Chungking Express

One of the most obvious choices that the director had made in terms of the mise-en-scene of this film were the two instances in which the characters occupying the screen appeared to be moving in slow motion, while everything in their surroundings moved in a much quicker pace. This gave the audience a sense of the power of an instant in time, and gave us some insight, in my opinion, into how the characters at hand felt at that given moment. It shows how time tends to feel perpetual when we are not in our best state of minds, say we are sad or angry, and this device was thereby utilized to indicate that as a result of the reluctance of time to pass when we are feeling down, they have to wallow in their sorrows for what feels to them as a very long time. I feel that this manipulation of perspective that was employed in these scenes perfectly matched the fundamental feelings of the film, especially towards the beginning, as desperation and desolation seem to engulf the characters in all that they do.