When Sofia Coppola won the Oscar for Best Original Screenplay for her 2003 masterpiece Lost in Translation, one of the people she thanked was a Hong Kong-born director named Wong Kar-Wai. Admitting to borrowing elements of his work into her own film, Coppola acknowledged the director as a profound influence. While not being known entirely in the American mainstream, Wong Kar-Wai has attained a cult following in the U.S. especially among directors like Quentin Tarantino. Internationally and in Asia, Kar-Wai has always garnered all sorts of acclaim for his moody, colorful look of Asia with storylines that were inspired by his love for European cinema, notably the French New Wave.

Born in Shanghai, China in 1958, Wong Kar-Wai provided an alternative to the already huge action and martial films that was dominating mainstream Asian cinema. Though he incorporated action into his early features like 1988's gangster film Wang jiao ka men (As Tears Go By) and 1991's psychological coming-of-age drama A Fei jing juen (Days of Being Wild). In 1994, Kar-Wai released two different features that year, the first was a stylized martial arts epic Dung Che Sai Duk (Ashes of Time) and the more personal romantic drama Chunghing Samlam (Chungking Express). The latter became Kar-Wai's first taste of real international success as Asian film fan Quentin Tarantino got the film its first American distribution to some acclaim and art house numbers.

With frequent collaborators like cinematographer Christopher Doyle and editor/production designer William Chang, Kar-Wai's films were getting large notices, especially in the regular company of actors he used from Tony Leung Chui-Wai, Maggie Cheung, Leslie Cheung, and Brigitte Lin. In 1995, Kar-Wai released Duoluo Tianshi (Fallen Angels) which broke grounds in terms of the visual style Kar-Wai and Doyle wanted for the crime film. Then in 1997, Kar-Wai released his most international successful work to date with Cheun Gwong Tsa Sit (Happy Together), a gay romantic drama that not was filled with lavish visuals and film speeds but also unconventional storylines as Kar-Wai won a Best Director prize at the Cannes Film Festival. Kar-Wai was becoming a hero in Asian cinema as he would wow audiences and critics again with another unconventional romantic film with 2000's Fa yeung nin wa (In the Mood for Love).

Written and directed by Wong Kar-Wai, Fa yeung nin wa is a romantic drama set in 1962 Hong Kong about two young couples living next door in a cramped apartment building. With a man working at a newspaper and a woman being a secretary for a company, the two often see each other whether it's picking up noodles or bumping each in seeing other tenants in the building. Then, the two begin to suspect about the frequent absences of their spouses wondering if they're having an affair. Starring Tony Leung Chui-Wai and Maggie Cheung, Fa yeung nin wa is an engrossing, harrowing romantic drama that brings mystery into love and its aftermath.

It's 1962 in Hong Kong as Mrs. Chang (Maggie Cheung) is ready to move to a cramped apartment owned by Mrs. Suen (Rebecca Pang). With her husband (voice of Roy Cheung) on business, Mrs. Chang moves in while another man, Mr. Chow (Tony Leung Chui-Wai) is also moving with his wife, who is also on a business leave. With both moving in at the same time, Mrs. Chang and Mr. Chow would often bump into each other giving things that didn't belong to them. Mrs. Chang works as a secretary to Mr. Ho (Lai Chen) while Mr. Chow works in a newspaper publication with friend Ah Ping (Ping Lam Sau). While their spouses would return, Mrs. Chang and Mr. Chow would only see them for a brief period of time. Mrs. Chang would often talk to neighbors and go into an alley to get noodles and sometimes, would run into Mr. Chow.

During a dinner with Ping, Mr. Chow's suspicions of his wife's absences finally gets to him. With their spouses going out on business trips in separate places, the loneliness of Mrs. Chang finally gets to her. Even after returning books to Mrs. Chow (voice of Paulyn Sun) before her departure, she longs for the presence of her husband. After bumping into Mr. Chow again, they go to dinner one day and immediately, she learns of Mr. Chow's suspicions as they notice a few things that their spouses had bought. With their spouses not around, Mr. Chow and Mrs. Chang often go into conversation where immediately, they're being suspected into having an affair by a few neighbors.

