In the Mood for Love (2000)

*SPOILER FREE

What do you do when you have a secret that you can't tell to anyone? Which is worse, going on doing something knowing it will crush your pride, a certain set of values and morals that you lived by your whole life, and possibly crush someone else's feelings and break their heart, or keeping it inside as a secret and letting it slowly kill you from the inside out? And can love really be platonic without physical affection and sexual intimacy?

These are some questions that you might ask yourself after watching this 21st century romantic drama masterpiece. The movie itself doesn't ask questions, nor does it give answers, it's an arthouse work that respects the viewer's intelligence and imagination to make their own conclusions.

It follows Chow (he) and Su (she), two new neighbors in 1962 Hong Kong, who slowly come to a realization that their spouses are having a secret affair while they themselves grow closer and slowly develop feelings for each other but...!?!

The melancholic vibe it establishes from the very beginning until the very end, and the nostalgia it leaves you with. The frames within frames in each still are masterfully shot, the minimal verbal dialog and the symbolism, the set and fashion design, the usage of color and the slow motion sequences with the music design are nothing short of poetic!

I am so intrigued to speak about more sophisticated cinematic aspects of this film such as composition, blocking and tracking, mise-en-scène, aspect ratio, et cetera, to do this classic justice. It's a work of art and perfection from whichever side you look at it. Shot and released in the first year of this century, and I'm certainly sure it will reserve a nice seat as one of the most notable works of the century by the end of it.

Available to watch, rent/buy on The Criterion Collection and on MUBI

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