#California dreamin chungking express movie#

By 1996, The Cranberries had become household names in Hong Kong. Yet Faye Wong wasnРІР‚в„ўt the only party to benefit from the success of Chungking Express. She became the first Chinese singer to appear on the cover of Time magazine, and, in 2009, commanded the highest appearance fee for any singer on the China mainland at $1 million per show. The song was such a sensation that she ended up re-recording it РІР‚вЂњ this time in Mandarin РІР‚вЂњ for follow-up record РІР‚ВSkyРІР‚в„ў.Р”Р„t the end of the decade Faye Wong was named in the Guinness Book of World Records as the best-selling female Cantonese pop artist of all time.

And it was her shimmering cover of РІР‚ВDreamsРІР‚в„ў that cemented her move into alternative rock, elevating her above the traditional Canto-pop ballads playing on the radio. But it wasnРІР‚в„ўt until the album РІР‚ВRandom ThoughtsРІР‚в„ў РІР‚вЂњ released just a few months before the film РІР‚вЂњ that she truly established her identity. If Faye Wong was already something of a pop star prior to 1994, Chungking Express launched her to new heights. As such, it is the track most conducive to the filmРІР‚в„ўs vivid setting in pre-1997 Hong Kong: a Western import given a Chinese-language makeover. If it werenРІР‚в„ўt for the vocals, youРІР‚в„ўd be forgiven for thinking it was the original: Faye WongРІР‚в„ўs rendition is, in fact, the only song on the soundtrack sung in Cantonese. A hazy, wistful ballad about romantic opportunity and change, it seems to fully embody the spirit and character of the film. The jangling guitars of РІР‚ВDreamsРІР‚в„ў by Irish alt-rock band The Cranberries play out several times across the filmРІР‚в„ўs second narrative (as well as over the end credits). ItРІР‚в„ўs here that Faye WongРІР‚в„ўs hip hostess becomes the filmРІР‚в„ўs most captivating fixation, for audiences and leading man Tony Leung alike. Reggae singer Dennis Brown clashes with Dinah WashingtonРІР‚в„ўs smoky jazz hit РІР‚ВWhat A DiffРІР‚в„ўrence a Day MakesРІР‚в„ў, while the Mamas and the PapasРІР‚в„ў sunshine pop classic РІР‚ВCalifornia DreaminРІР‚в„ў plays out endlessly in a fast food joint that seems to have plucked its menu from Phileas FoggРІР‚в„ўs back pocket.

#California dreamin chungking express movie#

Cocteau TwinsРІР‚в„ў Simon Raymonde calls it a РІР‚Сљcross-pollination of cultures and musicРІР‚Сњ in the words of The CranberriesРІР‚в„ў Noel Hogan, itРІР‚в„ўs the kind of movie that makes you go, РІР‚СљWhatРІР‚в„ўs that song? WhoРІР‚в„ўs this band?РІР‚Сњ But Chungking Express isnРІР‚в„ўt just a great soundtrack movie РІР‚вЂњ it was the genesis of numerous inroads for the pop artists around it, too. But this scintillating vision of contemporary Hong Kong, lapped up by arthouse fanatics across the globe, was not merely a one-way crossover phenomenon.Р”Р„ new seven-disc Wong Kar-wai box set released by Criterion describes Chungking Express as a РІР‚Вjukebox movieРІР‚в„ў, a film whose very identity is quantified by the vibrancy of its multinational soundtrack. It was an international breakthrough for Wong, screening at festivals and theatres in Europe, Australia, Asia and South America before arriving in the US via Quentin Tarantino and his Rolling Thunder Pictures label.