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| Film still from In the Mood for Love (dir. Wong Kar-wai, Hong Kong, 2000) |
Which elements of the film are repeated to
emphasize a point or a perception?
Is there a pattern of striking camera
movement, perhaps long shots, long takes, or slow motions? What point is such
camera movement making? Which sequence(s), according to you, is (are) the most important in this film?
How does the film make you feel at the end? Happy? Depressed? Confused? And why?
Address two of the above questions in two well-written paragraphs with supporting evidence from
“The Cinema of Wong Kar-wai, A ‘Writing Game’”
Cite any sources you quote or paraphrase. Due Monday November 4 by 8 pm. Comments to two other responses due the same day by 10 pm.
In the Mood for Love was unexpected. I think that's the best word I can use to describe it. Such a beautiful viewing experience, along with a massively romantic emotional tale left me feeling as though I'd been taken through a vortex that scrubbed me with the longing of the film's characters. The repetition of scenes, music, the colors of the surroundings work together to create what feels to simply be an emotion. Reading the impressionistic encapsulations of Wong Kar-Wai's work helped temper my approach, which was initially simply a glowing feeling. I felt the most revealing selection was Alice Dallow's "Love – Things Wong Kar-wai Taught Me About Love"
ReplyDeleteIt shows how incredibly literary and romantic this tale truly is. Divorced from reality, because reality inhibits the expression of an ideal, this film succeeds in escapism, but contradictorily imprisoning it's characters.
On a more technical note, I realized very early on that this would be an exercise in repetition, and began noting which elements were used when and how many times. MY favorite repeated element was the orchestral track that at first accompanies Maggie Cheung walking away from the camera. This comes around 9 times in the film (unless I missed one), and is richly nostalgic and romantic sounding. This film was very meticulously constructed, but less in a fashion I'm familiar with (narrative structure) and more to simply express a timeless space and emotion, however the interference of the time jumps destroys this ephemeral creation, In terms of my feelings at the end of this film, I was struck with a massive wave of sadness at the scene where Tony Leung's Character visits a mountain and whispers his secret into a hole, then hides it. This more than anything shows the massively romantic and nostalgic nature of this film. The super loud and long musical accompaniment for this scene also really drives home the emotion, contrasting with the repressed expressions all throughout the earlier part of the movie.
I thoroughly enjoyed viewing this, but it's good to keep in mind that art and reality are not the same thing all the time.
I agree with your opinion,In the film of "In the mood for love", the director Wong KarWai shot the most screen very dim,I think use the tone in the film,can suggesting the story of the mood of the times, the real life and emotional issues, resulting in atmosphere of dark, low, depressed and sad . The darkened tone in the film of "In the mood for love" can make the people have a thoughts of nostalgic and sentimental.
DeleteMusic is an important part of this film. The name of this film is a song's name. It's from a famous song 'I'm in the Mood for Love'. But this film has a different name in China. It is called 'Hua Yang Nian Hua'. You can hear this song in the film. This song makes this film nostalgic and romantic.
Deleteyour opinion about Wang Kar-wai told us how to love is the similar to me, i think this movie is just tell us one thing, in the most beautiful age you met the most terrible love.
DeleteI was also impressed by "the orchestral track that at first accompanies Maggie Cheung walking away from the camera,” I was totally shocked by the elegance of women at that time.
DeleteI personally find it funny how different perspectives often are. What i mean by that is this, I loved Millennium Mambo and quite disliked In the Mood for Love. You clearly had the opposite experience and I find that fascinating. I agree that the repetitious music is often rich and romantic, but it often comes at times that seem irrelevant to me. I know directors are very deliberate in every aspect of the film, but that was one that just fell flat to me.
DeleteI also like the music of this film, I think the music of the film that make people feel very comfortable, although this is not a perfect love story, because they did not be together at the end of this movie.
DeleteWow is good to be back with my ex again, thank you Dr Ekpen for the help, I just want to let you know that is reading this post in case you are having issues with your lover and is leading to divorce and you don’t want the divorce, Dr Ekpen is the answer to your problem. Or you are already divorce and you still want him/her contact Dr Ekpen the spell caster now on (ekpentemple@gmail.com) and you will be clad you did
DeleteIn the Mood for Love is a unique movie that captures the audience’s attention with its mysterious cinematic that keeps them constantly wondering what is going to happen next. The first thing that people notice during (and after) the movie is that you never get the face of Maggie Cheung’s husband (Mr. Chan) and Tony Leung’s wife (Mrs. Chow). That makes the audience wonder what they look like, as you can only hear their voices. By doing that, it keeps the audience’s focused on every detail of the scenes, because they think that at some point they can finally see what Mr. Chan and Mrs. Chow look like. Their voices are also very mono-toned, and that makes the audience even more eager to know more about them and see what they look like. Another aspect of the movie that is interesting is the camera angle of some of the scenes in the house. Tony Leung and Maggie Cheung would visit each other’s room before things started to get intimate between them, neither of them will be invited to their respected room because they were only “neighbors” and technically not “friends”. They wanted to keep their distances from each other since they are both “married”. Even after they discovered that their spouses were cheating on them, and things started to get a little more intimate between them, Maggie Cheung insisted that they keep their distance because she is afraid of what people might say. This shows that Maggie Cheung’s character really cared about how people view her. Every scene that she is in, she is always dressed up nice no matter what the setting is; at working, going to movies alone, picking up her husband from the airport... etc (This is also related to the “backside” part of the “A writing game article”). Both Maggie Cheung and Tony Leung wanted to portray their respective marriage as perfect couples, and lost a lot of good times than they can have with each other
ReplyDeleteI think that the most important sequences in the movie is the idea of “blue” that is mentioned in the “A Writing Game”. The idea of rain actually brought them together many times in the movie, such as the times when Maggie Cheung would buy noodles for herself because her husband isn’t around, and Tony Leung sees her around the corner. I don’t know if I really agree with the idea of blue being “a sense of regret” (A Writing Game), but I definitely think that it represents the idea of inopportunity. In the scene of the movie when Maggie Cheung was stuck in the rain and Tony Leung walks by on the way home (starting at 1:06:07), you can tell by the expressions and the tone of their voices that they are holding back their feelings towards each other. Even though shortly after that scene, Maggie Cheung told Tony Leung that “she doesn’t want to go home,” and from that we can assume that they took their relationship to the next level, and they went beyond the line as two married people who can never be together because of social norms. Overall, the movie gave me a somewhat depressed feeling because of all the misfortunate things that happened between them, especially the last scene whenTony Leung went back to their old apartment but didn’t see Maggie Cheung. It was very confused by the last scene when Tony Leung was whisper his secret into the hole; the election and the long shot of the setting was a bit hard to get an understand of what was going on.
