Rating: 
Summary: << Minimalist restraint >>
Review: Tony Leung is a journalist in Hong Kong, who rents a room with his wife in a family apartment. Next door, Maggie Cheung has done the same thing with her husband, who is almost always away on business.As part of Kar-wai's game plan, neither the wife, nor the husband, is seen. They exist and are talked about, but never introduced. Both Leung and Cheung's characters are painfully polite, which means you don't know what they're thinking. Even when it becomes obvious that their other halves are having an affair, it takes ages for either of them to respond. The idea of an emotional outburst would be unthinkable. The film is so subtle and slow and internalized that it crystallizes into a thing of beauty. Longing has been choked by a thousand years of acceptable behavior. The cut of Cheung's dresses and the sheen of Leung's hair take on an unexpected importance in what appears to be Kar-wai's experiment into the purity of unconsummated passion. By now this one is the most beautiful movie I had ever seen.
Every shot is like a poem. Each picture is a work of art.
I couldn't help myself from repeating the scenes again and again just to make sure i hadn't miss a thing. A masterpiece.
Rating: 
Summary: Mildy bemused, Quietly disappointed
Review: Ill keep this short as to not offend the cult following which this film has obviously attracted.
Frankly, this movie goes no where. But then people will argue 'its not supposed to go "anywhere"', and that its a look into the lives of two people struggling to hide their feelings for each other amidst a tangle of deteriorating marriages.
Oh Boo Hoo
Wong Kar-Wai, the producer, script writer and director decided to make this movie as an experiment, by 'going with the flow of the movie' rather than following traditional film making procedures and steps.
Its not blantantly obvious that people started filming this movie before the script was finished. But the movie is deeply affected by this fact. There is a large amount of tedious scenes which seem directionless, only to be explained later on because i guess Kar-Wai had decided that too many of such scenes were ambiguous or had no correlation to the plot at all.
In fact most of the scenes are just a jumble of meaningless actions. Im sure most people will complain about that last sentence saying 'oh but it symbolised the lost hope of so and so' or ' it helped create an atmosphere of sexual tension and blah blah'. Im sorry im just not the sort of person who thinks 'oh but that fork on the table represents the lost universal love they must feel for each other'. Ok thats a bit of an exaggeration. But you get my point. Also the ending kinda predictable, and kinda corny. All the tedious plot building sequences lead to a rather quick and undramatic ending. Generous 2 stars
Rating: 
Summary: In The Mood For A Great Film
Review: Kar-wai Wong's "In the Mood for Love" may have been released in the US in 2001, but it has already grounded a reputation as an international hit. It was nominated for a "Golden Palm" at the Cannes Film Festival. It won prizes at the British Academy Awards, the Cesar Awards, and was nominated for 12 Hong Kong Awards, 5 of which it won!
"In the Mood for Love" is a story of unrequited love. Or is it? Tony Leung chiu wai and Maggie Cheung star as two people whom at first are neighbors, and then find out a secret about their spouses. His wife and her husband are both having affairs. Because of this and the fact that there is a small attraction between them, they see a lot of each other. People soon start to spread gossip that they are having an affair! But they each decide not to. They don't want to sink down to the level that their spouses have. But, things are never that simple. I refuse to give away what happens, you'll have to rent or buy this film to find out. "In the Mood for Love" is really a beautiful film. I saw this movie about a week ago and I swear the film is still with me! I can't get it out of my head. It has that sorta staying power. I remember how well the acting was, the directing, the cinematography, and especially the music. Everything is soooo well done in this movie. I will never be able to express how wonderful and truly amazing this film really is. There aren't many films like this one, which is a sad thing, but "In the Mood for Love" is definitely one of the best films released in 2001! The music, which really left a mark on me, has such beautiful songs. "Yumeji's Theme" which plays almost through out the film, is wonderful to listen to. The rest of the score is Nat King Cole. And there's one song I really loved, "Quizas, Quizas, Quizas". If you happen to go to a video store, please rent this film. You will not regret it.
