Camera Lenses in Wong Kar Wai’s Chungking Express
- laterreadtoday7
- May 11
- 5 min read
Wong Kar Wai’s Chungking Express (1994) remains one of the most celebrated examples of modern Hong Kong cinema, known not just for its moody storytelling and vibrant characters but also for its striking visual style. The film’s cinematography, led by Christopher Doyle and Andrew Lau, employs unconventional lens choices that profoundly shape the mood, themes, and kinetic energy of the narrative. Central to this visual aesthetic is Wong’s use of specific camera lenses—most notably wide-angle lenses, telephoto lenses, and high-speed film stocks—that create a layered, dreamy, and often chaotic sensory experience. These choices aren't merely stylistic flourishes; they are deliberate tools that reflect the internal states of characters, the emotional isolation of urban life, and the fleeting nature of human connections in a rapidly modernizing world.
The Visual Dichotomy of the Two Stories
Chungking Express is divided into two loosely connected stories, each following a lovelorn police officer navigating personal heartbreak in the bustling city of Hong Kong. The first story, filmed by Andrew Lau, is raw, disjointed, and filled with visual turbulence. The second, shot by Christopher Doyle, is smoother and more stylized, offering a more romantic, albeit still restless, visual language. Each story uses lenses differently to underscore the psychological dimensions of its characters, yet both share a visual grammar rooted in Wong Kar Wai’s unique cinematic language.
The Wide-Angle Lens: A Portal to Intimacy and Distortion
One of the most iconic tools used in Chungking Express is the wide-angle lens, often ranging from 6mm to 12mm. This type of lens exaggerates spatial relationships, creating a sense of distortion at the edges of the frame while keeping a deep focus. In the tight interiors of the Chungking Mansions or cramped apartments, the wide-angle lens makes viewers acutely aware of the claustrophobic urban environment that presses down on the characters. However, the lens is not merely about showcasing spatial distortion—it serves a narrative function.
In scenes featuring Faye (Faye Wong) as she explores Cop 663’s apartment, the wide-angle lens mirrors her playful, childlike curiosity. It allows the audience to follow her in real-time, with minimal cuts, and see her interactions with the space in a single visual plane. The lens captures both her and the environment simultaneously, emphasizing her gradual infiltration into the cop’s world. This blending of subject and setting is crucial to Wong’s emotional storytelling; the lens makes physical space a character in itself, reflecting the internal lives of those inhabiting it.
Step Printing and the Telephoto Lens: The Dislocation of Time
Perhaps the most discussed visual technique in the film is the use of step printing, achieved through a combination of slow shutter speeds and telephoto lenses. In the first story, particularly in scenes where the Woman in the Blonde Wig (Brigitte Lin) walks through the neon-drenched alleys of Hong Kong, the camera isolates her from the background. The telephoto lens compresses space, flattening the image and blurring the distinction between foreground and background. This lens elongates the feeling of time and heightens the surreal quality of urban alienation.
When step printing is added—essentially a post-production technique where frames are duplicated to simulate motion blur—the effect is mesmerizing. The world around the characters seems to pulse and streak, while they move at a disjointed rhythm. The result is a stylized temporal dislocation, representing how the characters feel emotionally disjointed from their environments and from each other. The telephoto lens, in this case, isn’t just capturing images—it’s capturing psychology.
This technique is seen most strikingly when Cop 223 (Takeshi Kaneshiro) runs through the city. The blur of people and lights rushing past him, captured at a slow shutter speed, mimics his frantic internal search for connection after his breakup. The telephoto lens locks onto him while the city smears into abstract shapes, portraying his existential solitude amidst urban chaos.
Handheld Cameras and the Kinetic Lens
Handheld cinematography is another critical element in Wong’s lens strategy. The combination of handheld cameras with wide-angle or standard lenses creates an immediate, documentary-like feeling that contrasts with the stylized color grading and set compositions. In street scenes and market alleys, the camera jitters and tilts, matching the uneven emotional rhythm of the characters. The lens choices here help build an improvisational energy, reinforcing the film's themes of unpredictability and impermanence.
This kinetic camera movement is especially prominent in the first story, which deals with drug smuggling and danger. The unsteady motion, combined with the visual distortions of wide-angle lenses, throws viewers off balance, mimicking the volatile state of the characters’ lives. Rather than using a steady camera to establish calm and control, Wong embraces instability to reflect a fragmented world.
Shallow Focus and Emotional Isolation
While Chungking Express frequently uses wide lenses for spatial exploration, it also employs shallow focus to frame emotional intimacy and detachment. In several key moments—such as Faye watching Cop 663 from a distance or Cop 223 recounting his heartbreak into a tape recorder—the background fades into soft blur, isolating the characters in a sea of bokeh and neon light. These shots are often captured with prime lenses that allow for very wide apertures (e.g., f/1.4 or f/1.2), producing the creamy background that has become a Doyle hallmark.
The shallow focus draws the viewer’s attention inward, away from the clamor of the city and toward the subtle emotional cues of the characters. A glance, a hand gesture, a moment of hesitation—all become significant in a frame that deliberately excludes everything else. The lens creates a visual hierarchy, making inner life more vivid than outer reality.
Lens Choice as Thematic Expression
Ultimately, the specific lenses Wong Kar Wai uses in Chungking Express serve more than aesthetic purposes—they articulate the film’s core themes: disconnection, longing, and temporal fluidity. The wide-angle lenses reflect a distorted but intimate relationship between the characters and their environments. Telephoto lenses with step printing articulate the fractured perception of time. Shallow focus lenses isolate emotional moments in a city that rarely stops moving. These visual choices align perfectly with Wong’s preoccupation with memory, missed opportunities, and ephemeral love.
The duality of the film’s visual language—the frenetic, pulsating energy of the first story and the tender, lingering gaze of the second—owes much to how lenses are employed to shape visual and emotional space. It is a triumph of cinematic language, made possible by the specific optical tools chosen to render Wong Kar Wai’s vision.
Conclusion
In Chungking Express, camera lenses are not neutral instruments but expressive agents that sculpt the film’s emotional and narrative texture. Wong Kar Wai, in collaboration with cinematographers Andrew Lau and Christopher Doyle, uses lenses to mirror the inner worlds of his characters, turning the urban landscape into a canvas of feeling and perception. Whether through the spatial distortions of wide-angle lenses, the emotional isolation of shallow depth of field, or the temporal distortions achieved with telephoto lenses and step printing, every shot in Chungking Express becomes a reflection of the characters’ psychic landscapes. The result is a film where image and emotion are inseparable—a visual poem about love, time, and the invisible connections that bind us all.