as atonement to the disruptive and perverted noise made during the screening of 2046 in screen 8 last sunday, i have just watched wong kar wai’s 2000 effort, in the mood for love (fa yeung nin wa), on DVD that came in the post yesterday. the verdict? as far as a love story goes, i was totally blown away. i don’t watch that many love stories. most wayang chenta that i’ve seen are okay, bordering on the realms of cheesiness. perhaps i’ve not been watching the right ones, but this one was really good.
set in 1962 hong kong, this prequel to the ill-fated (for those present last sunday) 2046 tells the story of chow and his neighbour, su lizhen (bells ringing!). both are living in dead-end relationships, living their mundane lives with their respective spouses being unavailable most of the time (one works late shifts while the other spouse works abroad for weeks on end). things begin to get interesting when events revolving around the absent wife/business-tripping husband comes to light.
in some ways the story is simple, but like in real life, love between two people never is and this was beautifully portrayed by tony leung and the exquisite maggie cheung. the camerawork was absolutely beautiful, with each frame looking like it was painstakingly composed. i love how the characters are always framed by their surroundings, may it be the claustrophobic corridors of their rented HK apartment or the oval window of mrs. chow’s workplace. and what’s a film without cigarette smoke (it’s one of the elements in films that intrigues me ever since watching films the likes of reservoir dogs). i also loved the unexpected usage of slo-mo and the freeze frame in some of the shots. watching the film was certainly a visual feast of sorts and how am i not surprised to find out that it won the best cinematography and editing category at cannes. music-wise, shigeru umegayashi’s waltzy violin theme had such a french feel to it, and the movie was also peppered with good ol’ nat king cole. maggie cheung’s character of su lizhen was ever so elegantly poised throughout, reminiscent of my cheongsam-ed teachers in primary school. li zhen had more changes of her cheongsam than padme amidala would ever have during a conference on coruscant.
the story was conveyed in nice little vignettes and the flow was alright, although i did feel that the ending was a little abrupt. then again, after what happened between chow and lizhen, it was perhaps an apt way to end the story. unlike 2046, the protagonists were more, shall i say discreet and well-behaved: the film only has a PG rating. also, in the mood for love was not as ‘bizarre’ as 2046. the significance of the number 2046 is briefly shown (albeit mentioned in the sequel itself).
what can i say? a classic. i do find myself, after watching this, not in the mood for love, but for meehoon soup. oh well, maggi ayam would do nicely on this cold night anyway.
Maggie Cheung: scrumptious. All I can say, bro.
I love that the scenes are shot in such a way that we, the audience, become involuntary voyeurs.
You wanna look away but you can’t because everything and everyone is so freakin’ beautiful!
hmm.. note to self : remember to watch wong kar wai’s ‘in the mood for love’.
jim: for some reason, the story echoes some elements in murakami’s wind up bird chronicle. 🙂
faley: go get the dvd! durian pun durian la.
haha i skipped the review because i’m watching that tommorow (too heavy fare for a friday night). i’ll let you know what i think of it after i watch it.
wong kar wai is a brilliant director. in the mood of love has no script and the story totally depended on how creative could both leung and cheung be without a script to guide them along. they were totally exhausted after filming for 15 months. actually, sophia coppola who is a fan of wong’s movies got the idea to direct lost in translation after watching in the mood of love. best kan! baru je bought another wong’s old movie – happy together.
Aduhai….just when I was about to give ‘Windup’ a rest!
the qipao (cheongsam) style which maggie adopted in that movie also returned high demands after its release.
chinese women flock to their tailors demanding collars and cuts like su li-zhen’s. 😉
i find women in cheongsam very sexy. i’m not talking about the ones in the hennessey VSOP ads, belah sampai ke atas. just the biasa one will do.
*mimpi indah*
😆
jim: i just bought 2046 from cdwow.com. bloody hell, they already have it! this is the original HK release (region 0). got subs, so it’ll be ok. also angkut a few more HK stuff incl kill bill 2 (asian dvd) for £9!
time for more UUUNNNHHHs!
😆
i shall get one….
kudo: i understand you completely. 😉
I empathise about the car! ..
My 2046 copy from HK sucks big time! A company logo keeps flying in and out of scenes like there’s no tomorrow!
Hmmm…cheongsam…..hmmm….
Unnnhhhh, indeed, dude. 🙂
aiya? yes aa? durian or original one?
Hi, came by way of mangolisa and I’m inclined to say something because this is the first post I’ve read of yours and it had to be about one of my favoritest movies of all time!
But the ending to the movie is very vague, don’t you think? I mean it could have ended the way you think it ended, but it could very well be not either (sorry for the vagueness, don’t want to spoil it for anyone). It kills the audience, don’t you think, this vagueness (I mean the movie) because after all that heart wrenching drama and then suddenly to end so inconclusively(well, I think its ending is really up to interpretation). But imho, any other ending wouldn’t have sufficed.
Haven’t seen 2046. NYC is the cultural capital of the U.S., but we’re still catching up on movies by Asian filmmakers two years back.
thanks for dropping by. i saw the alternative ending which is a prolonged version of the angkor wat scene. although it was a rosier ending, i would prefer the existing ending that WKW decided on, as it shows how heartbreaking it was for him to let love go and that was the only way that he could at least have some closure, by performing the ritual as mentioned in the scene in singapore with his mate. 2046 will be out on DVD in may, so not long left! 🙂
Kudz,
they are showing 2046 in the IFFR and in an interview with WKW, they said don’t be surprised if he makes some changes to the DVD release – the one showing here now is the same one released in sept in Asia.
Original packaging. Not bad quality, to be fair. Apart from the bleeding flying logo!
Errr..*poke2* borrow can ah? *muka-tak-malu-grin*