In the Mood for Love (2000)
Director: Wong Kar Wai
Starring: Tony Leung & Maggie Cheung
Length: 98 minutes
The end title reads "That era has passed. Nothing that belongs to it exists anymore." And so it has, leaving behind the scent of loss in it's wake, much like the original Chinese title, "Our Glorious Years Have Passed Like Flowers".
Elusive and bittersweet, this wistful movie mourns for the past, immortalising single moments through lingering, repetitive shots, much like a lover reliving cherished memories. This allows the viewer to be immersed into the agonised, repressed world of the leads, Tony Leung and Maggie Cheung, who play neighbours who after being driven to seek solace in each other, disallow themselves from falling in love with each other.
This film, being mood-driven, as opposed to plot-driven, has sparse, restrained dailogue and long periods quiet, which requires effort on the viewer's part to meet it on it's own terms instead of being led by the hand to a predetermined conclusion. Some will find this task a strange and somewhat formidable one. But the experiential payoff is well worth it.
Elusive and bittersweet, this wistful movie mourns for the past, immortalising single moments through lingering, repetitive shots, much like a lover reliving cherished memories. This allows the viewer to be immersed into the agonised, repressed world of the leads, Tony Leung and Maggie Cheung, who play neighbours who after being driven to seek solace in each other, disallow themselves from falling in love with each other.
This film, being mood-driven, as opposed to plot-driven, has sparse, restrained dailogue and long periods quiet, which requires effort on the viewer's part to meet it on it's own terms instead of being led by the hand to a predetermined conclusion. Some will find this task a strange and somewhat formidable one. But the experiential payoff is well worth it.
Watched: Thursday, 21 March
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