Critic Rating
(read reviews)User Rating
Director
Wong Kar-wai
Cast
Tony Leung Chiu-Wai,
Maggie Cheung,
Rebecca Pan,
Kelly Lai Chen,
Siu Ping-Lam,
Mama Hung
Genre
Drama,
Romance
In 1962 Hong Kong, neighbors Chow and Su are both suspecting their spouses of adultery. With the partners often away, the pair find solace in each other's company. Though their attraction is evident, Chow and Su must keep the bond platonic so as not to commit their spouses' same wrongs.
This film blew me away the first time I watched it on a tiny laptop screen. It also blew me away remastered in the Criterion Collection (highly, highly recommend this!) The two songs that play throughout, Quizas sung by Nat King Cole and Yumeji's Theme, haunt my favorite memories. Definitely the best of the informal trilogy (Days of Being Wild and 2046)!
This film is incredibly moving not despite, but because the writing and performances are beautifully understated. But the costumes, and Mrs. Chan's dresses are as iconic as Grace Kelly's in Rear Window or Cecelia's green dress in Atonement.
This film is so beautiful—the iconic soundtrack, the costumes, the lighting, everything! A must watch if you want to feel nostalgic for the universal feeling of falling in love.
Philadelphia Inquirer by Steven Rea
A feast for the eyes and succor for the soul.
The New York Times by A.O. Scott
Probably the most breathtakingly gorgeous film of the year, dizzy with a nose-against-the-glass romantic spirit that has been missing from the cinema forever.
Dallas Observer by Andy Klein
Wong weaves a spell that no other director could create.
New York Post by Jonathan Foreman
Rapturously elegant and deeply sexy in a deliciously restrained way. One of the most romantic movies I have ever seen, right up there with "Brief Encounter"and "Casablanca."
Wall Street Journal by Joe Morgenstern
Excites us with words not spoken, passions not played out. A mood story more than a love story, it's all about sustaining a state of exquisite melancholy in the face of desire.
Seattle Post-Intelligencer by Sean Axmaker
There may be no more sensual director in the world today than Hong Kong's Wong Kar-Wai.
Washington Post by Desson Thomson
The sexiest movie of the year.
Slant Magazine by Ed Gonzalez
In the Mood For Love is ravishing beyond mortal words.
Salon by Stephanie Zacharek
Smolders with more reserved passion than "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon."
Time by Richard Corliss
This enthralling, enigmatic, romantic drama from Asia's most influential auteur (Chungking Express) is an essay in appetite and inhibition.
Rolling Stone by Peter Travers
The film is alive with delicacy and feeling...It's a beauty.
Entertainment Weekly by Lisa Schwarzbaum
Although In the Mood for Love isn't in the mood for action, it dazzles with everything but.
San Francisco Chronicle by Edward Guthmann
Wong denies us the satisfaction of resolution, but in sharing his mastery of cinema, and his gift for conveying mood, desire and vivid emotions, he's more than generous.
Chicago Tribune by Michael Wilmington
Shimmers and glows. But it also stings a little -- like the lovely flame that dies and the smoke that, in yet another Cole song, gets in your eyes.
USA Today by Mike Clark
A stylistically fastidious, exasperatingly affected package that will put most people in the mood for slumber.
New York Magazine (Vulture) by Peter Rainer
In the Mood for Love has novelty value, I suppose, and plenty of pretty camera moves, but it's not really a movie you can warm to.
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