In the Mood For Love

In my pursue to find another film that is as good as "Days of Being Wild", this movie has come the closest.

Tony Leung and Maggie Cheung stars in the middle section of Wong Kar-Wai’s trilogy. Although he intended it to be a continuation of "Days of Being Wild", there is absolutely no connection to the film except that Maggie's name is also So Lai-Chun in this movie has in "Days". This should've also been done in 2046, but Wong Kar-Wai chose not too... for some reason... By leaving the film as it is, it leaves an impression that is only as itself and really helps because this film is best when everything is concentrated on it and not on other things.

Tony and Maggie are married and they lived in the same apartment across from each other with their respected wife and husband. However, as time passed, they found out that their partners are cheating on them and the worst part is, they are cheating with the opposite partner to Tony and Maggie. Tony and Maggie than got a bit closer but forcing themselves to stay a good distance away from each other so that they don't end up likes their old partners. However, love is inevitable and the two starts to fall in love. But this was a love that should not have been and Maggie finds way to detach herself from Tony. But it is in vain because she and him are both in love.

Unlike many Wong Kar-Wai movies where the narrator speaks out to the audience like a monologue, "In the Mood For Love" ditches all of that and it feels a lot more natural and it forces the actors' acting to be the sole catalyst for the emotions in the movie. With that said, Tony and Maggie's performances are some of the best I have ever seen, Eastern or not. A lot of people have a misconception that acting comes from dialogue, but in fact, acting is the entire effect of speech, body movement, and pace. Tony and Maggie achieve all of that perfectly and made it into an art form.

The cinematography is typical Wong Kar-Wai stuff meaning that it is super artsy and beautifully. The editing of the movie is incredible, the lighting is incredible, heck, and even the music is incredible. There are so few flaws in the movie that I had to really nit-pick to find a few like: the main theme tends to appear a bit too much, there is a slight sort of ignorance toward the side characters, and the ending is a bit strange.

Other than that, this is a near perfect movie.

Year: 2000
Director: Wong Kar-Wai

9.7/10