Review of In the Mood for Love (2000) by Deany Hendrick C — 25 Apr 2012

In The Mood For Love is one of those films that are so achingly sad and beautiful at the same time. It's a study of isolation, relationships, and emotion. It's a film about what people are to people: shoulders to cry on, hearts to love, pictures to pine for, and secrets to keep. It's about loneliness in a crowd, and our pathological need for shelter. In a nutshell, it's a movie about humanity's idiosyncrasies and why we put ourselves through things that never seem logical or safe.

Set in 60's Hong Kong, the film plays out like a collection of gorgeous photographs. The film is drowned in earth colors like red, brown, and yellow, to emphasize the film's themes of shelter and need. The evocative score feels both sad and grand, perfectly framing the two protagonists.

The film is an intimate masterpiece: a moving depiction of the realities and pitfalls of love and loss. It is a film of pain and why we put ourselves through it, while denying happiness for ourselves. It is, in the end, a film about never loving but having lost.