Mr. Chow tells Mrs. Chang his interest into writing a martial arts serial for his newspaper as Mrs. Chang helps by staying in his apartment room where they hide for a while. Even as one of their neighbors, Mr. Koo (Cheun Tung Joe) got himself drunk. Mrs. Chang finally gets to her apartment after a few days. They begin to learn more about the idea that their spouses had an affair, even as they learn about what they like to eat and do. Mr. Chow decides to leave his apartment for a while to live in a hotel. Mrs. Chang would often visit his place in room 2046 where he was writing. Immediately, the loneliness of the two gets to them.

The two would rehearse about how to confront their spouses over the affair which has become too emotional for Mrs. Chang. Then when Ping calls from Singapore to ask Mr. Chow to help him work in a newspaper in Singapore, Mr. Chow is trying to figure out if he wants to go. Mrs. Chang wonders if her husband is coming back while Mr. Chow ponders his own future with his wife as he admits to falling for Mrs. Chang. He asks her if she would go to Singapore with him. One year later in Singapore, Mr. Chow continues in his investigation as things with Mrs. Chang were falling apart that leads to loss.

If there's any similarities in what Lost in Translation and Fa yeung nin wa had, it's the fact that both films are about two people being alone in disintegrating marriages. In Kar-Wai's approach, it's more of a momentum-driven film where Mr. Chow and Mrs. Chang both begin to suspect what's going on and try to understand on what is happening. In Kar-Wai's script (though he never really uses one), he has a very interesting structure that's more about building the story as opposed to going into a situation right away. The first act being Mr. Chow and Mrs. Chang living their life at home and at work while starting to suspect things. The second act is the two confirming their suspicions and pondering their loneliness. Then, there's the third act where the story not only moves in different places but in different times from Hong Kong in 1962 to Singapore in 1963 and going back to Hong Kong in 1966 with the finale in Cambodia, 1966.

The third act of the film is really the emotional payoff. Throughout the first two acts, there's a sense of repetition in the way Mrs. Chang would bump into Mr. Chow when they go for noodles or in the corner alley near their apartment where they would talk. In the third act, the scene where they rehearse about confronting their spouses and their own feeling for each other. It's not they fall into their own affairs but it's because why they got into an affair. It's because they're driven by loneliness and their spouses just ditching them. Then after the trip to Singapore, things get really weird when the film moves into more emotional territory, notably in its finale but that's another story that is talked about in Kar-Wai's 2004 sequel-of-sorts called 2046 after the hotel room Mr. Chow stayed in.

If Kar-Wai in his approach as a storyteller is fascinating in his unconventional approach to European and Asian dramas. Then its his directing that really comes across as entrancing. There's an intimacy to many scenes as well as a subtlety in the restraint of emotions in the film. There's also some claustrophobic situations in the apartment settings as Kar-Wai moves the camera with such ease to see two people at the end of their emotional ropes. The way Kar-Wai presents the film is seductive in its setting and sadness in the characters with the way he shows a little bit of detail, including some slo-motion shots where it brings out an emotion to what the character is feeling, especially in the way Kar-Wai has Chui-Wai and Cheung together in their own situations. It's some fine, observant direction where Kar-Wai would rather give the audience their own interpretation as opposed to what he's thinking though in the end, he creates a situation for one of the characters to come into another world.

Helping Kar-Wai in capturing the intimacy and feel of the film is his longtime cinematographer Christopher Doyle along with another cameraman in Mark Lee Ping-bin. Ping-bin and Doyle capture a colorful, luminescent feel to the film in many of the film's interior settings, notably the hotel and restaurant scenes while on the exterior, the use of light from the streets captures an authenticity that really captures the realness of Hong Kong and Singapore later on. Even the finale in the Cambodia scene is just amazing to watch as Doyle and Ping-bin bring in some of the most inspiring and exhilarating camera work ever captured on film.

