Country: Hong Kong, China
Year: 2000
Duration: 98'
Hong Kong, 1962. Mr. Chow, the editor-in-chief of a newspaper, and Mrs. Chan, a secretary at a travel agency, move into two adjacent apartments with their respective spouses. The two begin to spend their free time together and soon discover that their respective spouses, who are often away on business, are lovers. Since they want to understand the reasons for this infidelity, Chow and Chan begin to go out together. Twenty years after it was released, the masterpiece by Wong Kar Wai is back, restored by L'immagine ritrovata and Criterion, under the director's personal supervision.
Biography
film director
Wong Kar Wai
(Shanghai, China, 1958) graduated in graphic design in Hong Kong in 1980, and began working for Hong Kong Television Broadcasts Ltd as a production assistant and screenwriter, particularly for the soap opera Don’t Look Now. He made his first feature film, As Tears Go By, in 1988, followed by Days of Being Wild (1991), Ashes of Time (1994) and, particularly, Hong Kong Express (1994), which caught the attention of the critics who named him one of Hong Kong’s best directors. In 1997 he won the award for Best Director at Cannes for Happy Together; in 2000 he directed In the Mood for Love and then its sequel 2046 (2004). In 2004 he directed The Hand, an episode of the collective film Eros, followed by My Blueberry Nights, first Wong’s American film, and in 2013 The Grandmaster.
FILMOGRAFIA
Wong gok ka moon (As Tears Go By, 1988), A Fei jing juen (Days of Being Wild, 1991), Dung che sai duk (Ashes of Time, 1994), Chungking Express (Hong Kong Express, 1994), Duo luo tian shi (Angeli perduti, 1995), Chun gwong cha sit (Happy Together, 1997), Fa yeung nin wa (In the Mood for Love, 2000), 2046 (2004), Eros (ep. La Mano, 2004), My Blueberry Nights (Un bacio romantico, 2007), Ashes of Time Redux (2008), Yi dai zong shi (The Grandmaster, 2013).
Declaration
film director
“In the Mood for Love isn't so much a love story as a story about the conditions under which a sentimental relationship can develop. The protagonists gradually pass from their initial condition of victims, both betrayed by their respective spouses, to the opposite condition of lovers. Thus, it isn't only a movie about an extramarital affair, or about marriage, but about the conditions that a love story goes through from moment to moment, with the passing of time. I didn't show the couples' faces because I didn't want to pass moral judgment, otherwise it would have become a different movie. I was interested in exploring love's possibilities for existing and how every individual can have different positions with respect to love, that of the betrayed and that of the betrayer.”
Cast
& Credits
DIRECTOR, SCREENPLAY: Wong Kar Wai. STORY: Intersection by Liu Yichang. CINEMATOGRAPHY: Christopher Doyle, Mark Lee Ping Bing. FILM EDITING: William Chang Suk Ping. SET DESIGN: William Chang Suk Ping. MUSIC: Michael Galasso. CAST: Tony Leung Chiu Wai, Maggie Cheung Man Yuk. EXECUTIVE PRODUCER: Chan Ye Cheng. PRODUCER: Wong Kar Wai. ASSOCIATE PRODUCER: Jacky Pang Yee Wah.PRODUCTION: Jet Tone Films with Block 2 Distribution e Paradis Films.
CONTACTS: Tucker Film sabrina@cecudine.org
