Good concept, poorly executed.

everything you have heard about this movie is true.

Pretty good movie overall. First half was nothing special but it got better as it went along.

Through painfully honest and emotional moments, the movie becomes irresistibly relatable

Two neighbors, a woman and a man, form a strong bond after both suspect extramarital activities of their spouses. However, they agree to keep their bond platonic so as not to commit similar wrongs. In the mood for love is another romantic films that fails on being actually romantic, it was actually pretty boring except charming as i hoped it was going to be at least. The chemistry between the 2 leads was very bad and choppy and the overall storyline quite the snooze fest and just another bad film on the Top 250 movies of all time sad but true. (0/10)

I am surprised by all of the reviews, they talk about the artistic way things were portrayed through cimetography through wardrobe etc. All great points and this is an artistic masterpiece for sure, however the real beauty I believe is in the message and how it is portrayed through the art in this film. I won't spoil it for others but I will try and stead you in the right direction. Look at what great pains the film goes through to help you see that this movie is about helping us all understand we are all vulnerable and capable of any of the errors or flaws we see in others. A great movie with a great message and what a beautiful way of showing it as well!

I have put off writing this review for so long but I felt that I could not go on longer without paying this movie tribute. This is also my first review on this site. I didn't even intend to write it in the first place, because until now, I still don't believe my words will do justice to the sheer beauty of this movie.The first thing that catch your eyes when watching the movie is probably Mrs. Chan's "cheongsam". This also seems to be all women's sole costume choice throughout the entire movie. The "cheongsams" are elegantly designed, highly complementing of Maggie Cheung's lithe body, for it accentuates every curve and edge of the body. Mrs. Chan, like her dresses, is always immaculate, in her hair, her graceful gait. All of this deliberately adds to the sensuality of the movie, without being crude. Moreover, the "cheongsams" also indicate time pass by, every time a new one appears on-screen, we know it's a new day.The next thing that is highly prevalent and which I greatly revelled in is the use of window shots. The brilliant use of this techniques creates a sense of observation to viewers. It felt to me that I was watching something secretive yet enticing in its own way, and the general mood this technique actuates is simply beautiful.There are a lot more, my words do not do any justice to this movie, the use of colours, slow shots, silhouettes, the soundtrack (Oh how I love the soundtrack)... The absolutely breath-taking corridor sequence, the brilliantly filmed conversation in the restaurant (I had never witnessed a more consummate handling of a scene). This movie is incredibly, heart-throbbingly sensual, yet, there was never a need for an explicit act of sexuality.As I once said on Quora, while I was watching this movie, there was a lump in my throat, a swell of almost overwhelming emotions and sentimentality in my body that felt like on the brink of bursting out, yet it did not, and for the first time in my life I felt frustrated and defeated that I don't have the command of as intricate and sophisticated wording as writers like Vladimir Nobokov, so my words simply will not do In The Mood For Love any justice.

Set in early 1960s Hong Kong, Wong Kai-wai's 2000 film IN THE MOOD FOR LOVE chronicles a brief affair, and one that is poignantly ambiguous.As the film opens, we see two married couples move into rented rooms in the house of an elderly matriarch (living space is at a premium in Hong Kong, and the claustrophobic sets reflect the reality). Two of these new neighbours strike up a friendship because they feel similarly neglected by their spouses. The husband of Mrs. Chan (Maggie Cheung), a traveling businessman, is often away for weeks at a time and probably seeing another woman. Meanwhile, newspaper reporter Mr. Chow (Tony Leung) quietly suffers his wife's betrayal as she stays out night after night with some other man.Chan and Chow begin spending time together, wondering if their actions mirror those of their unfaithful spouses: "Is this how it started?" Their exact relationship remains ambiguous, as Chan suggests that any physical intimacy would be stooping to the level of their spouses. Even if their friendship is platonic, they struggle to keep it hidden from the conservative society of the time, adding considerable suspense to the film.Tales of adultery are pretty old hat in art cinema, but the storytelling here is fresh and IN THE MOOD FOR LOVE proved a moving experience for this reviewer and his wife. Cheung and Leung play their parts with such painfully sad faces, as if the betrayal of a husband or wife is a natural disaster that can only be born quietly with dignity, never undone. It's not unbearably oppressive, however, and a little bit of comic relief is provided by Mr. Chow's coworker Ah Ping, played by Ping Lam Siu. Strikingly, Ping Lam Siu wasn't a professional actor at all, but rather a prop man, but he's a real character and I'm glad Wong Kar-Wai brought him in front of the camera.Besides the memorable acting, another strong point of this film is its exploitation of the medium. The colorful sets with 1960s period detail and Ms. Chan's changing succession of cheongsam dresses are absolutely gorgeous. Furthermore, the viewer is dazzled by cinematic slight of hand such as a rapid succession of near-identical shots in the same location, representing in an instant how these characters had been meeting over weeks or months. Shots from under a bed or behind a curtain make the audience feel like a voyeur; we are no longer innocent spectators but almost implicated in the protagonists' affair that they are desperate to keep secret. The husband of Mr. Chan is never directly shown, while the face of Mr. Chow's wife is always turned away from the camera, an effect that strengthens the viewer's identification with these protagonists and leads us to sympathize with their feelings of neglect.Wong Kai-Wai shot something like 30 times the amount of footage that ultimately made it into the finished film, and some of this cut footage can be seen on various home media releases. Knowing how the film was made will definitely elevate film editing in your eyes to the same level as the initial writing of any screenplay -- which Wong Kar-Wai doesn't even do, working intuitively without a script. Wong Kai-Wai filmed a number of directions for the story to go in (like a final meeting between the lovers, scenes of their spouses, etc.), only to cut them out, and the end result is so much stronger for it. The 98 minutes that was finally shown to the world is utterly convincing with not a minute wasted and not a single element extraneous. It is as if the director was a sculptor revealing a masterpiece out of a huge block of marble.