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Fa Yeung Nin Wa (In the Mood for Love)

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Fa Yeung Nin Wa (In the Mood for Love) Recent Reviews

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Recent Reviews

Fa Yeung Nin Wa (In the Mood for Love) Recent Reviews
  • SirPant
    October 1, 2009
    SirPant
    A beautiful film by Wong Kar Wai. Stylish, mesmerising and just plain stunning! An almost perfect film!
  • ebs90
    July 11, 2009
    ebs90

    Kar Wai Wong's absolutely fantastic film In the Mood for Love takes place in Hong Kong in the 1960s. Mrs. Chan (Maggie Cheung) and Mr. Chow (Tony Leung Chiu Wai) live next door to each other in rented rooms. With their respective spouses. Both of them have office jobs in the c

    ...( read more)ity, while it seems that their spouses are often on business trips or working long shifts. Many cordial meetings take place between Mrs. Chan and Mr. Chow in the hallway, on the way to the noodle stall, etc.. Soon enough they begin to realize odd coincidences between what both their spouses wear, the amount of time they are away, and their secretiveness. It isn't long before they uncover a mystery they had sort of already solved: Mrs. Chan's husband and Mr. Chow's wife are having an affair. This reality is so harsh to them that they decide to turn to each other for any possible consollation, talking about it over dinner or sneaking into each other's rooms to analyze the situation and propose different scenarios of how the affair could have begun. With their spouses away most of the time and their incredulity too heavy to handle for each of them alone, they begin to meet more frequently and develop a friendship out of necessity.

    Although they often talk about their spouses' infidelity and recreate what they might have done together, it seems as though Mr. Chow and Mrs. Chan manage to find a space in which their interest is each other, rather than the people they are married to. Once they realise that this growing intimacy might just make them into unfaithful spouses as well, they begin to draw a limit: it is that limit precisely, and the overwhelming desire that Mrs. Chan and Mr. Chow feel to cross it, that creates the emotional tension that In the Mood for Love is about. Two people who, because of convention, or out principle -they are both married, after all- repress their feelings of love for each other. Because, in time (time plays a very important role in the film), it's obvious that they feel love for each other, even if to different extents each. They sense danger when they stop using the other as a clutch.


    As usual in Kar Wai Wong's films, the cinematography and the use of color is mind-blowing; everything is filmed with such lush care and romanticism that it was difficult to draw my eyes away from the screen. The director's trademark repetitive use of music is also present and works beautifully.


    Of course, the film would probably not come together as wonderfully if it wasn't for the two stars: Maggie Cheung and Tony Leung. Cheung is elegance personified, and she plays the suffering yet optimistic Mrs. Chan with all the grace I've ever seen an actress deliver. Tony Leung is a great actor and his performance here is incredibly moving: Mr. Chow is helplessly in love but also helplessly wounded by his wife's infidelity: While Mrs. Chan will occasionally burst into tears when they talk about the affair, he must stay cool and collected because that's simply what he's supposed to do; the same applies to his painful longing for Mrs. Chan - it would seem absurd for anyone to suppress such overwhelming feelings, but what else can he do in a society where people lecture each other about morality, about "being proper", about "being respectable"?


    So In the Mood for Love is both an exhilarating piece of romantic arthouse cinema and a frustrating play about loneliness and social pressure. The ending is somewhat ambiguous, but it's right. I didn't end up feeling sad or angry, but curious (and optimistic) about how much happier Mr. Chow and Mrs. Chan could have been, had they only lived in a more permissive culture. I wouldn't say Kar Wai Wong's film is a social commentary itself, but I believe it contains one.


    It's always great to find a film like this, that appeals to both intellect and sentiment without comprimising either, that doesn't merely satisfy the audience but leaves something to the imagination. All in all, In the Mood for Love is an unforgettable film and one of the director's best, if not his greatest film ever.


    BTW, the Criterion edition contains deleted scenes that might shed some light over some unresolved issues and satisfy some inconformities with the way things turned out, but I believe they were all removed from the final cut for good. The film is perfect as it is.
  • DragonEyeMorrison
    October 1, 2008
    DragonEyeMorrison
    This film just doesn't do anything for me, same goes with every WKW film i have seen so far. It feels just so...cold, sterile, i never felt anything about the characters, and damn it, i'm talking about two of the best actors of the last two decades, Tony frigging Leung Chiu Wai a...( read more)nd the gorgeous Maggie Cheung, who looks so stunning in her tight dress that i seriously would ask her to marry me if i ever met her (ill remember to wear running shoes just in case she has some nasty bodyguards with her).

    Where i was? Oh yeah, this is like watching a postcard, beautiful colors and all that, but nothing to care about. I'm starting to think that Christopher Doyle should get credited as the director of this instead of WKW.
    So, the idea is that feelings are such a complex thing that sometimes they doesn't have to be expressed and what not. Why bother doing a film about that then? If this is suppose to be the greatest love story ever told that means couples should never even kiss, hug, and that they should remain cold and silent towards each other? Again, that's why most romantic films fail to impress me, they are as convincing as a politician saying he cares about the people. Why can't anybody make a "romantic" movie where people actually behave like normal human beings? South Korea's "Oasis" tells a better love story, and that's one film featuring two mentaily disabled persons as the couple.
  • her69eyes
    July 25, 2008
    her69eyes
    I had previously seen Wong Kar-wai's follow up to this film entitled "2046". There were a lot of things I liked about "2046" - such as the cinematography, performances, and the extreme abundance of creativity. However, I couldn't help but feeling empty as the film wore on. Things...( read more) were done in such a hushed tone that I simple couldn't care as the time rolled on. Now, i'm obviously not asking for screams of passion and melodrama, and I know that these films are far too mature for that... but I was just asking for a little bit more.

