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two Chinese-American cab drivers in san francisco’s chinatown go on a quest to find their mysterious friend Chan, who has disappeared with $4000 of their money.
I watched this last night not knowing much about it and I really enjoyed it. the plot is pretty loose, it’s kind of a hangout movie. like Clerks if it were about China. I thought it was very funny at some points and very profound at others.
the main theme I picked up on is duality. the political strife between the communists and the nationalists. the cultural divide between the north of China and the south of China. the ancient and the modern. the synthesis of being both Chinese and American. even the two protagonists; one is old, the other young. one is idealistic, the other pragmatic. in their search for Chan, they interview many people and every single person gives them information that directly contradicts one another. some say Chan is prideful, others say he is full of shame. some say he is bumbling and clueless, others say he is wise and pensive. some say he is sly and untrustworthy, others say he is upright and honest.
all of this is brought to a point in the central motif of the film: gazing into a puddle. that all duality is a reflection of the One.
I’m not going to spoil the ending but I thought this was a very fun and very interesting movie :))
Feb 5, 2025
Related Recs
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Been waiting for this one to drop for forever! Thought it wouldn’t meet my expectations like the last few movies i really wanted to like but this definitely surpassed it. My favorite part is that the main character *spoiler alert* got a happy ending! *spoiler alert end*
Charming movie about a struggling artist trying to not get deported while putting up with stereotypical, rich, white artists in order to achieve their dream. Has small moments of absurdity but nothing too crazy plus the performances are all cool. short and sweet and funny!
Mar 1, 2024
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I’m no longer 23 – and I haven’t been for a few years now – but this was a genuinely formative experience for me. It changed how I saw my own place in the world and it made me feel less stagnant and less pathetic – the second part of the movie, specifically.
I hope every 23-(and 24, 25, 26 …)-year-old finds their own Chungking Express whenever they most need it. (That probably sounds corny, but I'm 100% sincere!)
Feb 8, 2024
This movie perfectly scratched the useless niche-information quadrant of my brain. Right above where the lobotomy scraped the feeling out of my frontal lobe.
This was really good dude! Like, not my favourite rise-and-fall business biopic, but a really solid entry into that world of movies. Best way I can describe this movie is “The Social Network: An Amazon Prime Original Movie”. Like it’s good, it ain’t winning any Oscars, but if I saw this on TV I’d be like “aw hell yeah dude this movie’s great!”
It’s so interesting how this monolithic company which once controlled 45% of the smartphone market essentially shat the bed so hard the bed snapped in half, folded in on itself, and flattened the shitter like a pancake. Part of it was corporate greed, for sure, but a fair whack was just bad luck. Imagine having the biggest status symbol in the world, only for some turtle-neck wearing dickhead to turn around and say “nah I’d win” and completely body you in the span of an hour. If that sounds like your cup of tea, watch this movie.
The plot moves at a good clip, and it kinda reminded me of Steve Jobs, using three distinct periods in the companies history as the backdrop for each act. I will say that the start and end were easily the more interesting parts. At the start we’re watching a bunch of sweaty nerds crack the code of innovation, montages and needle drops galore. In the end we’re watching a multi-national corporation in a desperate attempt to sink its teeth into anything that’ll bleed, even if that means feasting on their own flesh. The middle is more about the slow corruption, the way that lofty ideals start to fall apart in the face of adversity and the desire to be the best. It’s interesting, thematically and narratively speaking, but the real meat and potatoes are those opening and closing acts.
*puts on beret* This movie is a sound critique of capitalism, BUT NOT FOR THE REASON YOU THINK DEAR READER! Yes, this is about a company that started in humble origins and means only to blow up and become perverted by sweet sweet money, but it’s more than that. When a late-stage capitalist structure defines business success as “profit line goes up”, anything less than resounding profit is concerning if not fatal. What starts as a homegrown effort ends up outsourced, quality abandoned for quantity, SUPPLY AND DEMAND BUY BUY SELL. And hey, we all know this. You been to McDonalds recently? Big Mac my ass, that shits a Medium Mac AT BEST. I digress. While that factor is certainly touched on here, I also think it shines a light on the sort of person that world attracts. It takes a special kinda of bastard to run a BlackBerry, and those bastards all share a vice in pride (not the sucking-and-fucking fun kind either). You combine this personality type that needs to control, to dominate, to be the big swinging dick, with an unforgiving system that reduces accomplishment to “does the line go up?”, and you end up with a company that changes the world and implodes within a decade. Hmmm maybe the system is flawed… nah, me want Big Mac.
