WONG KAR-WAI IS THE world's finest unknown auteur. Unknown, that is, to U.S. audiences. In Asia and Europe the 37-year-old Hong Kong writer-director is either a box-office sensation or a cult hero. Now that Quentin Tarantino's distribution company is releasing Wong's cool-jazzy 1994 romantic comedy Chungking Express, we get to catch up.
The plot: two stories, set in a late-night, neon Hong Kong. Or, actually, the same story, told in two variations: a cop thinks he's in love with one woman, then is drawn to another more mysterious one.
The first episode is the old tale of the innocent policeman and...