- Director: Wong Kar-wai
- Year: 1994
Overview
The film features two separate stories of lovesick police officers in Hong Kong. In the first story, Cop 223 obsesses over his breakup, buying expired cans of pineapple to mark the passing of time, before meeting a mysterious woman in a blonde wig who is involved in a drug smuggling operation. In the second story, Cop 663 grieves a flight attendant who left him. Faye, a snack bar worker, gets the keys to his apartment and secretly cleans and redecorates it while he is away. Cop 663 eventually discovers her actions, leading to a new connection.
Takeaways
Hong Kong is packed, but the people in it still feel incredibly lonely and disconnected. The characters cling to weird, arbitrary markers, like expired pineapple cans, just to make sense of their grief and passing time. When Faye sneaks into Cop 663's apartment, she isn't just messing with his stuff; she is gently shaking him out of his funk by changing his surroundings. It shows that sometimes you can't force someone to get over a breakup directly, but a little subtle care can help them move on when they're stuck.