A film set in Hong Kong during the 1960s, two couples move into empty rooms in apartments adjacent to each other. Through careful observation and suspicion, Mr. Chow realizes that his wife is cheating on him with Mrs. Chen's husband. Chow and Chen become acquainted through the adulterous affair of their respective spouses. But through their meetings to write martial arts serials and their loneliness, they end up falling in love.

"In the Mood for Love" is one of a series of intriguing films by Hong Kong director Wong Kar Wai. And as could be expected from Wong, he probes into foreign territory like no other filmmaker of our time; instead of following the couple committing the affair, which has been done and tried, he explores the emotions and relationship of the victims. Even as the leading roles become closer, and are evident to the audience that they are in love, they never act on their passion. Wong knows that the time is not appropriate for such bold action, and in any case, it is not important whether the leads get married and have kids. In fact, it would ruin the film to have a sappy Hollywood ending. It is the process that is more intriguing than any outcome, and that is what he focuses on, the concept of love, its pursuit and loss. Using one of his favorite concepts as an aid, fate, he adds a poignancy and nostalgia to an otherwise trite subject.

To say that the cinematography is beautiful is an understatement; visually lush and vivid, every frame of the movie is precise, emphasizing not the plot or the actors, but the raw emotions and desires. The style is romantic, yet it is not a romance movie, per se. A wide range of lighting techniques, angles, and slow motion were engaged to create a work that can only be termed a masterpiece. Watch Mrs. Chen dabbing her forehead with a handkerchief in the midst of a busy noodle stand, the contrast of rain, the dark, and a dim street light, wisps of smoke from Mr. Chow's cigarette wandering up to the fluorescent lights: There is beauty in every frame, loneliness and nostalgia filling the screen without a single word. Wong forces the audience to look into unexpected things, merely ordinary objects, but fills them with enormous meaning, a difficult task done perfectly.

The actors in the film were equally impressive, Tony Leung as Mr. Chow, the journalist, and Maggie Cheung, as Mrs. Chen, the executive assistant. Both Leung and Cheung enjoy superstardom like no other; actors do not come any bigger than this in Asia, and from "Mood", it is not difficult to see why. With the romantic good looks of an era gone by, Leung and Cheung fill the screen with emotions, with a casual glance, they exude longing, and a flicker of the eyes can convey hurt. Watch Cheung shed tears on command, with a stationary camera on her for an entire minute. Or Leung, with his brooding, dark ways; for him, even the mere act of lighting a cigarette connotes anxiety and uncertainty. There is such realism in their acting that even in their role-playing games, it is sometimes difficult to decipher whether they are playing themselves, or their cheating spouse. An interesting bit of fact is that a few years ago, Cheung had actually 'retired' from the movie scene at the height of her career, and declared not to make another film except in the case of an exceptional script. And this was a prudent decision on her part, for "Mood" is an exceptional film, with a superb cast; no one could have done it any better, and Leung and Cheung really enhanced the film as a whole.

There is such nuance and symbolism on all levels that the typical calloused movie-going audience may miss. As examples, the confrontational scene, where Mr. Chow and Mrs. Chen discovers the affair, the music is Nat king Cole's "Green Eyes." And while each mistakes the other's affections as merely 'sympathy' for their misfortune, they dwell and ponder, separated by a thin wall, that symbolizes not how close they are, but how far, separated by the time, the social rules, and personal morals. Another scene that was particularly confusing was the result of another one of Wong's favorite devices: The shuffling of time sequence. After Mr. Chow decided to leave Hong Kong for Singapore, we first see him searching his room and asking the landlord if anybody has been in his room, because he has lost something. In the next scene, we see Mrs. Chen inside Mr. Chow's Singapore residence, lighting one of his cigarettes and finally, before she leaves, bending over to pick up a pair of pink slippers. It is obvious that the scene with Mrs. Chen happened before Mr. Chow's, but what is not so obvious is what was Mr. Chow missing? And it would be the pink slippers. The attentive audience will remember that one of the scenes before Mr. Chow's move to Singapore is Mrs. Chen helping to write the novella and trapped in Mr. Chow's room, because the landlords came home early. This is the first time that Wong lets us see the pink slippers, with Mrs. Chen wearing them. But come the night after the incident, Mrs. Chen limps back to her own room. When the housekeeper asks why, she replies, "these are new shoes and are a little too tight." The implication is that in order not to appear suspicious (because Mrs. Chen has not been home all night), she must have worn a pair of heels belonging to Mr. Chow's wife, leaving her own slippers in Mr. Chow's room, and so the limping was due to the shoes' different fit. With that in mind, the pink slippers take on an entirely different meaning; now they become important enough for Mr. Chow to have taken to Singapore. And this is just one of many details and subtleties in "Mood"; it definitely is a film that grows and enriches with repeated viewings.

