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In The Mood For Love: The Criterion Collection
[Blu-ray]
Blu-ray A - America - Criterion Collection Review written by and copyright: Pat Pilon & Noor Razzak (17th November 2012). |
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The Film
 This movie is highly symbolic and quite subtle. That’s probably something most people don’t want to hear but believe me when I say that it’s worth watching. As you may know, Wong Kar-Wai likes to suggest a few different things with his movies. This here is a very good example - remember "Random Hearts"? Probably not, but this movie has two people meeting, a man and a woman. Their respective spouses are cheating on them with the other’s spouse. That’s where the similarities between the two movies end, though. This one is clearly done to show director Wong Kar-Wai’s messages. Chow Mo-wan (Tony Leung) and Su Li-zhen Chan (Maggie Cheung) move in to neighbouring apartments. Their spouses are very infrequently home, so the two meet to act out fantasies. Chow pretends to be Su's husband and vice versa- well, Su pretends to be his wife, not husband. Later, they act out problems with their ‘real’ relationships. Sometimes you can’t figure out if they’re acting or being sincere. Nobody can really say what they want to, all they do is act all the time. Everything right down to the last detail means something, everything from the dialogue, the camera positions, the editing, right down to the cigarette smoke has something to say. The mirrors show not what’s really there, but the way people see each other, or other people. There are a few great shots where the camera moves behind both actors’ backs but all you see are the reflections in the mirrors. The terrific acting changes in subtle ways when these shots happen. Nobody can see us as we are, only as a reflection. Two-shots are used for real effect and jump cuts actually carry meaning. The cinematography by Christopher Doyle and Mark Lee has to be seen to be believed. This is Mr. Doyle’s best work, even beating out "Hero" (2002) and "Chungking Express" (1994). Although, I have to admit that Mr. Doyle only shot a third of the movie and left soon after shooting began, so Mr. Lee replaced him. The way the shadows create dark eyes, or the subtle way the light makes the actor's faces glow is stunning. The score by Michael Galasso is just sublime. The lover's theme entitled "Yumeji's Theme", borrowed the Seijun Suzuki movie "Yumeji" (1991), comes often, but never gets annoying. It’s filled with longing and passion. The art direction, costumes and sets convey similar feelings. Wong Kar-Wai set the film in 1960's Hong Kong, so the colours are vibrant and bright. Mr. Wong had everything he wanted and he put everything in this movie. The movie competed with "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" (2000) at the Hong Kong Film Awards, but still managed to snag 5 awards. This is Wong Kar-Wai’s most decorated movie, having won many, many awards from so many places around the world.
Video
The Criterion Collection's 1.66:1 high definition transfer is presented in 1080p 24/fps and mastered using AVC MPEG-4 compression accurately represents the filmmakers vision, lush, beautiful and extremely moody. Crafted to impeccable standards the high definition looks better than any previous home video release including Criterion's own DVD released back in 2002 however I found that the overall image was plagued with noise most especially during night scenes and dimly lit scenes - of which there are many. This isn't exactly a bad thing, the film was shot on film and thus this image represents that without compromising the integrity of the stock. I'm grateful that Criterion doesn't tamper with films by cleaning them up with DNR. Definition does suffer in these scenes, detail isn't as exacting as they are in close-ups, which appear excellent. Colors are fantastic, lush reds and yellows, blues are striking, skin tones look beautiful and natural. The image is clean and free from specks and dirt, and overall the image's problem, if you can call it that, (noise/heavy grain) is mostly a product of the film stock the filmmaker's used, so you can't really blame anyone for presenting it that way on disc, be glad that it wasn't tampered with and for that you can always trust Criterion for delivering an image transfer that's true, honest and represents the vision of the filmmaker - presenting it the way it was intended.