"In the Mood for Love is a unique movie that captures the audience’s attention with its mysterious cinematic that keeps them constantly wondering what is going to happen next."this is a great opinion, i agree with you on it.
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ReplyDeleteIn the Mood of Love tells us about a love story bwtween Zhou Muyun and Su Lizhen. At the beginning of the movie, Su moves into the same building with Zhou, and they have the room right next to each other, so they see each other a lot of times in the hallway, however, they both have their own families. However, Zhou later finds out that his wife cheated on him, while Su's husband is doing the same thing.So they start to seeing each other. I find out that what do they do when they are together is very intersting, they are not like others, there is no sexual activity involved, they are just like best frineds to me, they spend a lot of time with each other, having dinner, acting how Su's husband's psychological activities, writing Kongfu novels in the hotel room, not to mention that the room number is 2046, which is the title of one of Wong Karwei's famous movies shot in 2004, and the main characters are the same as in this one. They have been thinking about acrossing the line of ethic, but they did not do it, they are just soul mate who understand each other very well. Later in the movie, Zhou asks Su if she wants to leave with him, She does not go with him, and that is the time they "break up".
ReplyDeleteHonestly, I did not like the movie itself. However, I was impressed by the shooting techniques and the uses of colors, which make the director satnds out from other directors. I noticed that in the first half of the movie, Su's husband and Zhou's wife have a lot of scenes, but we did not see their faces through out the whole movie. For the colors, I think the use of colors are wonderful, it makes the movie a lot better if the audience do not like the story, I still could not forget about the scene in the hallway of the hotel, red curtain and the red coat that Su wears. And for the shooting technique, most of the scenes when Zhou and Su are together, the director sets the camera somewhere not noticable, in the closet, behind the wall, and using the reflection of the mirror etc, and we can only see what is going on between Zhou and Su, I think it is brilliant, there is no distractions so we can think about the contents while watching them.
In my opinion, in this movie there seems to be have no superfluous things,every scenes ,every picture, dialogue and music, even if every property have their irreplaceable means in this film.The director Wong KarWai did not let every detail about expression the subject in the film.Such as the cheongsam, embroidered slippers and other property in this movie, it both has the national characteristics and symbolic meaning. Not only adds the nation flavor for the film, but also increased the theme's implicit.
Deletewe know that Karwai Wong is very particular about the film in scope, for example the movie"The Grandmaster ", this movie's mainly displays is not fierce fighting scenes, it is a beautiful metamorphosis.
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ReplyDeleteThe “In the Mood for love” is a film called a nostalgic classic, just for the film tell the story, in my opinion, it is ancient and ordinary and have nothing new. Nothing but is a story about the love of extramarital. On the plot of the film, neither complex nor exciting, it can say simple and plain. So I have a question, why the film of such a story of ordinary and have simple plot can be called “classic”? I think the key is the director Wong KarWai used of ingenious and unique artistic in this film. Through these artistic techniques gives an intrinsic and novel theme for this common story. Make the film achieve the perfect combination of form and content. As far as I’m concerned, the precious for film is implicit, so the art of movie also has this artistic rule. Implicit expression can make the work of art have more abundant content, lead a person to endless aftertastes, the film of "In the mood for love" is has the artistic characteristics. Director Wong Kar Wai used of a metaphorical and symbolic representation increases the intrinsic charm for this movie, it just like a hazy poem, every word which has a symbolic significance. It is alsp like a painting, each line have the implied meaning. Use the expression means of characteristic type of metaphor and symbol, so that the film is not only have subtle but also have deep in the expression of the theme. The film is not only reflecting the misfortune between the Zhou Muyun and Su Lizhen for cheating their lover, it also is not only reflect their sincere emotion, but it is reflect that age, the society , people’s general love life and moral concept.
ReplyDeleteIn addition, it have a scene is worth to notable, that is many years later, when they returned to the old alley again, it’s vicissitudes already, we can see the Maggie Cheung is looking out of the window, cannot help bursting into tears; through the next door, Tony Leung hesitated, but still walk away. "I can feel his embarrassing, but she always shy and low head, she gives him a chance to come closer. He has no courage to close，finally she was turned away. Life is only met once, in the vast sea of humanity once miss, it maybe can not see again, even if be close by. Perhaps all the thing of gorgeous and luxury, are doomed to walk in our life, doomed not to come again. And is also doomed to it is a beautiful sadness. Just like a man meet his first love in the little pedestrian street, each other a greeting, a smile, and then passing, only this. Everything is just the hands of the broken line kites, have never been heard of since, nowhere find and destined to can not meet the sun again. So the world will have the value of precious. In fact, people often know how to cherish, but don't know how to cherish what. But when they know, it was too late already. Something the world is never transfer by our volition, so there are have mysterious and distance. At last, I want to say: “Want to stand in the same position with the God, unless you are God.”