Rating:
Summary: Committed artistic vision
Review: "In The Mood For Love" shows how two people's lives intersect through the infidelities of their spouses. Wong Kar-Wai creates a wonderful rich world with vibrant brooding colors perfectly matched to early 1960s Hong Kong. The restrained vibe of the film also is a match, adding to the claustrophobic empathy I felt watching these two neighbors (gorgeously played by Maggie Cheung and Tony Leung) navigate their lives and their marriages around the close knit small town qualities of their apartment building. If you're looking for graphic sensuality (also if you're looking for quick answers or aren't patient with a film paced on the indefinite aspects of real life), you have the wrong movie. Watching this film is like being inside the head of someone trying to remember a distant memory. Some details are sharp and richly colored, others are elliptical and elusive. This movie gives and asks of the viewer more than your typical Hollywood fare. The attention to detail is impressive (I want Maggie Cheung's wardrobe from this film!) A definite recommend.
Rating:
Summary: More than one viewing required
Review: Ok guys..I'll have to admit there are flaws but like jazz improvisation there are miracles too. Wong Kar Wai is a love/hate director at times. Had he not had Tony & Maggie's charismatic talent..it might have failed in many ways. But he knows his stars and how to push them. The last scene w/ the ruins,the monk observing Tony whispering the secret, is still worth repeated viewings! Can't wait for 2046 (his next film) which by the way was the room # in IMFL's deleted love scene. See..he wants you to watch these over and over. Gotta love the guy.
Rating:
Summary: intoxicating!
Review: It's such an addicting movie. I have watched it many times and I enjoy it more each time I watch it. I love the saturated colors and sexy music they used in the film. They are like these strong feelings that the characters never dared to share with each other throughout the movie. It's the best foreign movie ever!
Rating:
Summary: In the Mood for More!
Review: The genius of Kar-Wai's In The Mood For Love (IMFL), as well as his Chungking Express and Tony Bui's Three Seasons, rests squarely in the director's handling of working-class Asia and its people. I just spent a couple of years in the Far East and found the surface of things dirty, crowded and malodorous compared to the West. What the above films do is take you inside, to explore the traumas and triumphs of the human spirit under duresse. In IMFL, loneliness never looked so bittersweet, heartaches so void of cliché, individual lives so clearly drawn from among the faceless masses. An unerring sympathetic treatment lends the characters a beauty that would be alien to euro-cinema's French castles, Italian villas, and sumptuous British period pieces. Moreover, the soundtrack does a great job of capturing the twosome's collective mood - kind of otherworldly, like an aural dream-pillow of sweet, erotic longing. A "slow" movie in which time flies.
Rating:
Summary: In the mood for Maggie!
Review: Where do I start? Well, Maggie Cheung looked stunning in her many colorful cheongsams and sculpted hair. The cinematography was stupendous with many perfectly paced scenes and delicious color schemes. I loved the soundtrack, and thought that the music set the mood for each scene perfectly; as soon as the soundtrack came out I snapped it up. In the Mood for Love is one of my Top 5 movies of the year, and an absolute dead-crab lock to be in my DVD and video collection as soon as it comes out. This is a film that I've told all my friends to see!
Rating:
Summary: Love, Loneliness, and Despair
Review: I understand the main characters' disposition too well: The agony of betrayal, the never-ending despair, the unalleviated and life-long loneliness as a result of such unfortunate circumstances. This movie is not a kung-fu flick. It's a drama of two persons on which circumstances, or fate, have brought them together as neighbors with infidel spouses. Upon knowing the secret of their spouses' constant absence, phsycially and emotionally, the main characters embark through a journey that hinges between fidelity, love, loneliness, and undying nostalgia. Never have I watched a movie that portrayed such excellence in romantic realism. From their first meeting to the ultimate end, this movie relishes itself in realistic circumstances of fate and love intertwined with breathtaking cinematography. Of life in love with circumstances adhered to the movie, there are no happy endings and this realistic drama portrayed it as such. The emotions set forth between the main characters will leave you in awe, even for those who have not been through such experiences. Certain facets of this exquisite movie are sometimes too subtle for the normal viewer, and subtlety are the main characters' traits. Thus, watch this movie carefully and distraction free. This is the first movie, of any genre, that has garnered my 5 star rating.
Rating: 
Summary: pretentious...
Review: ... I got it on VCD from Shanghai so I'd never heard about it before. It's too slow and difficult to understand. I understood the movie by reading the English subtitles but I was wondering: is it easier to understand that the husband and wife of the two main characters are having an affair in Chinese? I didn't understand what they were talking about until my mother explained it to me. Overall, this movie was long, boring, and repetitive and I've never been a fan of symbolism in movies. The only good thing about the movie was the music. I think it was the same waltz and two Spanish songs played over and over again.
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