acting is outstanding and sizzling and chemistry between lead actors is going to make you crazy.
OST is a definite 10. this is a music which is going to stay with you for many years.
No summary can do it justice then watch it.
Was this review helpful to you?
This film is about details. From small gestures, to quick looks, ringing of the telephone and shots of the clock to show the passing of time, it allows you to venture into a unrequited love story that's not painful but not overly dramatic. Kar-wai channels his use of details to move the story forward without too much effort just with simple rain, simple change of clothes or simple montage that exert such beauty it takes your breath away.
He knows how tell a story not through grand dialogues but through body language which is through cinematography. Not much head space here, much head space there, blurred wall here, never showing the face there, it leaves you guessing but also doesn't leave you in the dark. You know what's happening because it's being shown before it's being told. Repetition is also key here. Repetition blends well with time which blends well with setting and ultimately dances around the story.
If Chungking Express' aesthetic is filled with exotic colors, In the Mood for Love is vibrant and exhilarating with different colors even exhibiting some traces of noir style. Similar themes with Chungking, In the Mood for love portrays a more intimate type of longing, one that's filled with utmost desire that excites us through actions and not words spoken. We are plagued with a nostalgic 60s Hong Kong setting detail by detail and it entraps us into this alluring tale filled with cinematic beauty including slow motions and simple focus on blowing smoke; it is sexy without needing to be.
Maggie Cheung and Tony Leung exhibit such tension that we feel the love without needing to do anything passionate. Cheung's beauty transcends while Leung's restrained depiction is admired. There is delicateness present when they act together that just leaves you hungry for more. Of course this is all made possible by the soundtrack, handled by Shigeru Umebayashi. The music exerts feelings and flirts with Kar-wai's mastery of cinema together with the actors' vivid emotions makes everything a complete package.
Was this review helpful to you?
This review may contain spoilers
The finiteness of love and the infiniteness of loneliness...
The film's visually crafted around a very delicate topic at the beginning but turbulent at the end: love within marriage and love outside marriage - people often call it adultery. I wonder if love really exists in marriage. And outside of marriage, why can't there be love?Mr. Chow is a normal man, polite and attentive to his wife - even though his wife is rarely at home for him to pay attention to. He had a sacred belief in fidelity. He believes that he always lives with boundaries and moderation and absolutely will not set eyes on married women. Mrs. So is an elegant, somewhat reserved woman who respects her husband - even though he is often not home to receive that respect. She is careful in communication, keeping her distance from strangers. A virtuous woman with traditional dignity.
But when they discovered that their husband and wife were having an affair, what did they do? There will be no stalking, hiring detectives, rushing to catch red-handed, or attacking love rivals. They calmly arranged to meet for coffee to verify the situation. The calmness is humane but also very strange. Does a person who still passionately loves his wife or husband have this calmness? Maybe it's because they are very well educated, or maybe the love in their hearts has died a long time ago, so they just feel it's time to accept that truth: they don't have enough courage, so the husband and wife instead commit adultery.
The relationship between two hearts that are both bored and longing for love has blossomed within them. They loved each other while unable to love each other because of the constraints of their marriage. The marriage where they should have been loved, but in the end, they were not loved at all.
Maggie Cheung's acting is excellent, her elegant beauty and the way she acts with her eyes are so expressive, from flirtatious to confused and self-controlled when realizes that feeling is wrong. Tony Leung, his eyes, his facial expression whenever he looked at Maggie got butterflies in my stomach.
Unique cinematography style, expressive language instead of dialogues, images with hidden meanings, concise content, delving deeply into people's hearts in a social community with close relationships where the value of Asian spiritual culture is still relatively deep-rooted. The soundtrack is selective, sometimes it evokes deep sadness, and sometimes it overflows with love.
Was this review helpful to you?
The aesthetics and cinematography in this movie are just pure art.
This movie is all about the atmosphere, melancholy and longing.
The soundtrack is so beautiful. It adds a lot and fits the atmosphere perfectly.
It is so astounding to me how this movie grabs your attention with very little dialogue and story.
There is no other movie that can deliver as much tension between the main cast as In the Mood for Love.
Everyone should watch this amazing piece of art at least once in their lifetime.
Was this review helpful to you?
The title really is perfect for this movie. Throughout the movie the mood was love, forbidden and painful. The actors were amazing in the show and they really helped set this movie on another level.
This is a slow-paced movie and doesn't have a lot of action, but it can really create emotion. The film was beautifully shot and although it didn't have a lot of dialogue, it really doesn't lack for meaning. The body language, way the movie was filmed and the hidden messages really make this movie one you shouldn't pass up.
This is my first time seeing these actors and after watching this movie, I would definitely check out more of their work.
Was this review helpful to you?
