Film Analysis "In the Mood for Love ". Visual & Performing Arts

Film Analysis “In the Mood for Love”
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Film Analysis “In the Mood for Love”
Introduction
The film, In the Mood for Love, by Wong Kar Wai released in 2000 highlights the director’s characteristic unorthodox techniques in film production. The movie or film stars Tony Leung Chiu Wai and Maggie Cheung as the main characters playing Chow Mo-Wan and Su Li-Zhen respectively. The lead characters find themselves entangled in a romantic or love bubble that flies against the social and cultural tides dictating the development and conduct of such entanglements. Provided herein is thus a comprehensive analysis of the Wong Kar Wai’s utilization of the elements of production and an evaluation of their efficacy in delivering the main theme of the narrative.
Form and Content
As mentioned in the introduction, In the Mood for Love by Wong Kar Wai is a romantic film produced in the year 2000 involving Chow Mo-Wan and Su Li-Zhen as the main characters in a heartbreaking romantic twist for both the lead casts and the audience. The film branches off from the conventional happily-ever-after ending in most films, where the protagonists end up consummating their relationships through marriage or celebrating their victory over the obstacles faced in their quest for sharing their feelings for one another. Su Li-Zhen or Mrs. Chan, a secretary with a shipping company and Chow Mo-Wan meet during an exchange with their prospective landlord as they are both in search of a new place to live with their spouses in Hong Kong CITATION Won00 \l 1033 (Wai, 2000). The two main characters meet in an exchange with the landlord in an apartment’s hallway but end up renting rooms from neighboring apartments. Su Li-Zhen gets a room from Mrs. Suen’s apartment while Chow and his wife get a room from the neighboring apartment owned by the Koos’ family CITATION Won00 \l 1033 (Wai, 2000). The two lead characters move into the neighborhood with their spouses who also have different occupations, which makes them spend a lot of time from home. The apartment is characteristic of the city’s congestion making it possible or rather inevitable for Chow and Su Li-Zhen to occasionally meet while going on with their daily lives. Both Chow and Su Li-Zhen frequent the local center for most of their dinner needs and occasionally meet at the noodle shop. It is not long before they each begin to suspect that their spouses are having extra-marital affairs as Chow’s wife was cheating on him with Su Li-Zhen’s husband, Mr. Chan. Chow gathers courage and invites Su Li-Zhen to dinner where they delve into their private lives by sharing and confirming the suspicions they have over their spouses CITATION Won00 \l 1033 (Wai, 2000). The dinner breaks the unspoken romantic spark existing between the two as they get to know more about each other while also enjoy spending time together. Both are attracted to each other but hold on to their deeper feeling as they limit their show of affection to attending to each other’s favors. Su Li-Zhen, for instance, willingly accepts to help Chow with his Asian martial arts writing project in a clandestine manner to avoid the prying eyes of their neighbors and uphold their integrity as married individuals. Chow rents a room in a hotel where they meet with Su Li-Zhen to work on the writing project while still denying the growing intimacy and affection between them CITATION Won00 \l 1033 (Wai, 2000). As events unfold Chow opens up to Su and confesses his love to which he is prepared for a negative response with a move to Singapore through a job posting. A hesitant Su to Chow’s suggestion to elope with him to Singapore makes her miss the chance to see him off and thus making elusive the consummation of their romantic relationship as they cannot even gesture their affections to each other. In essence, Chow and Su Li-Zhen find themselves in the mood for love as they both suffer the infidelity of their spouses but fail to consummate their romance due to external factors such as cultural perspectives on such relations.
