You were fine before

The highlight of an otherwise very ordinary day was a viewing of Chungking Express, which I first saw when it was released in 1995. The film is as fresh as ever, with its quirky story, innovative photography, brilliant acting and great music (you will no longer be indifferent to the song California Dreamin').

This is a scene where the formidable Tony Leung talks to a bar of soap. Don't ask...

The Criterion blu-ray disk has insightful audio commentary by Asian cinema critic Tony Rayns: a lot more interesting than the usual actor's or director's description of what is on the screen. Amongst other things, Rayns talks about director Wong Kar-wai being inspired by the novels of Haruki Murakami (that's where the idea for the dialogues with inanimate objects seems to come from).