Audio
A single Cantonese DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 surround track is included here in 48kHz/24-bit. The previous Criterion DVD (released 11 years ago) presented the film with a 5.0 surround track, and while it was good, it doesn't hold a candle to this DTS-HD audio upgrade presented on the Blu-ray. The sound space feels much broader in scope, creating a more complex and intricate environment. Subtly mixing the flawless dialogue with the film's beautiful score, ambient surrounds such as wind and rain etc., and directional sounds help to create an immersive audio experience. Optional subtitles are featured in English only.
Extras
The Criterion Collection has released this film on Blu-ray with a spectacular collection of supplements (however a few extras have been dropped for whatever reason), the features on this disc include a documentary, deleted scenes, a short film, two interviews, a press conference, two new video essays, a series of TV spots and trailers plus a liner notes booklet. Below is a closer look at these supplements. "@ In the Mood for Love" (1080i) documentary about the making of the film is first up, featuring exclusive deleted scenes. It's roughly 51 minutes long, and is extremely interesting. First of all, throughout this thing, you get footage that was shot but not used. Now, Mr. Wong’s style is to shoot massive amounts of footage, completely change his mind, throw out said footage and start over again. So in here the characters and situations are completely different than in the movie. The calmness, or rather, as Mr. Wong describes it, the maturity, that now resides in the movie is, to put it simply, absent. Mr. Leung seems the play the same character he would later play in "A Chinese Odyssey 2002". Mr. Leung and Mrs. Cheung and Mr. Wong are interviewed and give out their impressions of their characters. They talk about how the characters and movie evolved with Mr. Wong’s whims. You also get some small sound bites from the supporting characters. Mr. Wong talks about the feelings he wanted to evoke with the movie. There’s no real structure to this thing. It seems to go through everything rather randomly. You get no sense of time in here. The most interesting thing, for me, to see is how the movie evolved. You look at the footage shot early in production and the final films, and both are completely different. Great piece, though, and very nice to watch. We have a series of four deleted scenes (1080i), and are arranged in an artsy manner. The scenes included are "Room 246" runs for 7 minutes 56 seconds, "Postcards" runs for 8 minutes 19 seconds, "The Seventies" runs for 8 minutes 53 seconds and "A Last Encounter" runs for 7 minutes 46 seconds. There’s no real indication of where any of them would go except for "Room 246". Even though there are only four scenes, they add up to 32 minutes and 14 seconds! In all fairness, about 10 of those are in the movie or altered in reshoots. The most interesting thing about the scenes are not the scenes themselves, but now Mr. Wong changed the movie by using bits of those scenes, voiceovers and reshoots to change the movie to his liking. As the movie stands now, none of the scenes would be good. They’re rather against character and seem quite out of place. Additionally you can hear Wong Kar-Wai’s commentary on these scenes if you wish. He doesn’t really give away any of his secrets, but he talks about locations and costumes and stories from the set, which is all very interesting. After a 10-hour working day, Mr. Leung ate a lot of durians, shooting a scene at around 5am. The scene was cut out. Another thing is that the last scene doesn’t have any commentary and in the 25 minutes of scenes with commentary, Mr. Wong talks for maybe 10. "Hua Yang de Nian Hua" (1080i) short film runs 4 minutes 17 seconds by Wong Kar-Wai, features a song sung by Tony Leung and some girl, whom I assume is Faye Wong? You know, I never get used to hearing Tony Leung sing. He’s an actor, and hearing him sing is just plain strange, especially considering he’s a much better actor than singer. This is, nonetheless, a good song. It has the longing and languorous strings the movie score has. It really has a nice style, as well. Interviews with Wong Kar-Wai, There are two interviews in this section. The first is "Ciment/Niogret Interview". This is a lot more to "In the Mood for Love" and here we learn a little about the director's childhood and how it applies to the movie. He talks about the movie and also shooting "2046" (2004) at the same time. He talks about the plot of "In the Mood for Love" and how it evolved. He also talks about the context of the movie