|
In the Mood for Love - Criterion CollectionRating:
Release Date: 05 March, 2002 Retail Price: $39.95 OUR Price: $35.99 You SAVE: $3.96! Cast: Complete Cast (10 total) |
In the Mood for Love - Criterion Collection Reviews
Remembrance of things past
Kar Wai Wong's lyrical 2002 nostalgia piece is almost tailor-made for this beautiful Criterion Collection edition because of its complex historical and cultural allusions, which are perhaps not readily understood by many Western viewers, that its very simple narrative structure belies. In 1962 Hong Kong, the Chans, a couple from Shanghai, move into an apartment withother Shaghai emigrés where they live down the hall from Chow Mo Wan, a newspaper editor, and his wife. The film is told almost entirely from the eprspective of Mr. Chow (Tony Leung) and Mrs. Chan (Maggie Leung), who slowly come to realize (as the viewer does) that their spouses are having an affair. The two main characters come together first to commiserate, but they slowly come to fall in love with one another... yet their refusal to be "like" their faithless spouses prohibits them from committing to one another fully. The film is constructed like a puzzle, with many scenes scene from just around a corner, or down a hall, or through a nook or alcove. The deliberately slow pacing (underlined by the score's use of a beautiful but maddeningly repetitive waltz theme on the cello) can be a bit soporific, and you can find yourself after a while fixating on the showstopping series of spectacular cheongsam Maggie Cheung wears. ("She can't possibly top this one," you'll think after each scene, and then she will.) But like Resnais's LAST YEAR AT MARIENBAD (which this film seems at times to evoke quite consciously) or Akerman's JEANNE DIEHLMAN, part of the point of IN THE MOOD FOR LOVE is to change your perception of temporal understanding, and to stay with this film and accept its tempo is to enter its world where the passage of time changes because of the story it depicts. The film's ending has been controversial because of its abruptness and dissimilafrity, but this too is part of Kar Wei Wong's point, and the alternate endings this Criterion edition appends greatly helps a confused viewer understand what's going on. So too do the fine essays by Chinese film scholars which helps clarify the rich historical framework of Hong Kong and Shanghai in the mid 20th century, and also the melodramas of the 30s Shanghai cinema to which Kar Wei Wong pays homage.
Unmissable
There's nothing I can add in my review about the plot or story of "In the Mood for Love" that hasn't already been covered, so I will keep this brief.
Wong Kar-Wai's "In the Mood for Love" is a remarkable piece of work - sensuous but not showy, restrained but highly intriguing, and satisfyingly unresolved. I dare anyone who considers themselves a film connoisseur to watch this and not be impressed. Every shot is expertly framed, every color and costume choice agonized over, every piece of music is nothing short of appropriate. The performances by Tony Leung and Maggie Cheung and are superb and often, more is said with a lingering expression than dialogue could ever convey. Their chemistry isn't just realistic; it's electric.
Now to be perfectly clear, not everyone will like this movie. It simply lacks the comforting elements that make the usual Hollywood tripe palatable to the masses. But, for those who would rather savor Hangar One than down Smirnoff, this one's for you. This is no mere film - it is art. It is what lesser movies aspire to be when they grow up.
More Customer Reviews (37 total)
You like In the Mood for Love - Criterion Collection?
|
© 2004, 2005, 2006 DVD Booty | Don't Plunder Our Cache of Booty, Matey!
Hosting made possible by donations from credit card debt, payday loan, and Dawn Of The Debt