I agree with your opinion. This film likes a poem. Every word has the implied meaning. I think evey line is thought through. Many sentences are very simple but they can express deep connotation clearly. It also has many sentences are worth thinking.
DeleteA "hazy" poem is a great way to describe the emotion in this film. It's never explicitly stated, only implied, much like a poem, with several meanings that can be interpreted from each line.
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ReplyDeleteThe film called ‘In the Mood for Love’ was directed by Karwai Wong in 2000. It’s a very classic film. It described a simple story about the love of extramarital. Chow Mo-wan and Su Li-zhen were both betrayed by their mates. Chow’s wife eloped with Su’s husband. And then they both know this thing. They feel sad. They start to get close to each other with their own purpose. But they developed feelings with each other in the film. Although they didn’t meet together again in the end, they still missed each other.
ReplyDeleteThis film is a simple love story. However, this film gets a lot of awards. And even it has a big effect on western film. It achieves many honors on many famous magazine or newspaper. For example, Empire ranked this film No. 42 in its "The 100 Best Films Of World Cinema" list in 2000. It shows this film is really good. This film’s plot is not exciting. It doesn’t have any deep connotation. So why the film that has a simple story was so successful? I think a large part of this film's success can be attributed to the director. This film’s visual style is very special. It has a big difference for many films. I think this film’s visual style is extreme. Firstly, the film scenes are basically cramped space. It is also gloomy. It makes people feel sad. Secondly, it doesn’t have a definite timeline. I mean you can’t feel the concept of time in the film. Thirdly, I always think this film miss something. Some details are not clarified such as that boy who be called Yong Sheng. I think Su is his mother. But I am not sure Chow is his father. Maybe it’s the suspense that this film leaves us.
I think the best part of this film is lines. Karwai Wong is an extremely detail-oriented director. Every scene or line is thought through. I really like this film’s line. Some of them have deep connotation. And even every word of a sentence has deep meaning. For example, the film shows a paragraph in the end. That paragraph is really good. Chow missed everything in the past, especially Su. That paragraph said ‘those vanished years seemed to be separated by dusty glass, he can see it, but he can’t touch it. If he can break through that glass, he will find those vanished years’. I think those vanished years are a time with Su. He really missed Su. In fact, they still loved each other. But they can’t summon the courage to acknowledge this relationship. They make this relationship like dust glass. They can feel each other but they can’t stay together. That paragraph seems to describe their ending. In the end, Chow whispered the secret into the hole. It shows Chow didn’t have courage to talk with Su. So he kept it in the hole forever. It corresponds to the last paragraph. He can’t break through that glass. He wanted to find vanished relationship but he didn’t have courage.
Agree with your opinion that "Karwai Wong is an extremely detail-oriented director," I can still remember the scene that they sit together and eat steak, the camera was moving between them. It is interesting to notice that the habits were shown by the plates or dishes within the moving of the camera.
DeleteI had wondered about the child's father, it might make sense if it were Tony Leung's character's offspring, but it doesn't really matter in the end, since There was that missed connection in Singapore. I wonder what conversation the two would have had if they had met there.
DeleteIm pretty sure the child is from the night when they wanted to act out the scenario of talking to their respective spouse for the 2nd time. Right after that, Maggie Cheung tells Tony Leung that she doesn't want to go home to night (in the cab), and that kind of implies it in my opinion.
DeleteThe same to others, at first the reason why i like this movie is wanna to see Maggie Cheung’s wearing chi pao Curvaceous. When i saw half of this movie, i have to refresh the opinion of Wong Kai-wai’s shot action. It is kind of stong color to show this movie, but its only about the color, the exist of this shot action like the music of cello in this movie, just wanna to show a topic: the best age and the terrible love.
ReplyDeleteThere is a classic very famous to anyone: “if i have one more ticket, would you like to follow with me” in this gorgeous meeting with each others, anything like cigarettes in Tony Leung’s hand, always flutter in the air. Not even show or care, no matter how close to their relationship, anything always make some distance. I think there is nothing better than distance in this world, cause of distance, we can live together, wo can stay more harmonious, so that everything will be more gorgeous and mysterious. And cause of distance, we can taste everything much more better.
I like one shot very much in this movie, when Maggie Cheung went to Burma to found Tony, she dialed to him, but when the phone is on, there is only one word “hello” and nothing behind. Last for a long time, and Tony recognized who is that, and them, there is a long time of silence again. Finally, she hang up the phone and bring the shoes that she left to his home before. Well, greeting like a little light, and if you say that belongs to miss, it is a little unreal, if you say that belong to love, and maybe it looks like they missed both, and then, there is only silence for them, and during the silence, their emotion was broken. Actually does this feeling happen? We don’t know, the most problem for them maybe pin on the feeling at the beginning. Passing that shot, anything will never exist.
Experienced and know love, love to know sad, maybe all the splendid luxury things are doomed to walk in our life, doomed to never come back. It doomed like a kind of gorgeous sad. Like when you walk in a street without anyone, you suddenly found the person who you loved before, greeting to him with a smile, and then, passed him, just like this, anything like a kite without the wire, doomed won’t to come back again. So that there is a kind of thing called value. Actually people know what is value, the thing they don’t know is what should they cherish. When they found that, it is too late. Things in this world will never follow our mind, so that there are mysterious and distance, if you want to stand the same position with god, unless you are god.
The colors are strong and vibrant in this film, which I think is a nice change from the washed out look of the films we have seen before.
