MUBI

The Aesthetic Amalgam

Is it in the name? Yes it is. Wong Kar Wai came up with the name “In the mood for love” in a hurried response to a passing Cannes submission deadline. Nothing could better capture the essence of the film than this candid title. Wong Kar Wai is notorious for his unorthodox filming style where he circumvents conventional narrative film-making and trots in the annals of iconoclast filmmakers. Mr. Wai is undoubtedly the Grand master of Cinematic Innovation, his experimentation with sequences of different frames per second, improvisation of dialogue and story right on the sets, combined with the evocative lighting and camerawork from cinematographer Mark Li Ping-bin and the most sensuous sets and costumes by art director William Chang make this film an ode to the pain that comes with love. The two actors; Tony Leung and Maggie Cheung embellish this artistic crew with their indelibly dramatic performances. Juxtaposed with Goethe’s “Sorrows of Young Werther”, the film seems to be the penultimate lament to the infanticide of passion.

Wong takes away all the complexity from the story and relies solely on character exposition. The film is a simple story where neighbors Mr. Chow and So-Li-Zhen find out through circumstance and instinct that their respective spouses are having an affair. Initially stunned but not surprised, the neighbors comfort each other as friends, but their mutual sympathy swiftly chauffeurs them to each others’ lonely hearts as lovers. The two decide that they won’t engage in marital deceit like their spouses, which ultimately culminates to an emotional implosion. This simple storyline, even though ninety-eight minutes in totality, feels like a slow boil where Mr. Kar Wai steadily ingratiates a pastiche of passion-evoking aesthetics.

“It is a Restless moment” The title line that prologues the film unconsciously stirs a tempestuous feeling in the audience. The audience is pitched in the 1960’s Hong Kong scenario where two different people are moving in a packed apartment complex. The director’s obsession with confining space and surface is alluded in the ambience of the many melancholic colors of the sets. One can see jailed bars throughout the residential surroundings, which literally refer to the prison that society is. The two characters are repeatedly pitted against each other in the closed-quarters where they are forced to adhere to social norms of marital reserve, but the inevitability of their spiritual union is hinted in the many eye contacts they make during their cyclical visits of the crowded Hong Kong food bazaars.

The introspective visuals of the characters are painted with colors of loneliness, isolation and longing. The vibrant color scheme, props and costumes compliment the intricate gazes into the characters desires and changing moods. Every artistic detail camouflages metaphors for unconsummated passion muffled by the sanctimony of an intrusive society. The director is known for his exclusion of the outside world, even though the film exposits on troubled love in a judging society, the central characters are consciously led away from the treadmill of urban existence. Even though on a different track, the characters’ actions are ultimately motivated by society.

The repetitive musical themes elucidate the avoidant personality of the characters. The music also evokes a nostalgic sense of surrounding within the film. From the funereal Yumeji’s theme to the soulful Spanish crooning of Nat King Cole and the spiritually haunting encore of the Angkor Wat theme by composer Michael Galasso, the musical framework shapes and lures the audience’s emotional response to the zenith of melancholy.
Time as a cinematic concept has never been so exploited as it is in this film. From the very first second, till the end, the transformational property of passing time has been shown as the winner above all else, maybe even death. The film unknowingly pays homage to the Greek Philosopher Heraclitus, who said -; “"You cannot step twice into the same river”, alluding to the sense of passing time with a flowing river; every single moment tangents in a line that represents “what once was will never be again”.

The film is riddled with poetry, from the many voice over’s and symbolisms, the audience is obliquely led to visualize loss; when a secret is whispered in a hole in the ruined monastery of Angkor Wat, Mr. Chow is discarding the pain of his unconsummated love by transferring the unborn “fetus” into the ever welcoming womb of Mother earth.

In the mood for love is a spiritual boxing match between platonic and sensual love, the latter winning in the end. The film’s aesthetic vigor and tamed visual complexities channel emotional suffering with an uncontrollable restraint; a confession about the cravings of the spirit freed from the prison of civilization.

Here’s my problem with this movie.

