In the Mood for Love
2000/Kar-wai
A visually brilliant film, thoroughly succesful in both pleasing the viewer's eye as well as telling a story and expressing character's feelings without any dialogue. I found it interesting that director Wong Kar-wai was seemingly able to tell us more about the emotional state of our characters in the segments set to music than in any other verbal exchange. And by the way, what music it was. I immediately downloaded the repeated theme right after I was done, great little piece of music.

I also really appreciated Kar-wai's apparent determination to never shoot his character's straight on. There's always things distorting or abstracting our view, which worked to make every shot more interesting to look at. He was also able to make some of the best use of mirrors I've seen in a long while.

As for other high points, anyone who's seen this film knows that the incredible set decoration and costume design go without saying. Kar-wai crafts a sort of romanticized, colorful, almost dreamlike recreation of the early 60's, to the point where the viewers almost feel as if they are seeing the events on screen as fond memories, somewhat embellished over time in the character's minds.

All in all, this was to be a four star film but I felt the ending was somewhat lacking. The meaning of the news reel clip showing the Cambodian President arriving went over my head, as well the poetry at the end. I felt as though all of the sexual tension build up and the sense of tragic loss was somewhat wasted in the conclusion. This may have been somewhat due to the fact that my borrowed DVD started skipping in the closing minutes and I had to stop and then skip around, but overall any intended emotional response was lost on me.

And am I mistaken, or did this never happen?



Or this?



Didn't the two main characters never get together? Did I miss something? Anyway, good film, close to being great.