The role-playing game employed by Mrs. Chen and Mr. Chow is absolutely ingenious on the part of the director; there is very little creativity at the level of Wong in Hollywood or elsewhere in the world. Chen and Chow role play each other's spouse, in an effort to understand how the affair began and to prepare themselves, for when their spouse will finally tell them the truth. And another clever aspect is that we never do see the cheating spouse; we see their backs and hear their voices, but the audience never gets to confront them. What Wong has set up here that is especially interesting is that it does not matter who the cheating spouse are, because the story is not about them. And instead of showing them on camera so that the audience can learn about them and realize them as human figures with feelings and personalities, Wong employs the role-playing games so that these characters are really not necessary; we begin to understand the adulterous spouse as we understand Mr. Chow and Mrs. Chen. So the technique here is two-fold. And notice that as the film progresses, it becomes harder and harder to tell apart the role-playing and reality, and that is because the leads do eventually fall in love; and so we may conjure that the affair probably began similar to Mr. Chow and Mrs. Chen's relationship.

"Mood" is a first for Wong, in the sense that it is a very classic-styled movie, evoking the romanticism of another day and age; in his other films, Wong has favored faster, hand-held cameras, and MTV-style techniques. But "Mood" is characteristic of Wong's other works in that it deals with other similar issues; Wong seems especially interested with the elements of fate, of the leads coming close together but saying or doing the wrong things. If only Mrs. Chen had picked up the phone when Mr. Chow wanted to ask her, "if I had an extra ticket, would you come with me?" or if Mr. Chow had rung the door bell of Mrs. Chen's apartment when he came back to Hong Kong from Singapore. And littered throughout the film are some of Wong's most classic adages, i.e., "you notice things if you pay attention," extremely profound statements lodged in almost insignificant scenes. Another of Wong's trademarks is that he makes us look at ordinary objects and ponder their significance; sometimes the camera will linger on a character or an empty street, to build up a mood or investigate the obscure. In any case, he forces us to look at these things and realize the beauty that is inherent in just about everything. In addition, Wong seems fascinated with women in high heels; remember Mrs. Chen limping back to her apartment, after an all-night writing session with Mr. Chow, quickly throwing off the painful shoes and rubbing her ankles. The attentive audience might remember an analogous scene, in Wong's "Chunking Express," where actor Takeshi Kaneshiro takes off Brigitte Lin's high heels, proceeds to polish them, while thinking to himself, "my mother always told me that if a woman sleeps in high heels, she will wake up in the morning with swollen ankles."

Some people say that "Mood" bored them to tears, and in fact, many people probably found the film to be a little too "slow" to be interesting. But how can it be boring when there are so much emotions and desires filling the screen? So many unspoken moments and so much beauty? The film is painfully striking, beautiful in its detail and painstaking care for every scene. And this actually reveals something about the average American viewer, that there is not much audience for a film like this. "Mood" is a masterpiece, and yet because today's audience is so accustomed to excessive violence or unnecessary dialogue that they found this film unnerving. And it is an unnerving film, because it challenges the viewer to think, to try to understand the plot, to empathize with the characters. After the disappointment of the 2000 Academy Awards, with the triumph of "Gladiator" as best picture, it is refreshing to see a film of this caliber. Unfortunately, with "Gladiator," it also reveals something, a sign of our times, that the average viewer would rather be spoon-fed the information than to think or feel anything. And it is a truly sad thing, because it also demonstrates the apathy and intolerance for the artistic in our world.

Of worthy note, "Mood" won the Best Actor and Grand Prix Technique awards at the Cannes Film Festival 2000, and blew away all of the other contestants in the major Asian film competitions. And it is not hard to see why; "Mood" has the plot, has the extremely talented actor/actress who can actually act, not to mention the fantastic cinematography and costumes to remind us of an era gone by.

"Mood" is an emotionally charged film, it is a quiet look into a forgotten period, about a noble love that transcends time. This is what movie making is all about; back to the basics, forget about the fancy computer imaging or special effects. "Mood" is a serious film that carries its weight. A film that reminds us of the beauty that is inherent in everything. For that, we have the visionary Wong Kar Wai to thank. And what a sad world it would be without the talents of directors like him.


Recommended:
Yes

Viewing Format: VHS
Video Occasion: Good for a Rainy Day
Suitability For Children: Suitable for Children Age 13 and Older