I think that a non-romance romance has the potential to be a really emotionally brutal, heart-wrenching affair. This movie is not that for a couple of reasons, but the biggest is that Wai doesn’t give any reason for these two to not hook up. They’re both dissatisfied with their marriages, both of their spouses are away more often than not and neither of them are dependent on their spouses for lifestyle purposes(kids, wealth, etc.). After a certain amount of time it stops being “what a tragic state of affairs” and turns into “God damn it will you please just hook up already”.

And I know that after reading that a lot of people are going to think that I don’t “get it”. I do. I understand that it’s a movie about failed romance and missed opportunities and that it’s supposed to evoke a feeling of wistful lonesomeness in the viewer. And if it had succeeded in doing that for me, like it does for most people, I wouldn’t have a problem with it. But for me, this type of situation isn’t sad, it’s just frustrating to watch, particularly since I’ve seen so many friends go through similar circumstances.

Of course, it’s Wong Kar-Wai, and as such there’s a lot of merit to it as a film. He gets some great shots and when Leung and Cheung’s chemistry works, I did feel some brief moments of sincere heartache. Not to mention, it has one of my favorite single lines of dialogue ever: “It doesn’t matter which one of us makes the first move. It’s already happened.”

But that doesn’t change the fact that, for me at least, the premise becomes irritating and tedious once you understand that they aren’t going to get together. The “will they or won’t they” suspense leaves after about 45 minutes and at a certain point you begin to feel like you’re wasting your time.

I understand what it was going for, and I even understand why so many people love it. But for me, it was a dropped ball and by far the weakest movie I’ve seen from one of my favorite directors.

For others it may bore them to death but for me its not… I watched this film when I was in high school because my sister’s freind happens to have a copy of it. And when I’ve heard about the title it’s like some erotic films, so I played it and watch it, forwarded and skipped some scenes and i didn’t find any erotic scenes or love scenes… But I was thinking that there is something special with this film so after a week I watch it again, but this time I’m 100% seriuos… And as I finished the film, tears shedded on my face becasue of amusement and my feelings about the film.. And I could say it has all the 6 senses….

Sense of Sight….
After watching it, I make some research about it and found out that this was release on the year 2000 (I thought it was a 60’s film!!!!).. Anyway, one thing that amazed me was its cinematography because I haven’t watch a film that looks like it, I mean “LOOKS” like it… So this film introduces me to Christopher Doyle… The cinematorgaphy made the film more old but elegant and at the same time creating a dark mood that makes the film so mysterious. In addition the shots are all amzing, because it felt that someone is spying on their spouses and create a mood of mysteries, secrets and unfaithfulness…. And this mood is consistent from start til the end..

Sense of Hearing…
This film because so special because of its music composed by Michael Galasso and some music from the 60’s.. Wong kar Wai perfected this becasue every single scene accompanied by this songs and instumentals made so romantic, and for a 13 year old that time this film was so mature… hahahaha…

Sense of Smell….
Because of its outstanding cinematography, and the romantic feeling of some scenes I even happen to have hallucinations about smelling what they are eating and their surroundings…

Sense of Taste..
I noticed that the 2 protagonist played by the very finest Chinese actors Tony Leung anf Maggie Cheung, like to eat… On this matter, Besides with the cinematography and the shots, that even the evaporation coming out of their noodles was very visible, the actors contributed well on this part and of the whole film.. And maybe its a Chinese thing, because you could see them eating mouthful especially Tony Leung, that makes it not so scripted….

Sense of Feeling….
One major part of making a love story is to make the audience feel the characters feelings, Wong kar Wai again, didn’t fail to do it so. The setting also contributed to those many feelings such as, emptiness, sadness, unfaithfulness, love, longing and many more. And of corse their houses that has narrow pathways and stairways that could make each others skin touch one another. And the slow motion scenes, that I found one of the best and one of the most unique about this film together with the romantic songs of Nat King Cole and the swaying shots that creates a feeling of many tings like eroticism, sexuality, unfaithfulness, secrets, lies, mysteries, culture and many many more!!!!! Perfect 100%!!!!