Stand out performance from Glenn Howerton, he is after all a Five Star Man. There was a feeling here that he’d just play Dennis from Sunny, only now in a suit, but his performance had subtle differences. Explosive, abusive, untethered, but doing a much better job of keeping the lid on. Jay Baruchel also did a very commendable job, taking a character from a weak-chinned autistic-coded savant who can’t hold eye contact for the duration of a swift fart, all the way up to a frazzled, desperate businessman grasping at straws to keep his kingdom from sinking into the sea.
Final Rating - 3.5/5 Stars
Watch this if you like - The Social Network, Steve Jobs, The Founder, The Big Short
have you seen this movie? what did you think? let’s talk about it
Jan 17, 2025
Top Recs from @bisonspider
oh golly oh gee... I’m honored that anyone here on PI.FYI even recognizes me!! how sweet to be thought of. uhhhh as for who I am and what I’m about: my name is Ethyn, I’m 22, I’m American (flyover state), cultural Catholic, my favorite color is purple, of a forgiving disposition
I’ve been using this app basically since launch (?) bc a tiktok mutual was clued in on the ground floor and I got the invite lol. I consider myself a very curious and open-minded person and something I love about this place is how committed it is to sincerity, such that I can no longer stand the casual cruelty and close-mindedness of almost all other social media. so PI.FYI is the only social media I’m active on anymore. I suppose the reason I’m more of a lurker is because I love getting to read recs from others (and I’m pretty liberal with the like button) but I feel strange reccing something if I’m not like 100% behind it lol. like there’s gonna be a test. I’ll also go two days or so without logging on and then I’ll catch up on all the recs I missed so it results in a spam for my mutuals <3
As far as interests, I generally consider myself to be an ooky and kooky type of person. I love art in all mediums, but especially films, books, paintings, and poetry. I’ve rec’d PLENTY of all four if you care to take a look :) I’ll make the occasional lifestyle rec but most of the stuff I talk about on here is art. Lol since the earliest days of this site I’ve kinda harped on the function of story as the thing that makes us human, and myth as manifestations of the collective unconscious. This is one of my most foundational beliefs and lenses for the world.
Another common theme you’ll see in my recs is my love for the classics. Classic movies, classic books, all of it!! I think if something is classic there’s almost always a reason, and I think it’s important to understand foundations of influence for art that comes after. Everything is in context!!!! Everything is interdependent!!!!
some of my favorite films: The Wicker Man (1973), Goodfellas (1990), Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives (2010), Viy (1967), Nosferatu (1922), The Banshees of Inisherin (2022)
some of my favorite literature: All of Edgar Allan Poe, Life of Pi by Yann Martel, Ishmael by Daniel Quinn, the work of William S. Burroughs, the work of Yasunari Kawabata, and all world myth categorically.
I want to affirm becoming!!!! I want to exist in service of the liberation of the full breadth of human potential!!! I want to be ripped screaming and bloody from the womb!!!! I will incarnate just to touch the wound ten thousand more times!!!!
Mar 13, 2025
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study the folklore and myth of your actual local region. live your daily life under the logic of fairytales. communicate as heavily as possible in proverbs and riddles. humans are a storytelling creature and there is a reason these archetypes and motifs appear to humans across times/cultures/places
Feb 13, 2024
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Substack that emails you the entirety of Bram Stoker’s Dracula in real time. since the novel is composed of diary entries, it sends you the diary entries day by day so you can read it on the same timeline in which it takes place. it started earlier this month but it’s not too late to catch up!! or you could wait until next may. classics can be intimidating but this gives you the opportunity to read it in daily segments in your email and follow along in an immersive way :)
May 20, 2024