DeleteKar Wai Wong did not have too much film, but In the Mood for Love is one of most famous film of all his products. This film is talking about a love story, and to be exact, it is about affairs. Not an affair story but several, like Mr.Chan with Ms. Mrs. Chow, Mr. Ho with Miss. Yu, and also leading roles, Su Li-zhen and Chow Mo-wan. This film did not show us the relationship between Su and Chow clearly, but it let audiences to think about it by ourselves deeply, which people can image more than what Wong can show on the film. And also, Kar Wai Wong made his three movies connected like a series. The series begin with Days of Being Wild, and then In the Mood for Love and end with 2046. Three films are different love stories but with similar situations for leading roles, which let me want to watch all three films.
ReplyDeleteIn Kar Wai Wong‘s film, color is always very beautiful and in this film, In the Mood for Love, the wonderful color with the soothing music make me interested in this film. I noticed on the colorful cheongsams, which Maggie Cheung wore in different screens, and she almost changed every screen with new cheongsam. Those cheongsams are beautiful and make Maggie pretty in the film. But the Cheongsams were not just simple for pretty, and they were important for the change of the time, like when Su Li-zhen and Chow Mo-wan were meeting in the restaurant, there are no change except the cheongsams Su wore, and from here we can know that these two people were not meeting in the same restaurant once, but several time as the times changed by the cheongsams.
The other point interested me is the “secret in the hole of tree”. Like Chow said, in the old days, if someone had a secret they did not want to share, they went up a mountain, found a tree, carved a hole in it, and whispered the secret into the hole. Then they covered it with mud. And leave the secret there forever. This story is popular on lots of network and this story came from this film. In the end of the film, Chow went to a temple and truly found a hole on a tree to whispered his secret never shared with other people, especially with Su, but we can image his secret more, like the last words he gave to Su, If there is an extra ticket. Would you go with me?
I too noticed Maggie's dresses! She was always so put together and had her hair and makeup perfectly done. I wonder if Kar-Wei did this to try and portray that even though people may look "perfect" on the outside, it does not mean that they are not people with real problems too. I think sometimes we are so quick to think that people that look nicely on the outside have everything together; but in reality, this is not always the case.
DeleteMaggie's dresses is a important part to reflect her really feel. The dark and plain color reflect her lonely but after she meet Mrs. Zhou. We can easily find that her dress more bright and colorful, which mean her life have a big change now
DeleteI agree with you that Maggie's dresses are such an important part of the film; as well as the "soothing music". Both of these really set the mood for what was going on in the film.
DeleteThe story line for "In the mood of love" is quite simple. Mr. Chow and Mrs. Chan are the neighbour in Hong Kong. They found their wife and husband both have the third person outside home. They began to meet and discuss how to deal with it. After several times, they fell in love with each other. But finally they did not get together. Mr.Chow went to Cambodia and Mrs.Chan left Hong Kong with her son.
ReplyDeleteTo be honest, for me this film is a little bit boring. There are not to many conflicts in the film but the scenes do impressed me a lot. When Maggie Cheung wear different cheongsams and walking quietly in the street with yellow lights, I was totally moved. As the "Mrs Chan enjoys going to movies and both protagonists share a love for martial arts fiction, another form of escapism. Shots of narrow hallways, people slamming doors, and narrow staircases highlight the claustrophobia of apartment living. However, they also accentuate the alienation and distance that prevails regardless of physical proximity."(Senses of Cinema, p.1) In my opinion, the whole film is talking about the "mood," by the using of lights and shadow, eye contact, body languages and so on. However, the mood for me is hard to understand. And the music is also interesting, the theme song is written in French which means "memory, memory, memory." I guess it is another way to express mood, the memories of golden times.
Mood is interesting to think about when you consider the film and the progress of the characters emotion and love for the other. And as anything in life the mood always "sets the scene" and I find that to be true in this movie as well. I also think that mood is not meant to be understood fully, maybe the director meant for the audience not to understand everything that was going on, so that there is room for imagination.
DeleteI think the mood is also not clear meaning what it is. It is just a feeling let audiences to think and image more. Wong's films are good at color and music of the screens, and when in the screen when Maggie dressed beautiful and walked on the dark light, it shows the talent of director Wong.
DeleteI never like to watch this kind of movie before, but I was really impressed by a scene which is Su wears cheongsam step on the hallway. I can say I'm catching the "mood" at that moment that director tried to showing us.
DeleteI think the mood in the film is supposed to me a mixture of desire, melancholy, and love. I do agree though, that it is difficult to pin down exactly which one is most prominent. In the end though, like a great poem or work of art, the mood is subject to the viewer's interpretation.
DeleteThis movie I found compelling to say the least. I didn't know what was going to happen next throughout the film, which made it exciting. I did find it a little slow and monotonous being that they chose the same song to play over and over in the film, but I almost find that also compelling as to why they would have done that. The way the film was made didn't strike me as much as the content itself did. The absent qualities of the wife of Mr. Chow and the same with Mrs. Chan's husband struck me very early on. I also find it interesting the love that these two people had for their absent, seemingly rude, individuals and still maintained despite the cheating factor their spouse.
ReplyDeleteThe reading, was very interesting and it made me think about the movie in lots of different ways. The words they chose alone prob your mind to wonder. The quote by Bernard Hemingway in his sections titled SPACE says the movie "is a study of love in small spaces, not a miniature world, however, but a prison." This word prison is very interesting and I didn't think if the movie in this way before this, but now considering it, it is so true. He also says that "love grows under the watchful eyes of the prison-keepers, and is communicated not with the largesse...but in its inhabitants’ subtle code...whose love will finally remain enclosed forever in a tiny sub-let room." This also is true in the way they had to keep their love hidden from their "prison-keepers" and had their own subtle code for getting together and talking together. Overall I thought the movie was interesting and the reading was a great supplement.
