Wednesday - Movies
The Age
Thursday January 3, 2008
In The Mood For Love (2000)
SBS, 10pmWong Kar-Wai's celebrated 2000 feature remains the most potent of his half dozen or so movies, celebrating the narcotic cinematic pleasures of editing and desire, memory and sense. Set in a Hong Kong apartment building in 1962, Chow Mo-wan (Tony Leung) and Su Li-zhen are neighbours who come to believe their respective spouses are having an affair. The adulterous partners are barely seen and slowly the often alone leads begin a friendship that spills over into infatuation. Pressed against walls, framed by doorways, Su and Chow start to act out what they imagine their respective spouses are doing. In a straitlaced world the imagination is dangerous and the pair's need for each other is predicated on mere touches and languid gazes, each orchestrated by Wong and photographed repeatedly by expatriate Australian cinematographer Christopher Doyle so that the contrasting stocks and camera speeds get tangled up like a remembrance so strong it defies easy focus. Escape and fulfilment aren't possible in such an existence, adding a sense of loss and preserving the moments remembered as the only record. -- CRAIG MATHIESON
© 2008 The Age