in Hong Kong’s history. He also talks about the actors and the music, and other such things related to the movie. This is quite interesting, but for some reason I like the second better. This interview is 22 minutes and 12 seconds long. The second is "Cinema Lesson" is about 15 minute 47 seconds. Mr. Wong talks about scriptwriting: he usually has 3 short stories in mind and shoots them all, but sometimes one or two are forgotten. Interesting way of making a movie. He also talks about working in Hollywood (he did the BMW film, "The Follow" (2007)), and talks about his film education. He just watched a lot of movies. Very nice and informative interview. These two interviews, by the way, are in English, and have Mr. Wong wearing his dark glasses, like always. I’m not sure he has eyes, actually: I’ve never seen him without sunglasses. Toronto International Film Festival press conference, this is a great piece, Tony Leung and Maggie Cheung are there to answer questions about the movie. This is in English. It’s is kind of funny at times because the reporters keep asking about what Mr. Wong wanted to do with some scenes, like putting in the newsreel at the end. The actors try their best do answer these types of questions, but who really knows if it’s the truth or not? Wong Kar-Wai’s mind is a strange and vague place, so you never really know what’s going on. Also, the sound is sometimes not too good for these conferences, so sometimes the reporters’ questions aren’t too clear. In any case, they have enough time to talk about just about everything to do with the movie. In various questions, they talk about the pre-production, the production and Cannes. They talk a lot about their characters and their contributions to their characters. Mrs. Cheung talks more than Mr. Leung, but she seems more outgoing than he does, so it’s understandable. This is great, and I could have easily heard these two for another hour. As it stands, this is about 43 minutes 30 seconds, and it’s great. “On In the Mood for Love” (1080p) is a newly produced video essay by Asian film expert Tony Rayns that runs for 24 minutes, in this clip the expert discusses the filmmaler's style and themes and how they relate to his work. "The Soundtrack" (1080p) is another newly produced video interview also featuring Asian film expert Tony Rayns that runs for 9 minutes. The beautiful score of the film is explored in greater depth in this clip. A collections of TV spots and theatrical trailers (1080i) are included: - Hong Kong TV spot runs for 1 minute 33 seconds. - Hong Kong theatrical trailer runs for 4 minutes. - U.S. TV spot runs for 32 seconds. - U.S. theatrical trailer runs for 1 minute 35 seconds. - French TV spot runs for 30 seconds. - French theatrical trailer runs for 1 minute 58 seconds. The Hong Kong TV spot has scenes not in the movie. What’s strange is that none of these especially want to make me see the movie, with the possible exception of the French theatrical trailer, because it has that music I like so much. I’m glad I saw the movie, though. Packaged in the case is a 45-page liner notes booklet featuring: - A cast and crew list - Color stills from the movie - "Haunted Heart" essay by author Steve Erickson - “Intersection” short story by Liu Yi-Chang Omitted from the Blu-ray are some extras that were found on the 2002 Criterion DVD release, these extras are the isolated music & effects track, an interactive essay on the music (which has been replaced with the video interview by Tony Rayns), the "Electronic Press Kit" feature, another essay by film scholar Gina Marchetti which includes trailers for other films by the filmmaker, promotional artwork concepts gallery, photo gallery, and biographies of the cast & crew. Not certain why these extras were dropped, perhaps a reason to keep the DVD if you decide to upgrade to the Blu-ray.
Packaging
Packaged in a usual clear Criterion Blu-ray case.
Overall
The first time I saw this movie was in a double-bill with "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon". The second time I saw this movie I was sitting in my living room some years later, watching it to write this review. I will undoubtedly see it many more times, as it’s very layered, and more viewings bring out more to see. The music alone is enough to make anyone see it. It’s better than his previous movies. It’s subtler and more mature. Gone are the voiceovers and step photography (mostly, anyway), and the overt symbolism of the past. This is one hell of a movie and all I can say is: wow. The film and it's extras are reviewed by Pat Pilon, the A/V was reviewed by Noor Razzak.
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