I travel to a women's prison each week in Louisville to either pick up or drop off the assistance dog I am working with, and each week I am amazed at how confined and restricted that people are in prison. It's almost as if they don't really have the right to say or speak as they feel and are forced to be a certain person. I can see why Hemingway compared the character's love to a prison because they couldn't express their true love for each other without upsetting someone else (their spouses) or being subject to judgement by their neighbors. It's almost as if the neighbors and spouses were the prison guards, and the two lovers were prisoners.
DeleteI think 'confinement' is a very key theme in this film, evidenced in sections and scenes from the film itself and also in the way other people write about it. I didn't focus on SPACE when structuring my own response, but the fact that the theme of small spaces or restriction comes up multiple times is really telling, in my opinion.
DeleteExamples of items/scenes that Kar-Wei uses repeatedly in this film include a clock, the staircase scenes where the two lovers pass each other by, the song with the violins, and the scenes where one character is talking to another character through a door, but you only see one character talking. Of all of the phrases described in the reading titled "The Cinema of Wong Kar-Wei," the word that best described the use of repetition of these scenes and objects was "Dali-esque". The author of the reading notes"...[Kar-wei] images in In the Mood for Love do not narrate, they linger, describe, and emote. The time of the images does not slow down, it ‘melts down’ from the burning passion of the two would-be-lovers, as they tease each other with hushed glances and sexually charged quotidian encounters. These ‘chance’ moments of physical proximity on staircases and hallways become ‘what if’ memory-images suspended in time and space and protracted to a level of pure character subjectivity..."
ReplyDeleteThe author's point in stating this is that Kar-Wei intentionally used various scenes and objects to illustrate the longing and desperation between the two characters. Even though it was obvious that the two characters both wanted each other, they stayed relatively loyal to their spouses by not physically committing adultery. Kar-Wei used various scenes and objects to demonstrate the difficulty that the two characters were having in trying to stay loyal to their spouses. The two characters had very exaggerated movements in addition to the close up shots of their faces that showed their emotions.
I also mentioned how there is a repetition with the audience unable to see somebody talking. I feel like this is setting the audience in the living environment. There are a lot of people living in a small area. So it's easy to hear everything that is being said, even if you don't see them.
DeleteI complete agree with your 2nd paragraph; I also think that the director wanted us (the audience) to really feel how much the two characters wanted to be together, but because they respect their own marriages, they stayed relatively loyal to their spouses.
DeleteIn terms of repetition, there are a lot of long, slow-panning shots accompanied by music throughout the film. There’s only really two musical variants that tend to recur often. The first is the piano-violin instrumental which pleasantly highlights the two’s time together. The other is a spanish song titled Quizas (x3), which I admit is a strange choice given the context of the film, but sufficiently captures the tone. The title of the song interestingly translates to “Maybe,” which sums up the story rather well since they clearly developed mutual affection but did not pursue anything beyond that. Another element of repetition is the hotel hall-way shot. We see this shot once when they first meet at the hotel, and again when Chow departs (after which they never return to the hotel). Evidently, according to Fiona A. Villella, “scenes [in In the Mood for Love] are replayed and given a different accent, interpretation, and even totally new outcome.”
ReplyDeleteThe most important sequence, for me, was the scene where Chow and Su meet at the restaurant to ask about each other's respective purse and tie. It is the turning point in the film where it becomes clear that his wife and her husband are having affair overseas. This gives rise to a sense of mutual empathy and understanding from which their friendship is built upon. The ending makes me feel confused, since it seemed rushed. There were multiple clear opportunities for the two to unite (e.g. Su making the long trip to singapore and Chow visiting the old apartment), but they never do. This is poor effort on behalf of the writers, I think, since the last few scenes seem forced and unnatural.
I had a hard time knowing just where to begin with this post, but generally I judge any movie, concert, audio/visual performance by how many times I check what time it is. With In the Mood for Love I'm not quite sure I can count the amount times I checked my phone. Now, before I continue with my displeasure of the movie, allow me to concede that the movie offered a fresh perspective on the intricacies of an affair. However, with that ends my interest.
ReplyDeleteOne author describes the time frame of the movie as "Dali-esque" (Totaro), which frankly I detested. Sure I like when people try new and interesting ways of cinematography, but the director said nothing by using this tool. I got absolutely nothing out of it. It didn't surprise me. Another section of the article talks about emotion, and on that note I would like to compare In the Mood for Love with Millennium Mambo.
Both of these movies clearly convey an emotion. Both movies depict, shall we say, hard things. I personally find divorce and affairs to be a harder subject to swallow than a teenage drug induced coming of age story, but after watching the movies I came away from Millennium Mambo with a much stronger emotion than I did In the Mood for Love.
On a final note I found the repetition of the orchestral music to be obnoxious. I'm sure upon a second viewing I could gather some theme that the music was trying to convey, but try as I might during the viewing I just didn't get it. I feel like that type of music plays its own character in movies like this, but I could not grasp the character it was portraying. I saw and heard the repetitions, but they did not ring with honesty.
I completely agree. I did not like this film. More importantly, I agree with how you talk about the emotion in this film. I didn't really get the emotion like I did in Millennium Mambo. It just seemed to bland and fake.I felt like everyone involved in this film was trying to hard, which didn't result very good.
DeleteI do understand, though, the director trying new things with the cinematography. If I was a director, I would want to try new things. And of course, everything we do isn't going to be good. But it's still good that we try.
Great post!
I really have to agree with you about the music being haphazard. I tried to piece together a continuous theme for the different songs, but failed. With that said, part of the reason I didn't mind was that I enjoyed the musical selections so much on their own, that they didn't have to make sense for me. You also make a great point about the time-dilation being relatively pointless. I think the way I approach In the Mood for Love is that I think it is a terribly crafted film, but I love it. I think it shouldn't work, the way it is constructed, but I find myself enjoying the viewing anyway.