LOVE….
It is a love story after all, and it breaks my heart!! I didn’t saw any love scenes but that is the whole concept of this film.. I really cannot explain it but that is the film and maybe it is your responsibility to watch it… hahaha.. But eventhough there is no typical Hollywood love scenes, all of the efforts of the director and his crew is enough to prove what the film has to offer…. IT IS AN ART FILM!!!! ART AT THE HIGHEST LEVEL!!! The film was so extraordinaty I couldn’t even say everything in words…..

Symbolisms…. I have tons and tons of symbolisms but interpretation varies so i don’t have to discuss it and besides I have exams so I have to review first!!!! hahahaha….

Watch In the Mood for Love here

This fantastic movie, released in 2000, is Wong Kar-Wai’s most successful work to date. Elegant, subtle, beautiful, a poetic tale of suppressed feelings, forced to bow down to peer-pressure. Masterful storytelling, accompanied by a vivid and inspired photography, expressive costumes and poignant acting, contribute to place this movie amongst my modern favourites.

The movie is composed by a myriad of small scenes, each one advancing the tale slowly, thus helping the plot to develop subtly, yet keeping the momentum always high, plunging the viewer a step deeper each time. The scenes are interspersed with a large number of slow-mo interludes, accompanied by the perfectly apt main music theme, and the effect they have on the film brings to my mind, by free-associating, a sentence spoken by Chow: “Feelings can creep up just like that”. In fact, the slow-mo helps the story to advance discreetly but relentlessly; it helps it to creep up on the audience, just like the feelings creep up the on-screen couple (and maybe their respective partners, too).
These two even re-enact the betrayal of their partners, and those scenes are rich with emotions and feelings bottled up till then, almost like an exorcism, or a successful psychoanalytic treatment; a chance, for the characters, to come to terms with their sorrowful past, and their present. During this re-enactment, the actors even repeat the scenes they are not happy with, in an emotional trial-and-error process. Their involvement is so deep that many times we are not sure whether what we see is real life or just acting and, so it would seem, neither are they. We notice this, for instance, when they meet for dinner for the first time, she is having a hot dish, he asks “Like it hot?”, and she says “Your wife likes hot dishes”.

In the Mood for Love is full of symbols, predictions, prophecies, sentences said by each of the main characters, giving subtle clues as to what will actually happen later in the story. A lyrical, poetic, Art-house feature, something all too rare these days.

!This fantastic movie, released in 2000, is Wong Kar-Wai’s most successful work to date. Elegant, subtle, beautiful, a poetic tale of suppressed feelings, forced to bow down to peer-pressure. Masterful storytelling, accompanied by a vivid and inspired photography, expressive costumes and poignant acting, contribute to place this movie amongst my modern favourites.

The movie is composed by a myriad of small scenes, each one advancing the tale slowly, thus helping the plot to develop subtly, yet keeping the momentum always high, plunging the viewer a step deeper each time. The scenes are interspersed with a large number of slow-mo interludes, accompanied by the perfectly apt main music theme, and the effect they have on the film brings to my mind, by free-associating, a sentence spoken by Chow: “Feelings can creep up just like that”. In fact, the slow-mo helps the story to advance discreetly but relentlessly; it helps it to creep up on the audience, just like the feelings creep up the on-screen couple (and maybe their respective partners, too).
These two even re-enact the betrayal of their partners, and those scenes are rich with emotions and feelings bottled up till then, almost like an exorcism, or a successful psychoanalytic treatment; a chance, for the characters, to come to terms with their sorrowful past, and their present. During this re-enactment, the actors even repeat the scenes they are not happy with, in an emotional trial-and-error process. Their involvement is so deep that many times we are not sure whether what we see is real life or just acting and, so it would seem, neither are they. We notice this, for instance, when they meet for dinner for the first time, she is having a hot dish, he asks “Like it hot?”, and she says “Your wife likes hot dishes”.

In the Mood for Love is full of symbols, predictions, prophecies, sentences said by each of the main characters, giving subtle clues as to what will actually happen later in the story. A lyrical, poetic, Art-house feature, something all too rare these days.

This fantastic movie, released in 2000, is Wong Kar-Wai’s most successful work to date. Elegant, subtle, beautiful, a poetic tale of suppressed feelings, forced to bow down to peer-pressure. Masterful storytelling, accompanied by a vivid and inspired photography, expressive costumes and poignant acting, contribute to place this movie amongst my modern favourites.

