100 Films, 100 Countries: In the Mood for Love
In the Mood for Love (China, 2000)
The universal themes explored are: loneliness, missed opportunities, betrayal.
In the Mood for Love is a beautiful, melancholy film about love and loneliness in 1960s Hong Kong. The story centers around Mr. Chow and Mrs. Chen who are neighbors that discover their spouses are unfaithful.
The film doesn't follow the usual troupes of a love story, which is refreshing. It's a film of desperation. This film haunted me for days. It made my heart ache (in a good way) and I just wanted to watch it again as soon as it ended. It reminds me of classics like Casablanca. I found out after watching that it was directed by Wong Kar-Wai , who directed another one of my favorite films, Chungking Express. On both films, he also worked with Christopher Doyle as his cinematographer. These collaborators work so well together. In the Mood for Love is a feast for your eyes. The film is filled with intense colors and billowing cigarette smoke. Maggie Cheung's (Mrs. Chan) costumes are all the most exquisite cheong-san dresses. They are so beautiful they make me long for the past when everyone dressed up every day.
Spoiler-ish-
The first caption reads "It is a restless moment. She has kept her head lowered, to give him a chance to come closer. But he could not, she turns and walks away." It's clear from the start this is not a conventional, love story. It is something far more interesting and compelling.
If you want to get an understanding of the film before you even watch it look up Yumeji's theme on YouTube. It is a moody waltz with a violin solo. It is the backbone of this film and will get you in the mood for In the Mood for Love.
All images sourced from IMDb. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0118694/?ref_=nv_sr_1
Hi there!
Nice post. I just upvoted you
If you like me please make sure to upvote my posts too
Following would be great help
Thanks
Congratulations @claimedhumanity! You have completed some achievement on Steemit and have been rewarded with new badge(s) :
Click on any badge to view your own Board of Honor on SteemitBoard.
For more information about SteemitBoard, click here
If you no longer want to receive notifications, reply to this comment with the word
STOPOne of my favorite (and most romantic) movies! Awesome! I can still hear the music that plays throughout the movie! Funny how one never tires of it, in fact longs for it to play again!
Do you have the whole list already figured out? I could maybe recommend movies from Russia, since I'm half Russian.
@alexander.alexis You describe the feeling so well of how one feels about that film and song. One of the videos on YouTube of the song loops probably a dozen times. I'm totally okay with hearing it on repeat.
As for your second question, I haven't figured it out for all the countries since some countries have so many choices. I'm definitely open to recommendations. Thanks.
Well these don't satisfy your criterion that the movie must've been made after you were born, but here:
The Cranes Are Flying (1957)
Ivan's Childhood (1962)
After the collapse of the Soviet Union, Russians don't make good movies anymore. Don't know why that is. Something about oppression sparks creativity?! The only recent Russian movie I saw that I enjoyed is Leviathan (2014), but I doubt it will be appreciated as much by someone who doesn't speak Russian and isn't intimately and personally aware of the reality of corruption in Russia.
I'll check out those two films any way even if they don't fit my criteria. I saw Leviathan, I saw the merit in it, but didn't totally get it, so I'm glad to hear it simply fell on my deaf American ears, lol.
Well for example one of its merits was how each and every character spoke in a unique voice. I've never seen anything like that, even in movies that are touted as having that feature. It's like each character was written by a different scriptwriter. Everyone had their own vocabulary, and each was faithful to how that person would talk in real life (the factory worker, the mother, the priest, etc.) Now how do you convey that with subtitles? I was watching it with 2 Russians (my mom and my ex) and each was commenting on how accurately the movie represents Russia. (Bear in mind, though, that that was something like 'redneck Russia', let's say. Like in the U.S., there's a world of difference between cities like Moscow and the 'boondocks'. But still the corruption and morals in the movie were representative of the whole.)
My boyfriend reminded me that the movie The Return (2003) is directed by the same director as Leviathan, Andrey Zvyagintsev. I don't know if you've seen it. I "liked" it as in it depressed me for days.
I've probably seen it, but then I can't really recollect it, so maybe I didn't! Should re-watch it.
Yeah Zvyagintsev doesn't exactly make feel-good movies!
Congratulations @claimedhumanity! You have completed some achievement on Steemit and have been rewarded with new badge(s) :
Click on any badge to view your own Board of Honor on SteemitBoard.
For more information about SteemitBoard, click here
If you no longer want to receive notifications, reply to this comment with the word
STOP