The director makes use of unique production techniques to develop the narrative of the elusive love existing between the two characters. The film is set in the 1960’s Hong Kong and the director captures the hustle and bustle of the city with the film’s depiction of the congestion within the city apartments CITATION Gon20 \l 1033 (Gonzalez, 2020). Wong makes use of a simple plot whose flow portrays the growth of Su and Chow’s relationship who come across as attractive individuals whose personal lives and circumstances have set them in the mood for love. Though they are in the mood for love, theirs is a longing that remains unfulfilled and which Wong presents as a relationship thread that ends in heartbreak for the two main characters. Wong develops the theme of the elusive romanticism between the two main characters through highly effective placement of the stairway used by both Li-Zhen and Chow on their way up or down their respective apartments. He tactfully creates a mutual romantic attraction between the two through their occasional meetings along the narrow corridor of the stairway, which makes the audience to relate to a creeping sexual tension. However, the director maintains or rather emphasizes on the elusiveness of their mutual romantic and sexual attraction by choosing not to frame in the same shot during their encounters on the stairway and even when they start seeing each other on dinner dates CITATION Gon20 \l 1033 (Gonzalez, 2020). The film also makes use of broad colorful splashes to create erotic environments to emphasize the ripeness of the mood for a person with intentions to love to act on their feelings. The film’s soundtrack by Michael Galasso further enhances the romantic tension existing between Chow and Su whenever they are in the same company CITATION Gon20 \l 1033 (Gonzalez, 2020). The film’s simple plot, setting, editing, and other cinematographic elements, such as the sound and editing, functions to create a romantic tone and mood for love that lacks in the actualization or consummation of the feelings generated.
Cinematography
Wong Kar Wai captures the elusive romantic relationship between Chow and Su in the film, In the Mood for Love, through unique cinematography techniques carried out by the talented Christopher Doyle and Mark Lee Ping Bin. The framing of the two main characters and the positioning of the cameras in shooting the movie plays a significant role in developing or rather enhancing the elusiveness of the romantic attraction between Chow and Su Li-Zhen. The director creates earnestness among the viewers in following the flow of events in the subsequent interactions of the lead acts upon the creation of the sexual tension during their early encounters on the stairway. The first half of the film, however, functions to create and maintain the sexual or romantic tension between the Li-Zhen and Chow through selective framing CITATION Gon20 \l 1033 (Gonzalez, 2020). The fact that the director avoids framing them in the same shot whenever they are having conversations works to emphasize on their denial of the mutual attraction existing between the two CITATION Won00 \l 1033 (Wai, 2000). It reflects the emotional disconnect between the secret lovers. The viewers are allowed to dig into the main character’s thoughts through their expressive faces as there is no other way of knowing what they are feeling towards each other. The use of obstructed view shots is common in most scenes of the movie indicating that the camera is positioned behind an object that prevents a clear view of the main characters. The secrecy of the relation between Chow and Su is best captured in such scenes as it also enhances or rather creates a sense of voyeurism among the audience. In one of the scenes, Chow and Su Li-Zhen are seen hugging through what appears to bars of a huge window that are reflected on the wall next to them. It is a show of their intimate feelings to each other that is so secretive that even the audience has to peek through the frames to confirm the existence of a romantic attraction between the two. The framing further impresses on the emotional distance between the two lovers and highlights the cultural challenges against the desire to declare their love. The directors of cinematography are also careful not to reveal the respective spouses of Chow and Su and instead allowing only their voices to be heard in the rare occasions that each of them talk to their partners CITATION Gon20 \l 1033 (Gonzalez, 2020). The fact that the film avoids capturing the spouses in the same frame also insists on the secrecy and unorthodox nature of the relation between Chow and Su as well as their spouses’ infidelity in the Chinese culture.
The film also makes use of eye-level tracking shots that in most cases capture the backsides of the main characters. The tracking camera shots allow the viewers to pry into the emotional states of both Chow and Su, which intimates on the voyeurism created by the director on the two main characters. A scenic view of Su Li-Zhen in a red dress, black shoes, and carrying a black handbag, while walking away in the corridors of the hotel makes for one of the eye-level tracking shots. The scene allows the viewers to follow the development of the relationship albeit at a distance that signifies the elusiveness of the romantic attraction and desires existing between Chow and Su Li-Zhen. The filmmaker also makes use of low key lighting to emphasize on the clandestine nature of the ...