The movie is composed by a myriad of small scenes, each one advancing the tale slowly, thus helping the plot to develop subtly, yet keeping the momentum always high, plunging the viewer a step deeper each time. The scenes are interspersed with a large number of slow-mo interludes, accompanied by the perfectly apt main music theme, and the effect they have on the film brings to my mind, by free-associating, a sentence spoken by Chow: “Feelings can creep up just like that”. In fact, the slow-mo helps the story to advance discreetly but relentlessly; it helps it to creep up on the audience, just like the feelings creep up the on-screen couple (and maybe their respective partners, too).
These two even re-enact the betrayal of their partners, and those scenes are rich with emotions and feelings bottled up till then, almost like an exorcism, or a successful psychoanalytic treatment; a chance, for the characters, to come to terms with their sorrowful past, and their present. During this re-enactment, the actors even repeat the scenes they are not happy with, in an emotional trial-and-error process. Their involvement is so deep that many times we are not sure whether what we see is real life or just acting and, so it would seem, neither are they. We notice this, for instance, when they meet for dinner for the first time, she is having a hot dish, he asks “Like it hot?”, and she says “Your wife likes hot dishes”.

In the Mood for Love is full of symbols, predictions, prophecies, sentences said by each of the main characters, giving subtle clues as to what will actually happen later in the story. A lyrical, poetic, Art-house feature, something all too rare these days.

Many ask why the two characters haven’t acted on their feelings. The passion between the two is such a natural high it seems unjust that they drift apart. Enter Kar Wai Wong and the dimension of elegance. Su Li-zhen, exuding elegance with the way she looks, dresses, talks… Chow, so shy yet so composed that James Stewart looks like a rebel next to him. But their common denominator is their fragility. Both characters know that the other is married, thus haunted by their insecurity about each other’s ties to these persons. Chow cannot bear that Chan will come back to his wife but at the same time, Su Li-zhen never believed that Chan would fall in love with her. This keeps them from reaching for each other even though the connection is real. It is heart breaking when Chan picks up the phone in Singapore only to find silence on the other end. He feels it is her yet he can never be sure or secure to follow up. And yes, the struggling violin in “Si Lang Tan Mu” keeps the movie floating on a sea of melancholy…

dear wong kar-wai,

i’m writing this letter to inform you that i’m extremely sorry to have misjudged you in earlier days. for your information, in earlier days i regarded you as one of the most overrated filmmakers in recent time. why? it turns out that i chose the wrong film to study your style. i chose fallen angels, which is overdo and lack of substance; and my blueberry nights, which is your first take at using hollywood celebrities as the actors of your film. ironically, the result of the film itself is like hollywood; fake and shallow.

let me stop the criticisms, because i also written this letter to inform you that i just watched in the mood for love. and that’s the reason why i decided that i misjudged you. in that film, i see the way you razzle dazzle your filmmaking skills, i see how you tell the story with your own wizardry, and i see your ability at uniting the film crews, from the actors to the production designers.

but don’t let your head grow to big, because you have to thank the always talented maggie cheung and tony leung. their on-screen chemistry in this film is the best i have ever seen since woody allen and diane keaton in annie hall. you also have to thank your long time collaborator christopher doyle as the cinematographer and also mark lee ping-bin as doyle’s replacement at creating a better atmosphere than it already is, thanks to the fashion designer, the art director, the set designer, and the set decorator. it’s true that you’re the one uniting and direct them, but i can tell from this film that they are already talented before you met them. so, say thanks to them.

that’s all from me. say hello to your marvelous muses, ok? take care now. and once again, sorry i have misjudged you.

with respect,

reno nismara.

In the Mood for Love or “Fa yeung nin wa” as it’s Chinese (Cantonese to be precise) name goes, is a one-of-a-kind testament of longing and beauty. It is uchronic and artful on a level rarely experienced not only on movies, but on any other form of art.

An hymn to melancholy, filled with nuance and meaning as much as it is with elegance and style. Do yourself a favor and lose yourself in this outstanding masterpiece of modern cinema.