Wednesday, June 29 at 8 PM

Cops and detectives, loners and the lovelorn. Join us for two epochal films of love in the shadows and love in silence. Wong Kar-Wai’s CHUNGKING EXPRESS (1994) overlaps two narratives: in one, Cop 223 (Takeshi Kaneshiro) buys a can of pineapple with an expiration date of May 1 to commemorate his lost love, until he shares his melancholia with an enigmatic woman in a blond wig (Brigitte Lin). Simultaneously, Cop 663 (Tony Leung Chiu Wai) mourns a breakup while a waitress (Faye Wong) sneaks into his apartment to let herself into his life.

Seventy years prior, Buster Keaton explored similar longing in the classic SHERLOCK JR. (1924). A love struck film projectionist attempts to save his paramour from a thief, but finds himself locked in train car with only his daydreams of sleuthing and heroism to entertain him. Keaton merges the imagined with breathtaking physical stunts that teeter the line between fantasy and actual danger.

Both films tuck narratives upon narratives with danger in love and the crime of loss.

VIS-À-VIS is an ongoing program curated by Brenda Contreras and Navid Sinaki that pairs narrative works to present the dialogues and deviations when seemingly disparate styles are placed side by side and face to face.

Presented with the USC Hugh M. Hefner Moving Image Archive.

Doors open at 7:30 pm. $5 suggested donation.

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