DeleteIn the Mood of Love is a film about love. In the story, we know that there are two main characters in this movie: Zhou Muyun and Su Lizhen. At the beginning of the film, we knew Zhou and Su were neighbors, and Zhou had a wife, Su had a husband. In fact, in the early movie, Zhou and Su did not understand each other. However, when they realized that their partner had betrayed them, Zhou and Su became more familiar. Zhou and Su tried to find each other’s advantages, but they did not allow themselves to make improper behavior. They were very pain. At last, Chou chose to leave.
ReplyDeleteIn this movie, we heard a slow song for many times; with a group of slow motion appear in front of the audience. For example: Su went home after bought the food (14:54); Zhou and Su stand together (37:23). In fact, in those shoots, they did not say anything, but we could feel the feeling of people. Sometime, they felt sad, and other time, they felt confusing. In the reading, it said that the “love is a prison”. I think this sentence is interpretation of the film very well, because in this movie, we knew that Zhou and Su were living in pain, they could not be together, even they like each other. There was a little funny thing that we did not see Zhou’s wife and Su’s husband in this movie at all, but they were still important for this story.
I believe in the end of the film, when several years later, they remembered they loved each other, but they were not pain any more. Memories are beautiful. When Mr. Chow found a tree and talked his secret to a hole on the tree, he was not pain but happy to have the same memories with Mrs. Su.
DeleteDirector leaves more spaces to audiences to let them imagine what is the "happy ending" instead of show in the movie.
DeleteThe open ending is another factor that I love this films. they indeed love each other but they cant be together because of moral pressure. But I believe they will live in their memories forever
DeleteOne element of the film that I noticed over and over was the camera work. Many times, when one, two, or even more people are talking, the camera would be filming from a somewhat far distance away. More importantly, the camera view stayed the same. This caused the audience to hear the dialogue, but often not seeing the person seeing it. I found this interesting and wondered why the director would do this. I remembered the living environment the characters live in. There are many people living in such a small space that makes privacy rare and difficult. The angle forcing the audience to see characters from a distance, and to hear them speak while unable to see them, it’s as if we are living with them, hiding, and eavesdropping. This is why I see these sequences most important in the film: It shows how nobody has privacy in this living environment. There is always somebody nearby, able to hear anything that is said.
ReplyDeleteIn “The Cinema of Wong Kar-wai,” Maximillion le Cain says that there are cameras with vantage points in places where people are likely to connect. I found this true because many of the camera locations are in random spots that seem hidden: A good place to hide and listen, as we, the audience do. In my opinion, this film was not great at all. That’s my opinion. The plot was just not interesting to me, and it seems like the most random film idea. But again, that’s just my opinion.
I also noticee that at some points in the movie, the director would make these weird pan shots when the two protagonists were having a conversation with each other. Not sure why he did that
DeleteMovie “In the Mood of Love” is talking about two couples are living next door, Chow’s and Chan’s. Mr. Chow and Mrs. Chan were not familiar to each other before, until one day they found their spouse were cheated to them. They go closer and start dating and having dinner together. It seems like they have many common topics to discuss under such a similar situation. Later, Mr. Chow rent a hotel room and doing creative writing on some kung fu novel there. But Mrs. Chan, Su wants keep space with Chow. Actually she just doesn’t somebody else judge her and the relationship with Chow. At last, although they love each other, they are still not being together. It’s clearly we cans find there is no sexual involved scene in such a love story movie, this might director wants to leave more room if imagination to audiences. We know the hotel room number in this movie is 2046 which is the name of Kar-Wai Wong’s another movie. Movie “2046” is like a second episode of “In the Mood of Love”, which talked about Chow back to Hong Kong from Singapore and have several relationships with six different women.
ReplyDeleteThis movie uses lots of long shoots and with some smooth music. It is easy to bring the mind of audiences to the situation. Honestly, I usually ignore this kind of movie, but I was still impressed on the “mood” that director wants to achieve. For the article “A Writing Game”, I feel interested about section “Desire”. There is a sentence said: “Wong’s films are all about submerged passion and hidden desires. Ironically, they are also fused with a saturated emotion that resonates in every scene.” In my opinion, I think it is hard to show a love story without any passion and desire scenes but audiences are still able to resonate in that emotion.
I like how you picked up on how the music set the mood for the film. I had a similar reaction.
DeleteThis film full of Background music and scene, let audiences think a lot about the film. When I was watching this film, I was attracted by these stuffs and Integrated into the film.
DeleteKar Wai Wong films are always complicated and deep, his film contain so much information even with a simply script. So, his films is not really accepted by majority at the begining. But this one "In the Mood for Love" is really big in that period. He use two super start actors in China Maggie Cheung and Tony Leung.
ReplyDeleteThere are so many impressive factors that we can analyse, The first thing I have to say is that Kar Wai Wong is a master of colors. He use so many colors in this film that reflect the actor mood. I remember when these two main actor first meet, the back ground is blue and black. This dark color imply there is no spark between these two people, and with the time goes on, the colors become lighter and bright, which imply they both fall in love with each other. And I think the most important sequence is stair . Kar Wai Wong use a lot of short and slow motion on the stair. So we can see these two actor so close to each other and even their body touch each other, but they never stop. This imply that even they two fall in love with each other , but they cant be together because of moral.
In the end, this film make me feel sad . But this sad is not really like want make me cry, it is more make me feel regret for them. Kar Wai Wong use Montage method to describe this love film, which remind me a famous female writer 张爱玲 . I think that is a big step in HongKong film at that period.