Then there's the work of Kar-Wai's jack-of-all-trades William Chang. Bringing a solid, stylized cut to the editing including a few jump-cut sequences, Chang gives the film a nice pace that at first might seem slow but it only serves to present the story's momentum as Chang surprises in the editing. With art director Man Lim-chung, Chang's production design is filled with a lot of color whether it's a bland setting in the restaurants to the hallways of the hotel with its red walls and the little things in the apartments of Mr. Chow and Mrs. Chang. There's so much that is to love in Chang's production design. Another brilliance in what Chang does is the costumes, notably the thin dresses that Maggie Cheung wears. There's a lovely movement to the clothes that Cheung wears that is filled with all sorts of colors and styles that doesn't present itself as something beautiful but also conveys what mood that Mrs. Chang is in. William Chang really brings a lot to the film in terms of its technical brilliance.

Then there's the film's music that really plays to the emotions of the film. With three songs sung by Nat King Cole in Spanish that plays in the background. The songs give the film a romantic, playful feel as it serves to not just the loneliness but also a feeling of love for the main characters. With other music pieces including an Asian rendition of Happy Birthday, there's a score piece from Shigeru Umebayashi that comes in the end. The film's most dominant musical moment comes from composer Michael Galasso who brings in this waltz-like score piece that is later accompanied by a mournful violin. The way the music moves with the way Cheung walks to get her noodles with the dress is by far one of the film's most sexiest moments. It's just an amazing scene to watch heightened more by the music.

Finally, there's the film's cast that includes several amazing small performance like Rebecca Pang as Mrs. Suen, Lai Chen as Cheung's sensitively flawed boss, Ping Lam Sau as Chow’s funny associate, and a cameo from Cheun Tung Joe as a neighbor. The two actors who play the cheating spouses never show their faces but their presence is amazing since it provides the jolt that the story is needed for its two central characters. The leading performances of Tony Leung Chui-Wai and Maggie Cheung is really the film's emotional centerpiece as the two use their faces and body language to convey a lot of the emotion in their film, even when they're not speaking. From the detail of clothing to the places their in. Chui-Wai and Cheung have great chemistry in every scene they're in. Especially in the emotional moments with Chui-Wai being more determined in his suspicions while Cheung conveys more of the film's heartbreak and alienation. It's those two actors who shine together while individually, both provide honesty and electricity to the film and its story.

When the film came out in 2000 at the Cannes Film Festival, it won 2 prizes for its technical achievements to Christopher Doyle, Mark Lee Ping-bin, and William Chang and a Best Actor prize to Tony Leung Chui-Wai. While the film was well-received and became a modest art house hit in the U.S. More interesting is what was going on during the 15 month shoot of the film where concepts kept changing around and Kar-Wai's ability to work without a script along with several costumes being made and stuff. Even a week before its initial release at Cannes, Kar-Wai and his crew went to Cambodia to shoot and edit the film altogether at a rapid pace. While it's a reputation that some might not like, still the result of his film did prove what a great director he is while it led to an immense amount of anticipation for his follow-up film 2046, which premiered at the 2004 Cannes Film Festival and becoming the first film to have a delayed release at the festival because its final print arrived, three-hours late.

In the end, Fa yeung nin wa is an engrossing, romantic masterpiece from Wong Kar-Wai. While at first, it's not an easy film to watch for its slow pacing but its build-up and resulting factor will leave you breathless. With great performances from Tony Leung Chui-Wai and Maggie Cheung plus the talents of Michael Galasso, Christopher Doyle, Mark Lee Ping-bin, and William Chang. It's one of the most beautiful and enchanting films of the decade. For an introduction to the director, it's a very good start while anyone who really loved Lost in Translation should check out Wong Kar Wai's masterpiece.

Related Review:

Lost in Translation (2003):

http://www.epinions.com/content_113414475396

Wong Kar-Wai Reviews:

Chungking Express (1994):

http://www.epinions.com/content_317054029444

2046 (2004):

http://www.epinions.com/content_233061060228



Recommended:
Yes

Viewing Format: DVD
Video Occasion: Good Date Movie
Suitability For Children: Suitable for Children Age 13 and Older