This review may contain spoilers
"You notice things if you pay attention"
In the Mood for Love delivered an achingly beautiful story of longing and love. The story could be as painful for the viewer as it was for the main characters, Mo Wan and Lai Zhen, as they dealt with their repressed feelings for each other.Chow Mo Wan and Su Lai Zhen move into adjacent rooms in an apartment complex. The landlady, Mrs. Suen, holds frequent mahjong games and sees all. Lai Zhen asks her husband who is making a business trip to Japan to pick up two purses for her boss, one for his mistress and one for his wife. Mo Wan's wife often works late and takes trips as well. It doesn't take long for Mo Wan and Lai Zhen to compare notes when they both realize that his wife carries a Japanese purse just like Lai Zhen's and her husband wears a tie like Mo Wan's. They commiserate by role playing in regards to their spouses. Gradually, they spend more and more time together while attempting to avoid gossip. They determine to remain platonic so as not to become adulterers like their spouses.
The strength of this film was Tony Leung Chiu Wai's and Maggie Cheung's nuanced performances as they grieved their marriages, exhibited anger over the betrayals, and most of all the subtle build-up of their feelings for each other. It didn't hurt that they looked stunning together and by their every move and word, you could believe their characters. Mo Wan's hooded glances as Lai Zhen gracefully passed him in the hallway or on the way to the noodle shop conveyed a deep appreciation for her. The touch of their hands was seductive and intimate, revealing their desire and need for each other. Like lovers, they longed to see each other and simply be near one another.
Director Wong Kar Wai used a musical theme when they passed each other or when they were at a busy office or loud mahjong gathering to let us know they were thinking of each other. Sultry Nat King Cole's music accompanied many scenes providing a soothing background. His song about green eyes (Aquellos Ojos Verdes) played when the two revealed they knew what their spouses were doing together. "Quinzas, Quinzas, Quinzas" (Probably, Probably, Probably) played while they decided what to do about their future.
Most of the frames were tight, shots through doorways, windows, narrow hallways, alleyways, and around corners. Though the rooms were small, the images of the two eating alone or sitting alone only emphasized their aloneness and loneliness before finding each other. Whether working together on Mo Wan's martial arts serial in a rented room or trapped in a room with the rowdy mahjong players just outside, the tension and tiny revelations of familiarity bled through. Many of the scenes were in the dark or rain, insulating Lai Zhen and Mo Wan as they sorted through their complicated feelings for their spouses and for each other. As the two spent more time together, the progression of days was often shown by the changing colors of Lai Zhen's gorgeous cheongsams.
As Mo Wan realized that Lai Zhen would not leave her husband and his feelings had grown too strong to control, they began to rehearse their good-byes. I have to admit to not understanding her loyalty to her husband at this point. He and Mo Wan's wife had flaunted their affair with the identical gifts and trysts in the apartment room. It was as if they wanted to get caught or simply didn't care. I'm also not sure if both Mo Wan and Lai Zhen had both truly agreed to not having their own affair. There were times when it seemed he was fishing to see if she'd changed her mind. Eventually, when it was too late, they did seek exits from their marital traps. At that point Wong Kar Wai resorted to cliched misunderstandings and missed opportunities which cheapened this mesmerizing love story for me.
I'm not sure if Director Wong wanted the audience to sympathize with the couple or just be content with watching their story unfold. He never fully developed the characters outside the forbidden relationship and tantalizingly dangled a possible happy ending in front of us and the characters only to snatch it away...repeatedly.
"He remembers those vanished years as though looking through a dusty window pane. The past is something he could see but not touch. And everything he sees is blurred and indistinct."
Maybe when all was said and done, a beautiful memory of a seemingly perfect relationship was better than reality.
2/14/23
Was this review helpful to you?
Avec des si on refait le monde
Just where do I begin?I was confused at the start, and that confusion stuck with me till the end. This was a recommendation, so I went in blind – no idea what it was about, and I don't like reading synopses. They can spoil the fun, you know?
This movie wasn't anything like I expected. It was poetic?! The cinematography was very different, almost like they give you some clips and tell you to let your imagination run wild. It was slow, silent, and reddish!!
A slow burn, kind of boring, but not in a negative way – it's hard to explain. Silent because there wasn't a ton of dialogue; we just watched them act with music in the background, very mesmerizing!! And reddish, for aesthetic reasons, giving it a hot vibe.
So, it's about two lonely married people being cheated on by each other's spouses. They discover this as they live next door. They become close, and what their relationship could be named, I don't really know – friends, lovers, absolutely not, maybe an association for cheated-on people? They were just two lonely individuals keeping each other company and trying to understand how it led to this. Obviously, they slowly fall in love.
Now, the end left me very confused because I had so many questions!! But still, the movie was brilliant. I did get the idea of 'Missed opportunities' and the 'Perhaps, perhaps, perhaps.
Was this review helpful to you?