    While "In the Mood for Love" certainly delivers a more believable and full on-screen romance, I do feel that it lacks in a lot of the ways "2046" lacked. It's a powerful subject with some beautiful moments, but Kar-wai allows the camera to float along in free space a bit too much for us to completely grasp the film's intentions. These two films come off as flashy film noir first, and romantic tragedy second. I know Kar-wai is a fairly legendary director, but these two films have certainly not impressed me - I'm failing to see what all the hype is about. I think he has some wonderful ideas, but I wouldn't equate either of these films as anything close to masterpieces. That being said, i'm willing to give a few more of his films a chance... there's brilliance here, but there's just so much fluff!

    "In the Mood for Love" tells it's story in 1962 Hong Kong. Two families have just moved into neighboring apartments on the exact same day. Shortly after the move, Chow (Tony Leung) and Li-zhen (Maggie Cheung) discover that Chow's wife is having an affair with Li-zhen's husband. The two form a deep friendship that eventually escalates into something more. However, the key thing to note here as that these two never act out on what their heart truly desires. They state that they're too good for that - that they won't stoop to the same level as their spouses. That being said, Chow and Li-zhen aren't exactly portrayed as saints... but, they're certainly portrayed as having strong morales in a situation where morality can almost be excused.

    A lot of this film reminded me of Jacques Demy's "The Umbrellas of Cherbourg", especially the tragedy of the end of Demy's film. They both focus on a pair of young lovers that simply cannot be together. While they never grow "out of love" on screen, they'll never be happily ever after. These films seem to dwell on the fact that love is all about timing... and, in this case, the characters are not in the right time or place to act upon their desires.

    As I said before, there's a lot to love about this film. For starters, I thought the score was absolutely fabulous. The main theme that repeats over and over throughout the course of the movie is beautiful and deeply moving, and at the end of the film when a more twisted variation of it is played it's absolutely heart-wrenching. Also, I thought the two leads, who I understand are two of the top stars in Asia, were absolutely wonderful. They're both very appealing and talented. Their roles are very subtle and refrained, yet they're able to get across the most challenging emotions with minuscule facial movements.

    While this comes off as an extraordinarily minor complaint to just about anyone but me, I thought the editing was inexcusably bad at some points. There's some parts that just don't work at all and hurt the flow, and throughout the film it relies on fades to black far too much. While the direction is very good, the editing almost made it feel "second rate" in a way. I'm an aspiring editor myself, and i'm not saying I can do much better - i'm just pointing out that this is one of the only films i've seen where the editing really stands out as obnoxious and sloppy to me.

    I also found the ending of this movie to be something straight out of a Paul Haggis film. The imagery made sense and was clearly metaphorical... but it almost seemed too contrived and too much of a "cheap" way to get across it's emotions. Perhaps it's unfair to again compare this to a completely different film (from a different country, nonetheless), but I did feel like the subtle third act of "The Umbrellas of Cherbourg" was far superior to this film's. It's not a bad movie, but i'd only give it a mild recommendation to friends. I'm dying to discover what everyone sees in Kar-wai!
  • Saxia
    June 1, 2008
    Saxia
    Don't get me wrong, I liked it but I thought it was a little bit flat, it lacks the painfulness and colorful magic that 2046 has. I saw this one after 2046, and was curious about this mystery woman that Bai Ling (the beautiful Ziyi Zhang) can't seem to compete with in 2046.
    Mayb...( read more)e it's because both films should be viewed as two separate films. Chow (Tony Leung Chiu Wai) plays the same character as Chow Mo-wan, but they seem two totally different people.

    Apart from that Maggie Cheungs (mystery woman) role and appearance is as mysterious as ever, a joy to watch.
    in the mood 4 love 1
  • blacksheepboy
    October 22, 2009
    blacksheepboy
    The argument is interesting, but its (lack of) development renders it tedious and obvious, a sterile exercice of style that leads nowhere.
  • CinemaPlanet
    October 12, 2009
    CinemaPlanet
    A mesmerizing meditation on love and loss. Cinematographer Chris Doyle outdoes himself, his images almost perfectly synched to Wong Kar-wai's compositions.
  • brendanprost
    August 20, 2009
    brendanprost
    A different kind of love story. Maturely written, strongly developed, and brilliantly played by the actors. Kar Wai Wong's visual approach to this film is stunning, he moves the camera and utilizes different frame rates to create some of the most haunting and romantic moments I'v...( read more)e seen. While at times I got a tad confused, and I thought the ending left me a little bit let down, I still loved this film. So much depth in the characters, a perfect blend of foreign culture and familiar feelings. Highly recommend this movie.
  • rojastortu
    August 9, 2009
    rojastortu
    Sensual and moody, Wong Kar Wai reaches a level of maturity that defines his most recent films, since the joyful Chungking Express I will call it a whole opposite to this one. Still I like even more the "joyful-fun-exhilarating-Chungking Express-Wong Kar Wai".
  • isabelleweber1
    August 8, 2009
    isabelleweber1
    Uma história de amor que foge do óbvio.
    Lindos detalhes, lindas cores.
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