February 10, 2021: In The Mood For Love (2000) (Part 1)
Hey, Hong Kong!
How’ve you been? I mean, not recently, because the answer to that is...NOT GREAT, it’s not great, I know, you guys still need some support, geez. No, I meant since Action January on this blog! The good ol’ wuxia days! Remember Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon? You guys were involved in that! You do anything else fun that year?
Let’s see, you built a tunnel, your economy was amongst the best in Asia, became a bit more democratic...OH! This too!
This movie was a SMASH hit in Hong Kong and China, and is often considered as, and here we go...one of the GREATEST FILMS of all time! Worldwide! Hell of a bar to live up to! Will this be the romance movie that finally makes me cry this month, because I AIN’T SHED TEARS YET BABY. Let’s find out, shall we! SPOILERS AHEAD!!!
Recap
It is a restless moment in Hong Kong, 1962. Chan Su Li-zhen (Maggie Cheung) and Chow Mo-wan (Tony Leung) move into an apartment building in Hong Kong with their significant others. Their apartments are next door, and they move in on the same day. By the way, I’m gonna be referring to them as Mrs. Chan and Chow throughout the Recap and Review.
Also, I’ll probably bring this up later, but HOLY SHIT Mrs. Chan’s wardrobe and entire appearance is...FUCK, wow. it’s amazing. Her unique qipaos, alongside the straight-up attractiveness of Maggie Cheung, gives this film a memorable aesthetic BY ITSELF.
Anyway, she works as a secretary for a local company, while Chow works as a journalist. Some of his coworkers regularly speaks about being a ladies’ man, and makes various allusions to cheating. And, I can only assume now that our pair here will fall in love, despite their spouses. Good old fashioned romantic film infidelity, probably.
Speaking of the spouses, we haven’t actually seen either Mr. Chan or Mrs. Chow. Heard their faces, sure, but not seen them physically. In fact, in the case of Mrs. Chow, their appearances in front of their spouses are getting ever sparser. All the while, Mr. Chow and Mrs. Chan tend to pass by each other, in hallways, or near alleyways around them.
Time passes, almost effortlessly. Chow’s workmate, Ah Ping (Siu Ping Lam), freshly out of the hospital after some gambling and womanizing shenanigans, tells Chow that he saw his wife walking on the street, with a man. Meanwhile, they both work regular overtime shifts which leaves their spouses alone regularly. And it’s soon revealed that Mrs. Chow and Mr. Chan are in fact sleeping together, and each of them find out separately.
Which means that somebody cheated on Maggie Cheung in this movie. And all I have to say is...REALLY? YOU FUCKIN’ SERIOUS, MR. CHAN? Goddamn, that woman, pardon my parlance, is SMOKING HOT in this movie. And also, real talk, she seems legitimately nice.
And Tony Leung’s also a nice catch! What the hell, you guys? So, anyway, they...
Wait. Infidelity...is the actual point of this movie? Like, not just a thing that gets shoves to the side of the romantic coupling, but the potential REASON for the romantic coupling. Oh. OH. I AM IN, PEOPLE.
Eventually, enough time passes with them passing each other, and they give into their loneliness...a little bit. Over the pretense of being friends, Chow asks her to go out to lunch nearby. And over the course of the lunch, it’s revealed that Chow is wearing Mr. Chan’s tie, given to him from his wife. And by the same token, she is carrying his wife’s bag. And now...they know.
Time passes yet again, and the two begin to get even closer. And this may be the first time that them potentially cheating on their partners doesn’t bother me as much in these films. In fact, the two are also reluctant to do so, and as they grow closer, the begin to grow less reluctant.
Good time for me to mention that the editing here is...FASCINATING. The way that this film is set up is essentially as an extra-strength montage. And this film has, no joke, changed the way I think about film as a whole. Really. Let me explain.
You may have noticed that amongst all of these GIFS, there’s only been one repeated outfit on Mrs. Chan. The establishment of her wardrobe diversity happens at the very beginning of the film. We rarely see where wear the same outfit in a row. Until a scene in which they’re walking home together.
First, they walk up to the apartment together, and she’s wearing that outfit. Chow hits on her a bit, and she pulls away. And then, IMMEDIATELY AFTERWARDS, we cut to a scene that starts in the exact same way, with the same dress. But this time, she smiles. It’s a diffeernt reaction. And because we know how many outfits Mrs. Chan has, we know that this must be on a different day entirely.
Which is when I realized something: these outfits aren’t meant to show her fashion sense, they’re literally meant to show the passage of time. That way, the movie is constructed in a fashion that allowed us to see the build-up of their relationship fairly rapidly, while still allowing them to speak to each other. It’s literally montage on steroids. Holy shit.
FILM ANALYSIS BOIIIIIIIIIII!
As time continues to pass, and outfits continue to change, it all feels like a single conversation with great consequence, but one that you know has taken place over an undefined amount of time. This isn’t a whirlwind romance, but it FEELS like it is based on how the directing and editing are done.
GODDAMN HONG KONG AND CHINA HOW ARE YOU DOING THIS TO ME AGAIN
The unhappiness that the each feel in their marriage begins to seep through to the surface, as their spouses have absconded to Japan, still somehow thinking that they’re getting away with it. They are not. This shit would be obvious to anybody.
Chow is interested in writing a martial arts serialized story for the newspaper, and invites Mrs. Chan to help. This is likely just with the intent to get closer to her. And, indeed, they become much closer, including in their own apartment building. That seems to backfire when they’re stuck in the same room together as their landlady and neighbors play a rousing game of Mahjong.
That game takes place over an entire night, extending all the into the next night. Goddamn, that must’ve been a crazy-ass game of Mahjong. All the while, the two are cautious, as not to rouse their neighbors’ suspicions. However, as she leaves her shoes in his room, it may already be too late for that.
OK, good time for a break, since this is about midway through the film! See you in Part 2!
