During the bridge, the lyrics move beyond the realm of logos to the realm of the ineffable — the singer no longer sings words, but rather a melismatic «la». Shots of chimneys and sky. It is more a fantasy than a dream, a fantasy that has more substance musically than the songs in the «real» world of the film. This action shows his commitment to removing obstacles to communication between him and Faye — a first step towards a true relationship. And what do you like? Figure 5: Chungking Express, story 2.
Lee has written in depth on the nature of Hong Kong cinema since the 1997 handover. This change in volume is not diegetic; no one has actively turned down the offscreen boom box. Island Def Jam Music Group, 1993. «Things in Life» begins as onscreen sound, becomes nondiegetic as it increases in volume when woman leaves. The deft «on-the-air» delivery of «Things in Life» throughout the first vignette creates and dissolves links between characters.
But this time «Things in Life» occurs as diegetic offscreen sound. Original soundtrack to the 1994 motion picture. He talks to inanimate objects, infusing them with his excessive nostalgia for the woman who broke his heart. Do they portray a relationship between characters? Faye Wong herself sings the lyrics, infusing the song with both her «real» pop star persona while simultaneously giving musical self-expression to her quirky Chungking Express character. The second story is an off-the-wall romance: Cop 663 Tony Leung has been dumped by his stewardess girlfriend. Generic easy listening music with synthesizer and saxophone. In this it mirrors the future of the city in which is set — nebulous, uncertain, torn between hope and reality.
The bartender dances by juke box. Instead the sound advance suggests that the dream has been captured and transformed into a tangible reality. My thoughts careen out of control. Via this shot, the music has been elevated beyond representation of any one character and instead comments on the expiration of all things in life, a topic that is at the heart of the opening, noir-ish chapter of Chungking Express. Instead, this shift in the volume is a way of marking a shared auditory moment.
Woman leaves, walks Hong Kong streets in voiceover. For example, Jackie Chan recorded songs accompanying the closing credits for several of his films including The Legend of the Drunken Master, which was released the same year as Chungking Express. And in order to enact that change, we must dream. «What a Difference a Day Makes», goes from nondiegetic to onscreen sound back to nondiegetic. The volume does not change with his approach. This day marks a month after his break-up. This progression lacks the tonally centering movement of a leading tone.
They are finally able to express their feelings directly, unmediated by music. The music works as a sound bridge between the two characters. Thunder accompanies shot of the rooftops and sky. My heart can no longer resist. «Things in Life», onscreen sound.
Indeed there is hardly anything truly dreamlike embedded in the music. They both lean over the counter in a two-shot from the side Cop 663: Chef salad! Faye shakes her head «no» while dancing to the music Cop 663: What do you like? «Things in Life» begins with scene in bar, as if onscreen but continues as woman walks, turning into nondiegetic. The sardine cans give time a tangible quality; they express the human desire to contain the future while the music declares that we can never truly know the future, i. London: British Film Institute, 2005. Sound and Indeterminacy in Chungking Express Before looking at specific examples of this phenomenon, we must couch Chungking Express in its historical and cultural context. Faye is still unable to reconcile fantasy and reality. It dominates the soundtrack, occurring eight times in the hour-long episode.
Clip 3: Chungking Express, music video for «Dream Lover». The second stars Tony Leung as a police officer who is roused from his gloom over the loss of his flight attendant girlfriend Valerie Chow by the attentions of a quirky snack bar worker Faye Wong. Instead of being muffled, the music rises in volume, indicating that the song has once again crossed the boundary between diegetic and nondiegetic sound. The soundtrack, mostly consisting of popular songs of decades past, reinforces this notion of expiration and hints at nostalgia Teo 2005: 53-54. Instead it remains constant, just as the camera depicts a point of view shot seen from behind the shop counter. The function of the music thus changes from that of portraying space the bar and the drug boss who seemingly resides there to portraying emotion. That is, the music is playing in the bar, but we do not see the jukebox.