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In The Mood For Love
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Synopsis
For his first film since the 1997 Hong Kong handover, auteur filmmaker Wong Kar-Wai directs this moody period drama about unrequited love that, like his earlier work, swoons with romantic melancholy. Set in a Shanghaiese enclave in Hong Kong in 1962, the film centers on two young couples who rent adjacent rooms in a cramped and crowded tenement. Li-zhen (Maggie Cheung) works as a secretary in an export company while her husband's job at a Japanese multinational keeps him away on extended business trips. Across the hall, Chow (Tony Leung Chiu-Wai) works as a newspaper editor and is married to a woman who is also frequently out of town. Neither respective spouse is ever shown in full, instead they are shot from the back or obscured by walls and furniture. Li-zhen and Chow soon strike up a cordial -- if tenative -- friendship. Chow begins to suspect that his wife's long absences are not entirely business related when he stops in unannounced at her office to discover that she is not there. Later, a colleague tells him that he saw his wife with another man. The icing on the cake comes when Chow notices that Li-zhen's handbag is identical to his wife's while Li-zhen discovers that Chow is wearing a tie that she gave her husband; it doesn't take long for them to realize that their spouses are sleeping together. Drawn together by shame and anger, Chow and Li-zhen reveal nothing of their discoveries to their partners. While working through their guilt by imagining how their adulterous spouses first hooked up and rehearsing interrogations, the pair slowly fall in love in spite of their determination to uphold their end of their marital vows. In the Mood for Love, which was screened in competition at the 2000 Cannes Film Festival, barely made it to the fest's final slot; Wong Kar-Wai was reportedly shooting scenes in Cambodia a week prior to the festival. ~ Jonathan Crow, All Movie Guide

Cast

Maggie Cheung Su Li-zhen
Tony Leung Chiu-Wai Chow Mo-wan
Rebecca Pan Mrs. Suen
Lai Chin Mister Ho
Siu Ping-Lam Ah-Ping

Production Crew

Man Lim-chung Art Director
Christopher Doyle Cinematographer
Mark Lee Cinematographer
Michael Galasso Composer (Music Score)
Shigeru Umebayashi Composer (Music Score)
Wong Kar-Wai Director
William Chang Editor
William Chang Production Designer
Wong Kar-Wai Screenwriter
Year: 2000
Runtime: 97
Country: Hong Kong
MPAA Rating: PG
for thematic elements and brief language
Category: Feature

Genre
Romance

Produced by
Block 2 Pictures
Jet Tone Films
Paradis Films

Release
February 02, 2001 (USA - Limited)
by USA Films

Awards
2000 - Best Foreign Film - French Academy of Cinema
2000 - Best Foreign Film - Independent Spirit Award
2000 - Best Foreign Language Film - British Academy Awards
2000 - Best Non-European Film - Screen International Award - European Film Academy
2000 - Best Picture - Hong Kong Film Awards
2001 - Best Foreign Film - New York Film Critics Circle
2001 - Best Foreign Language Film - Broadcast Film Critics Association
2001 - Best Foreign Language Film - L.A. Film Critics Association
2001 - Best Foreign Language Film - National Society of Film Critics