For those of you who have never seen any of Wong Kar Wai's movies or even heard of him for that matter, In the Mood for Love will undoubtedly prove to be a bewildering, almost pointless movie, as I overheard two other people in the audience say. At first, I was pretty angry at those two people for failing to see the director's point or simply failing to see the implicit beauty hidden in other people's cultures. However, as a colleague of mine pointed out to me today, it was just their opinion on the movie. And I think I can concede that point. Other people's opinions are bound to differ from mine.
In the Mood For Love centers around the two characters, played by Tony Leung ( who won a best Actor award at Cannes for his portrayl of Mr. Chow in this movie ) and Maggie Cheung. With a stunningly evocative soundtrack ( reminiscent of the Days of Being Wild ), the movie meanders between freeze frames and slowmotions, emphasised by Tony Leung's nonchalant air and Maggie Cheung's languid, 'cheung-samed' figure. The two seem to float in a perfectly made-up bubble, liquid in a suffocatingly static state that is the 1960's.
Both married, they are have just recently become neighbours in this small, cramped, 60's Hong Kong apartment building. At first little more than civil neighbours, their lives soon become entwined by the realisation that their respective spouses are having an affair. This fact has been revealed to the audience a little earlier on in the film but the way Maggie Cheung breaks it to TOny Leung is an outstanding example of Wong Kar Wai's subtle mastery of his art.
The two become friends, as increasingly their spouses spend more and more time away from home and the two are left with more time on their hands. They spend their time collaborating on a book that soon proves to be a great success and which paves the path for their fall 'into' love. Despite their feelings for each other, they can never give in to them as they keep repeating throughout the movie, they cannot " lower themselves to that level" in replicating the story of their enstranged spouses. The ending is tragic and subtly so, without solid, set-in-stone results. Wong Kar Wai always leaves a note of "what if" in the air to his movies, which is precisely the way In the Mood for Love ends.
I've long been an admirer of Wong Kar Wai's movies, from Chungking Express to Happy Together, I've always been happy to lay down my defenses and subject myself to a world vision that is so blatantly obscure and yet so poignantly beautiful. His movies have never had complex plots with twists at the end the likes of Sixth Sense. Nor are they huge, impossible-rendered possible action sequences that make up John Woo's world. Wong Kar Wai doesn't pretend to have the answers to all the world's problems. In fact, half the time, you wonder if his characters have any problems to start out with or whether they're just your common You and I who haven't got their act together. And yet, I beg to differ. Watching his movies is like looking at the world through a filter of a glass of red wine or a light smoky haze. " a picture is worth a thousand words " has never been more true in his case, as you feel Wong Kar Wai has spoken million upon million of words in one simple movie.
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Production Year: 2004 - Drama - Director: Nick Cassavetes - Original Language: English - Classification: 15 years and over, 12 years and over - Starring: Rachel McAdams, Ryan Gosling, Gena Rowlands
Production Year: 1995 - Drama - Director: Ang Lee - Original Language: English - Classification: Universal - Starring: Emma Thompson, Alan Rickman, Kate Winslet, Hugh Grant, Greg Wise, Hugh Laurie, Robert Hardy
love this film, makes me cry every time.. i love the way maggie cheung dresses and moves and acts.. all soo subtle and soo suggestive at the same time! Do you know where I can find chung king express?? Iv been looking for that film for years...
Hong Kong, 1962. Chow (Tony Leung - 'Happy Together', 'Hard Boiled') is a junior newspaper ... more
editor with and elusive wife. His new neighbour Li-zhen (Maggie Cheung - 'Days Of Being Wild', 'Irma Vep') is a secretary whose husband seems to spend all his ti...
![In The Mood For Love [2000] [DVD]](http://picnicb.ciao.com/uk/78549937.jpg "In The Mood For Love [2000] [DVD]")
Oct 30th, 2000
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