DVD Review: In The Mood For Love (A)

In The Mood For Love (2000)
Directed by Wong Kar-Wai
Starring Tony Leung Chiu Wai and Maggie Cheung
MPAA: PG
Grade: A

A truly remarkable love story told with sensitivity and grace. Released in Hong Kong under the title "Beijing Summer", this film tells the story of neighbors that start to notice strange behaviors by their spouses. As they are both left alone night after night, a friendship between the two emerges. I won't give alot away in this review, but I can say that the relationship between the two, their spouses, and the manager of the apartments they are in becomes quite complex (yet not draining on the audience).

In the Mood For Love is a masterpiece, one of those rare movies that only comes along every few years. Wong Kar Wai has combined fine acting, dazzling cinematography and most of all - mesmerizing art direction and costume design into a glamorous, elegant film. According to rumor, there was no script used on this film, the characters were given plot outlines and Wai guided them from scene to scene. This "tight but loose" style of directing by Wai is remarkably efffective, the acting in his movies always seems fresh, not rehearsed. Tony Leung Chiu Wai's work in this movie won him the Best Actor award at the Cannes Film Festival.

When reviewing DVDs, I usually focus 100% on the film itself, avoiding the traps of discussing weird channel setups, extra deleted scenes or other matters of the DVD itself. However, I think that this detail must be pointed out to the potential buyer of renter of this DVD: Criterion (the maker of this DVD) did a remarkable job of transferring this film to digital format. The colors are absolutely breathtaking, the audio is fantastic and for all of you out there afraid to rent foreign films: the subtitles are bright, legible and very easy to follow.

This is a fantastic movie packaged into a stunning DVD presentation from Criterion. On initial release, In The Mood For Love did not get as many U.S. screens as it deserved, but with this DVD, hopefully more people will be able to see this remarkable film.

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