Film "In the Mood for Love" is a classic work on behalf of Wong Kar-wai. I agree with what you said they can’t be together because of moral which also made me fell upset.
DeleteThere are many themes present in the movie, “In the Mood for Love.” However, the one that stood out the most to me was the theme of desire. According to The Cinema of Wong Kar-wai – A ‘Writing Game’, “It is in the characters’ repression of desire that emotion can be felt most” (Elizabeth Wright). This repression, I believe, is often not shown or talked about directly; and therefore the absence of the directness is a symbol of the ‘repression’.
ReplyDeleteThere are several scenes that immediately capture the emotion of desire, all without actually showing/saying it. One of the scenes that I feel portrays this is during the beginning where the female actor is in the man’s room. Although it never shows they just did something, one can assume that they just engaged in a lustful act by looking at the clues in her actions, such as her standing up, and her putting her earrings back on; it is all basically her just fixing herself back up (5:50). Not to mention, the music playing during this scene, and the scene prior, set a truly lustful and desire-based mood. In the scene before lies another good example, in which the women are all at the table with Mr. Chow, and the two ladies take turns rubbing his back and flirting with him from behind (4:50). Although this is a direct shot, it still presents and sets the mood for desire (which comes in the scene after, as mentioned above).
The film “In the Mood of Love” is about the love and extramarital love between neighbors. Chow Mo-wan and Su Li-zhen Chan moved house at the same day and it started two extramarital loves.
ReplyDeleteAlthough there were two couples in the film but Chow’s wife and Su’s husband never showed up. We still can tell they loved each other before they find they cheat on each other from others’ talking. When people ask Su’s name, she always said “my husband’s last name is Chen”. Which shows how important her husband to her. Accidental encounter, he saw her handbag, she saw his tie. They feel it is not the coincidence; they start to cheat as for revenge.
Cheongsam is Chinese traditional clothing, a symbol of the noble, elegant. It is also a really important prop in this film. Su Li-zhen Chan wears cheongsam all the time and every time she shows up, it is the different cheongsam. I believe it represents her quality: noble. She told Chow Mo-wan all the time “We will never be like them.” “If there is more than one ticket, will you go with me?” which also surprised me, I believe Su was going to accept that but Chow thought her silence means refuse, so he went to Hong Kong by himself. The most beautiful years, obviously in love, but not together, and poignant story, also can be regarded as the worst love.
I didnt really think that much about the significants of the Cheongsam in the movie. Nice catch!
Delete‘In the Mood for Love” is a classic romance movie. It tells that, in 1960’s Hong Kong, an editor of newspaper, Zhou Muyun( Tony Leung), moved into an apartment that almost is people of Shanghai with his wife. And they neighbor with a Mr. Chen who is a trade representative of some Japanese company and his wife, Su Lizhen(Maggie Cheung). Duo to they found their spouse who had an affair and work outside each, then Zhou began meeting to discuss possible events in future and the corresponding countermeasure. At first, they just talk about the things, such as a hedge between keeps friendship green, but with the passage of time, in some groundless talking around a bunch of neighbor, they found that the matter of spouses is already vacated by their mind. They only have eyes for each other. Moreover, although they avoided that’s emotion deliberately, they found that they still profound remember each other.
ReplyDeleteIn addition, a very important sequence, in the film (In the Mood for Love), there is appeared repeatedly in the hero (Zhou) and heroine (Su) through the narrow stairs each, form the home to the small stalls of noodle and from the stalls to home. This screen appears repeatedly, on the surface, which is an expression of the protagonist’s lives, but in fact this is director (Wong Kar-Wai) who uses montage’s skill. Which is the presentation of the same content screen shots appears repeatedly in the film, in order to highlight and emphasis on the symbolic meaning of the content. Also is to repeat the montage technique. The director use the technique at the beginning of the story, the purpose is to show that, using the screen that is they up and down form the stairs, their lonely life, thus sets the scene for that affair between his wife and her husband, also given a metaphor that there is a story between them. The effect of repetition, this is clever and appropriate to show the contradictory psychology of character, and also reflects at the time of social morality. The director communicate these content to the audience, not straightforward to tell the audience, but hidden these in the repeated screen, this is increasing the charm of film. I think this is very important.
Furthermore, in the film, the light of dim, the alley of dark, and the corridor of crowd, in the old gramophone there came the voice of Shirley Kwan’s “Forget him” and it full of the old Shanghai flavor. These undoubtedly give people some feeling that is helplessness and sadness. For the hero and heroine, the restrained feeling, the mind of contradictory, the delicate movements, the complex expression and the peaceful dialogue, these are perfectly pressed together with the story, which is make people involuntary immersed in the story.
Finally, Maggie Cheung turned and left, they chose the abnegation, in fact, the real idea is afraid of being rejected. This is most classical Chinese love. Duo to the frailty, they don’t have the courage to accept. At the end, I feel a kind of sadness. The desires and feeling was passing duo to a sign, past events as wind. A woman, the most beautiful years and all of memories, like the shooting star in the sky, which is leaving behind a beautiful trace, all fell away.
For me, the most important element of the film is the use of silence. Mrs. Wright echoes this opinion, stating: "It is in the characters’ repression of desire that emotion can be felt most. It is about what is not said or acted upon on screen, that which the audience is aware of but not shown. (Elizabeth Wright)".
ReplyDeleteOne scene that sticks out in particular is the scene where they run into each other in the alleyway (38 minutes), and he asks Su to join him for noodles. She politely declines, and they proceed to have a short conversation. You can tell that they both are developing feelings for each other, and that Su may feel a bit guilty about it, as she keeps looking at the ground while he stares directly at her. They share a cordial conversation, but deeper emotions lurk beneath their words, and at this moment I believe they realized they had feelings for each other, although neither would act upon it.
