Carbon Movie Reviews
Simply Magic
Beautiful and Profoundly SadIf you think it's too slow you're just skimming the surface of what's there.
And if the final scene doesn't make your heart ache, you're not the kind of person I want to know!
A delicate handThis package is one of few that takes advantage of what the DVD medium promised when it was launched. In the same small package all DVDs come in, the producers of In the Mood for Love somehow manage to include an array of the movie's trailers and posters from around the world, interviews with the major actors and director Wong Kar-wai, a second short film produced by Mr. Wong, an alternate ending to the story that had been under consideration, and director's commentary about all of it, along with a variety of subtitle options. There is also a special booklet that has the translated short story the film was based on, an essay about the film by a well-known Hong Kong critic and a very interesting (if unevenly translated) essay about the setting for the film by a local historian. All in all, a really amazing collection of information.
Of course, none of that would matter if the film it was all based on wasn't so darn good.
The story is wonderfully understated, told with deft simplicity and a delicate hand. On the surface, it's a relatively simple tale about two couples in neighboring Hong Kong apartments in 1962. Through circumstantial evidence, Mr. Chow and Mrs. Chan discover that their always-on-the-road spouses are having an affair -- a discovery that comes into focus as the stay-at-home half of each couple discovers the attraction each has for the other.
But the beauty of this film comes more from what is left out than what is put in. The dialogue is sparse, and the acting is elegantly austere. The faces of the unfaithful spouses aren't shown at all during the film, and the film's main conflict comes not when Mr. Chow and Mrs. Chan discover they are being cheated on but when they fail to react the way most would expect.
Add to that unusual camera angles that at times pull the viewer into the scene and a haunting soundtrack guaranteed to stay in mind hours after the end of the film. The final result is a film that feels like a blend between an old classic and a modern masterwork, a recipe for great entertainment.
Simply Magic
Beautiful and Profoundly SadIf you think it's too slow you're just skimming the surface of what's there.
And if the final scene doesn't make your heart ache, you're not the kind of person I want to know!
A delicate handThis package is one of few that takes advantage of what the DVD medium promised when it was launched. In the same small package all DVDs come in, the producers of In the Mood for Love somehow manage to include an array of the movie's trailers and posters from around the world, interviews with the major actors and director Wong Kar-wai, a second short film produced by Mr. Wong, an alternate ending to the story that had been under consideration, and director's commentary about all of it, along with a variety of subtitle options. There is also a special booklet that has the translated short story the film was based on, an essay about the film by a well-known Hong Kong critic and a very interesting (if unevenly translated) essay about the setting for the film by a local historian. All in all, a really amazing collection of information.
Of course, none of that would matter if the film it was all based on wasn't so darn good.
The story is wonderfully understated, told with deft simplicity and a delicate hand. On the surface, it's a relatively simple tale about two couples in neighboring Hong Kong apartments in 1962. Through circumstantial evidence, Mr. Chow and Mrs. Chan discover that their always-on-the-road spouses are having an affair -- a discovery that comes into focus as the stay-at-home half of each couple discovers the attraction each has for the other.
But the beauty of this film comes more from what is left out than what is put in. The dialogue is sparse, and the acting is elegantly austere. The faces of the unfaithful spouses aren't shown at all during the film, and the film's main conflict comes not when Mr. Chow and Mrs. Chan discover they are being cheated on but when they fail to react the way most would expect.
Add to that unusual camera angles that at times pull the viewer into the scene and a haunting soundtrack guaranteed to stay in mind hours after the end of the film. The final result is a film that feels like a blend between an old classic and a modern masterwork, a recipe for great entertainment.