Review of In the Mood for Love (2000) by Jmh — 06 May 2012

Wong Kar-Wai's 2000 In the Mood for Love may be the best film, thus far, of the 21st Century. In just over 90 minutes, it conveys, through a voyeur-like cameras eye and spot-on, often silent, acting from Tony Leung and Maggie Cheung, an intensity of locked-up longing that's perhaps never been so captured on screen.

The leads' spouses are having an affair, which brings them together unwittingly, though they too live in neighboring apartments. Initially joined by mutual heartbreak, they become joined by shared desire for one another that, in 1960s Hong Kong, is verboten.

The leads are never joined through plain expression, but rather in often tense, mannered, scenes where they share a space (e.g., a cab) and communicate through just a glance or movement. And, in these scenes, the camera latches on to their subtle gestures with a yearning of its own that brings slight, soft acting full circle, giving it clear meaning.

The leads encounter one another, repeatedly, in somewhat scripted, yet somehow not contrived, terms. An encounter might involve bumping in to a neighbor running a common daily (or nightly) errand. Indeed, an encounter of this sort becomes a centerpiece of the film, and the subject of perhaps the most entrancing visual sequences put to film in recent decades.

In the Mood for Love is about quiet but telling action that, when enveloped by the camera, becomes loud. Wongs rich visuals tug the viewer into a muted world wrought with emotion. A feat many directors aspire toward.

A feat Wong executes to perfection.