In the
Mood For Love (**1/2)
review by Jon
Waterman
Mr. Chow moves into an apartment complex with his wife. Shortly
thereafter, Mrs. Chan moves in to another room with her husband.
The two go about their daily lives and mostly keep to themselves.
The landlord tries to get them out and socializing (especially
cooped up Mrs. Chan, whose husband is away on business most
of the time), but to no avail. Well, time passes and it appears
that the two shy neighbors have something in common. Both have
suspicions that their spouses are cheating on them. Slowly
they start to build a friendship that grows stronger as they
unravel the truth and then attempt to face it.
Acclaimed writer/director Kar Wai Wong (“Chungking Express”),
brings us a completely unorthodox romantic tale. He toys with
the audience’s emotions and with the timeline. The movie
moves in chronological order, but does so in staggering steps.
You’re rarely sure how much time has passed between two
consecutive scenes. It could be days, weeks, or months. This
makes it feel like you have to almost constantly reacquaint
yourself with what’s going on.
And not much really goes on, either. The basic plot thread
I gave you in paragraph one could be considered a full synopsis.
If there were a little more meat to go along with the potatoes,
I’d probably enjoy it a lot more. Relying purely on side
dishes like cinematography and acting left me unfulfilled.
I truly enjoyed the performances given by Tony Leung and Maggie
Cheung. They convey a world of emotions with the slightest
of movements and facial expressions. The cinematography consists
of a near noir quality. The compositions, especially in the
insert shots, are extremely noticeable for their design and
focal points. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a shot
of just a torso that was meant to be just a shot of a torso
(as opposed to showing a specific object or plot device). At
times the set seemed to be the lead character in the way that
it completely enveloped the people.
Virtually everything about the movie was interesting, but
incomprehensible. Setting the film in the 1960s seemed meaningless
to me. The Chinese film’s soundtrack consisted primarily
of Spanish songs (beautifully sung by Nat King Cole). I’ve
already mentioned the timeline and cinematography issues. It
kept me involved, if only to figure out what I was watching
and why it was being presented in this manner. I doubt I’m
smart enough to figure it out, and I think it was just a little
bit too unconventional and slow moving for me to appreciate.
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