In the Mood for Love - Criterion Collection
by Wong Kar-Wai
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DVD Cover Information
Actor: Lai Chin, Maggie Cheung, Rebecca Pan, Siu Ping-Lam, Tony Leung Chiu-WaiDirector: Wong Kar-Wai
Cinematographer: Christopher Doyle
Cinematographer: Mark Lee
Composer: Michael Galasso
Composer: Shigeru Umebayashi
Editor: William Chang
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Subtitled); Cantonese (Original Language), Dolby Digital 5.0
Format: Color, DVD-Video, NTSC, Subtitled, Widescreen
Picture Format: 1.66:1
Running Time: 98 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2002-03-05
Audience Rating: Unrated
Studio: Criterion
Movie Reviews of In the Mood for Love - Criterion Collection
Movie Review: The seductive quality of restraint
Summary: 5 Stars
There are only three romance films I will view time and time again - Casablanca, Cinema Paradiso and In the Mood for Love. To dismiss the third as simply a pointless art house film is, in my opinion, undeserved because I regard it as a prime example of cinematic art at its best and most accessible. A reviewer has termed the appreciation of this film as "cult following," and if that's the case, count me in as a cult member.
The story opens with a married woman, Chan Su Li-zhen, moving into an apartment in overcrowded 1960s Hong Kong. Moving in next door is a married writer, Chow Mo-wan. Their respective spouses are absent most of the time, with Mr. Chan often away on business trips and Mrs. Chow often working late. Not long after, through gossip and coincidence, Li-zhen and Mo-wan realize that their spouses are cheating on them. Both deeply hurt, they attempt to piece together the circumstances behind the affair and in doing so, they themselves fall in love with one another. They decide not to succumb to what their spouses have done, instead choosing to internalize whatever desire they feel for each other. Unable or unwilling to resolve their moral quandary, they attempt to go about their daily lives, tortured by the intensity of their feelings for one another, yet reluctant to do anything about it. "In The Mood for Love" doesn't demonize adultery nor does it ennoble fidelity; the film takes no stance and it's up to the viewer to judge.
It is to director Wong Kar-wai's credit that the reserve depicted by Li-zhen and Mo-wan sizzles hotter than any sex scene in movies. In here, the most one will see is a brief holding of hands, a pained embrace, a subtle grazing of arms, an intimate laying of one's head on another's shoulder. It is also to the actors' credit that they are able to suffuse the screen with varying degrees of passion and longing simply by the looks they give one another and the slow movement of their heads. It is all so restrained, so understated, and yet so sensual.
Its two handsome leads, Maggie Cheung Man-yuk and Tony Leung Chiu-wai, of course, add to the film's beauty, and with Kar-wai's cinematic skills the total package is drop dead gorgeous. Kar-wai heightens the claustrophobia of Hong Kong with tight, voyeuristic shots of narrow hallways, narrow stairs to a crowded noodle shop, and shots of apartment dwellers huddled over mahjong in a tiny room. A graduate of graphic design, Kar-wai has an unerring eye for aesthetics--many slow motion scenes of Cheung swaying in cheongsams that are explosions of color in dark and smoky backgrounds, the jadeite on a restaurant table that evokes a past era, each scene seemingly a tableau meant as a feast for the eyes and a chance to share its characters' sadness. Even the film's music emphasizes its mood and sensuality - from Shigeru Umebayashi's haunting instrumental to Nat King Cole's rendition of the Cuban romantic ballad, `Quizas, Quizas, Quizas (Perhaps, Perhaps, Perhaps),' to the original Spanish version of `Green Eyes,' `Aquellos Ojos Verdes.'
In one of the last scenes, Mo-wan travels to Angkor Wat in Phnom Penh, where he whispers in a hole in a tree what we guess to be his longing for Li-zhen for we don't hear what he whispers. He then covers the hole with mud so the secret will forever stay buried. Among all the brilliant scenes in this film, this is the one that haunts me the most. "In the Mood for Love" is highly stylized and lush, and watching it is an intoxicating and hypnotic experience, but more importantly, it's a sensitive and thought-provoking film that will resonate to those who've loved and desired someone they cannot have. I can only wish more movies were made with this level of artistry.
(Language: Cantonese with English subtitles)
Summary of In the Mood for Love - Criterion Collection
Winner of numerous awards including Best Actor at the 2000 Cannes Film Festival, In the Mood for Love confirmed that Hong Kong director Wong Kar-wai is a major figure in world cinema. As passionate as it is politely discreet, his film takes place in 1962 Hong Kong, where neighboring apartment dwellers Mr. Chow (Tony Leung) and Mrs. Chan (Maggie Cheung) discover that their oft-absent spouses are having an affair. This realization parallels their own mutual attraction, but fidelity and decency ensure that their intimate bond remains unspoken though deeply understood. With a stealthy, eavesdropping camera style and a screenplay created through spontaneous on-set inspiration, Wong Kar-wai crafts an intricate, finely tuned platonic romance, enhancing its ambience with a kaleidoscope of color (most notably in Cheung's dazzling wardrobe of cheongsam dresses) and careful attention to character detail. Deservedly placed on many critics' top 10 lists, this elegant film should not be missed. --Jeff ShannonHong Kong, 1962: Chow Mo-wan and Su Li-zhen move into neighboring apartments on the same day. Their encounters are polite and formal-until a discovery about their respective spouses sparks an intimate bond. At once delicately mannered and visually stunning, Wong Kar-wai's In the Mood for Love is a masterful evocation of romantic longing and fleeting moments in time.
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