A Frustrating Experience
[Watched/Reviewed on Letterboxd 5/16/2021]So far, outside of "Chungking Express", Wong Kar-wai's filmography has been fairly aggravating to watch. Clearly, the guy's modus operandi is the interior lives of unhappy people, but with the way people talked about his films, I was hoping for something with a little more substance than folks who clearly need to learn how to communicate with each other.
It's just been Tony Leung portraying sorry men in even sorrier relationships featuring actors I've only come to like (Leslie Cheung) and already love (Zhang Ziyi, Maggie Chung, Gong Li, and Faye Wong). It's a kind of director/actor dynamic that's proven to be less than stellar, and certainly not entertaining.
Of all his films, I was really expecting to like "In The Mood For Love", if only for my girl Maggie Cheung. The establishing period of the film is really good, I like the way the film sets the characters up as neighbors. It's kind've amusing that we're never allowed to see the faces of their beau's, only hear them speaking (clearly, someone watched "Charlie Brown").
But as the film goes on, it just feels aimless as it languishes in the growing loneliness of the characters. I struggled to remain awake just to see the two interact, but it got to a point that I didn't care anymore. I rolled over and went to sleep wishing they'd divorce their spouses so they can be "[Un]happy Together".
Was this review helpful to you?
"Любовное настроение" -это чувства , без видимых эмоции!
Это второй фильм из трилогии. Надеюсь получится собрать их все . Но всё же я пришла к выводу, что имеет смысл смотреть их не в хронологическом порядке. Так как первый фильм "Дикие дни", скорее о воспитании чувств, о первых робких шагах в отношениях, о первых разочарованиях и потерях, о том опыте, который как незримая тень ложится на принятые в последствии решения, и порой искажает восприятие происходящего сегодня. Последний фильм "2046" скорее фильм размышление о том насколько правильным был выбор, сделанный когда-то и что действительно имело значение, это как калейдоскоп встреч , людей и событий, которые и есть жизнь, скорее это фильм не сожаление, а попытка понять , какую весть в себе несли люди, появившиеся на жизненном пути и могло ли что-то измениться, сделай мы другой выбор."Любовное настроение" -это фильм чувство , застывшие эмоции, постепенное осознание прекрасной неги и блаженства, которое наступает в тот момент, когда ты находишься там , где тебе комфортно и с тем, с той , где ход времени и действие не имеет значение. Это удивительная тактильность на расстоянии и будоражащая взрывная чувственность без видимых эмоций. Попадая в шанхайскую коммуналку 60-х мы постепенно погружаемся в мир грёз и цветовых иллюзий, виртуозно созданных мастером , где обычные вещи приобретают изысканность форм, цвета, фактур и движений и уже невозможно вырваться из плена удивительного театра жизни. Безусловно, после просмотра 1 и 3 фильма, вам захочется вернуться к "Любовному настроению" ещё раз, но он именно из тех фильмов, которые можно смотреть бесконечное количество , открывая всё новые грани.
Was this review helpful to you?
Quizas, quizas, quizas...
Nggak tahu apakah karena emang udah nggak interested sama film drama romance heteroseksual lagi, atau emang sedang capek banget secara fisik dan mental, sejujurnya gue sangat struggling untuk bisa fokus nonton film ini. Setiap 10 menit pause dan break terus. I think today is my own bad day for watching artistic movies like this.Tapi di luar ceritanya yang B itu, suka banget dengan sinematografinya, sangat ditakar dengan penuh kehati-hatian; banyak banget flare atau object yang sengaja dibikin menghalangi, seakan-akan rasanya kita mengintip di balik rahasia kisah cinta dua orang yang diam-diam selingkuh. Musiknya juara, sangat melankolis dan benar-benar membangun mood. Kostumnya juga elegan banget. Jangan lupa moodboard warna merahnya, tidak terkalahkan.
Tapi bicara soal cinta, memang terkadang rasa cinta itu hadir dan terus berbunga bukan karena ketertarikan seksual, tapi karena sebuah wadah kosong bernama kesepian yang diisi oleh rasa nyaman. Oh well... Mungkin jika diri ini sudah lebih siap mencerna, akan kutonton film ini untuk kedua kalinya. "quizás, quizás, quizás..."
Was this review helpful to you?
Mas que una historia, una experiencia
Si eres de las personas que no aprecian aspectos críticos pero lentos en una pelicula como el desarollo indispensable de los personajes y observar paso a paso el motivo de sus acciones, esta no es la pelicula para ti.Wong Karwai siempre ha tenido una manera espectacular y humana de poder observar desde el ojo de un externo cada rasgo de sus películas, el porqué de cada expresión. In the mood for love, como su mismo título lo sugiere cuenta la historia de dos adultos, perdidos en el umbral de sus matrimonios fallidos y encontrando un consuelo mutuo dentro de la soledad de sus almas.
Was this review helpful to you?