The ending was the most poignant moment in the film, as it was the culmination of all of this passion and infidelity. It left me feeling regretful for Chow, and I'd wish he would have fulfilled his desires, but that would have diluted the emotion felt during the previous hour of the film. When he walks away, his face shows no emotions, as they've been transferred into the small hole in Angkor Wat.
It is interesting that you mention the use of silence, as I do recall a few such scenes in which either of the lead characters simply stare into the distance or into the mirror. In doing so they convey a heavy sense of longing despite the lack of dialogue.
DeleteOne of the fist things that i noticed in the film "In the Mood for Love" was that the audience never gets to see Mr. Chow and Mrs. Chan's spouse. This helps to focus the attention to Chow and Chan as they start to develop a relationship. It also creates an extra layer of mystery between their spouses since you never get a clear idea of what they are doing away all the time with the added fact that you cant put a face on them. "It is about what is not said or acted upon on screen, that which the audience is aware of but not shown." (The Cinema of Wong Kar-wai 2001) It starts to give the feeling that they are not present at all.
ReplyDeleteThere are also parts of the film where the camera pans between the two protagonist instead of cutting to them as they converse with each other. Im not really sure of its intention but it starts to give this back and forth dialogue with an added silence/awkwardness whenever the camera is paning between the two.
I like that you mentioned not seeing the spouses. It's such a blatant and in-your-face representation of their emotional absenteeism in the lives of their significant others that it would almost seem ham-handed if not for the structures that shore up the two characters and their illicit relationship outside those shots where the protagonists are conversing with bodiless voices who exist solely off-screen (I'm thinking of the scene in which Mr. Chow's wife is in the shower, crying, for example - she's there, but she's not really there).
DeleteI agree with your statement that the lack of the main characters' spouses help give an air of mystery and force audiences to focus more on Ms. Chan and Mr. Chow's relationships. This also shows the detachment from both sides.
DeleteThe mini-essay format of Tuesday's reading seems especially appropriate in terms of this particular film. The snapshot style analysis and introspection on various Wong Kar-wai films makes for quick, entertaining reading that really made me interested in seeing other films by this director in a similar, but not identical, way as that of the previous interviews we've read. Hearing about a film from the director's perspective is immensely helpful, but being able to cull information from a wide variety of viewpoints, some more personal and emotional than others, is also interesting. I feel that, in contrast to Millennium Mambo which puts us on a track for the entire film and shows us specifically what the director wants us to see, In The Mood For Love presents itself as much more free-roaming (although we have to ask ourselves if it actually affords us more freedom as viewers), giving us vignettes and short glances at scenes - which begins from the moment the movie starts, also in contrast to the extremely prolonged intro in Millennium Mambo - much like these "vignette" style essays.
ReplyDeleteThe very first piece, Backside, was both entertainingly indulgent and also rather thought-provoking to me. Although it isn't the main focus of the mini-essay, Dmetri Kakmi talks about the "physicality of [Maggie Cheung's] acting" and the "phenomenal space she occupies on the screen," citing these as characteristics of one of the "great mime performances on film," which I found incredibly interesting, because while I was watching, I was struck by her body language in confined spaces, starting with the first scene in which she is moving through the apartment's tiny hallways - followed immediately by the scene in which the two couples are moving into their respective apartments and she is once again in this already restrictive environment and being further restricted by the mass of objects and people passing through these minuscule corridors. This happens again several times in the course of the remainder of the film (around 15 minutes when she descends the stairs, ascends the stairs, then ascends the stairs again in quick succession). She exists in small rooms, in hallways and cramped offices throughout the film.
I thought of it, perhaps, as a metaphor for her movement through the film's story - she is elegant, but most certainly confined, be it via her physical space or the unfolding of events in her life. Even her typical introduction - "My husband's name is Chan" - gives away a little about her predicament. How does she feel about this man whose name she uses to structure her own identity: a man whose face is a mystery to us? Does he afford her more freedom or is he one more way in which she is confined?
I think this is an interesting viewpoint about Maggie Chueng's character. Throughout the film, she certainly is incredibly elegant, despite living in a narrow and confined apartment space. I think it's also interesting that you bring up how she introduces herself. Although we never see her husband fully, it does appear that she centers her identity around her husband. But, I think in the end, her character also gains the courage to break away from her husband and form a new life with her son.
Delete“In the Mood for Love” is incredibly reminiscent of “Millennium Mambo” and not necessarily in a good way. Like “Millennium Mambo,” “In the Mood for Love” scenes are shot in relatively few settings, though primarily through the confines of the apartment building. Both films rely more on the underlying atmosphere and tension between characters to advance the film. Similar to “Millennium Mambo,” this film utilizes a series of repetition –work, going to get noodles, and home—to show the empty rhythm of both main characters’ lives. However, at a certain point, the repetitive use of music and scenes become rather stiff and even verge on being annoying. Although I agree with Elizabeth Wright that this film is about “submerged passion and hidden desires,” this film relies so much on subtleties and unspoken repression that I eventually lost interest and kept waiting for the film to end. Although I did not enjoy the slow, and lengthy pace of the film, I agree with some commenters from the reading that Maggie Cheung is able to show “extraordinary subtlety” and emotion through her facial features.
ReplyDeleteI also saw the repetition quality in this film to be interesting. I think the reason the director might have done it his way was to show the habitual actions and emotions of Maggie and also to tell the audience in an explicit way the often occurrence of her actions. I think that this made the film a bit different from the others, even though at first I was a bit annoyed by it also, I think I appreciate it now.
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I loved the mood, feeling, colour and just the way it was filmed. But I have to be honest, and I'm going to sound like a fool, but were the initial adultery couple in the film, or only spoken about?
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