birthday. I told myself if May hasn\u2019t come back by the time I\u2019ve bought 30 cans, then our love will expire too.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote><\/figure>\n\n\n\n What is interesting about this voice over is that it could be an internal monologue, but because we get to know the can is almost expired, this is actually a narration. Without the voice over it’s still a scene where cop 223 is searching for a can of pineapple with May 1st and buying it. But the voice over romanticizes this moment, by connecting different information together and giving cop 223 a strong purpose to buy the can of almost expired pineapple. As no other method to explain this purpose, it also sets up the following scenes with cans of pineapples.<\/p>\n\n\n\n There are two off screen dialogues moment in this movie, but they do connect with each other and another moment cop 223 checks his pager.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cAccount 368. Password please? \u201cLove you for 10.000 years\u201d Your friend in room 702 says Happy Birthday. Thank you.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote><\/figure>\n\n\n\n The page operator\u2019s voice is an off screen dialogue. As we don\u2019t need to see the operator as she isn\u2019t that important to be seen. What is more interesting is that on both occasions they quickly switch to other voice over.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cOn May 1 1994, a woman wished me a happy birthday, now I\u2019ll remember her all my life. If memories ever come in a can, I hope that can never expire. If it has to have a shelf life, I hope it’s 10.000 years.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote><\/figure>\n\n\n\n This inner monologue is great as it poetically wraps up everything that had happened into a neat ending.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The 2nd story is about police officer 633 played by Tony Leung. Which has the better voice overs as the writing is more poetic, by using metaphors to describe something.<\/p>\n\n\n\n However it does start with a bad narration, looking at an airplane flying away at Kowloon airport.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cOn every flight, there\u2019s one stewardess you long to seduce. This time last year, at 25.000 feet, I seduced one.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote><\/figure>\n\n\n\n The main use of this narration is to announce a flash back before their broke up in a vague way with the text “this time last year”, it doesn’t work as intended, however watching the next scene itself the audience notice we jumped back in time, when cop 633 still was in a relationship with a stewardess.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Though we soon after get a much better narration from Cop 633 who is playing with an airplane in bed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI thought we\u2019d stay together for a long time, like an airplane with a full tank, able to fly very far. Unexpectedly, midway the flight changed its destination.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote><\/figure>\n\n\n\n It\u2019s such a poetic way using a metaphor to say that the stewardess would eventually break up with him for someone else. Though it’s a spoiler, but the chef’s salad scene before this we already get to know they would break up. But also without the voice over we see the doubt on the face of the stewardess. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n