Hong Kong, 1 9 6 0s. Su Li-zhen Chan and her husband move to an apartment, while journalist Mr. Chow and his wife move to the neighboring apartment. Since Chow's wife and Su's husband often travel for business and they don't see their spouses that often, Chow and Su start having dinners and talk. They realize their spouses maybe having an affair with each other. Chow invites Su at his apartment ostensibly to help him write martial arts stories, but since the neighbors are nosy, they decide to meet in room 2046 in a hotel. Su and Chow fall in love, but separate. Chow and his wife go to work in Singapore. Years later, Chow visits the old Hong Kong apartment. In Cambodia, he whispers a secret to a hole in Angkor Wat and burries it with mud.
Everything in Wong Kar-wai's minimalist film "In the Mood for Love" is restrained. The characters, their passivity and their love for each other, as well as the story are all so restrained and subdued that it seems that they even contaminated Kar-wai himself, whose own directorial vision became too restrained to truly captivate the viewers to the fullest. Similarly like Lean's "Brief Encounter", this movie explores the notion of (feigned) unrequited love, but this is not that simple since both the man and the woman are married to someone else and want to keep their honesty—despite the rather effervescent twist where they assume that their spouses are having an affair with each other. Despite a gorgeous cinematography by Christopher Doyle and Ping Bin Lee with a several aesthetic images (Mrs. Chow's hand with the wedding ring as she touches the wall at the door; 61 minute into the film, a shadow of a "wavy" courtain seen traveling on the red table; Chow picking up a cigarette stub with lipstick on it, signalling Su was there), "In the Mood for Love" is a rather standard, conventional film. It suffers from too much empty walk, is boring and almost nothing ever happens: the only noteworthy event in the first hour is when Su confronts someone turned with his back to the camera about him having an affair, and slaps him, but instead of that being her husband, it is actually Chow, as they act out and rehearse how they should ask their spouses about the affair. Because of this lack of connection, Su and Chow never really feel like they are soulmates, except in the very emotional, devastating and cathartic finale. Why is there archive footage of Charles de Gaulle visiting Cambodia? Why didn't we get an epilogue? The movie is contemplative and spiritually elevating, but it still could have been made more effective and proactive.
Grade:++
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