1-World Festival of Foreign Films
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"In the Mood for Love"
2000
Directed by Wong Kar-wai

"...one of the year's most sensuous films" (Michael Wilmington, Chicago Tribune). Wong Kar-wai's somber tale of unrequited love takes place mainly in Hong Kong of the '60s, where two married neighbors (Tony Leung Chiu-Wai and Maggie Cheung) discover that their spouses have been having an affair. They find they are drawn together, not so much out of shared betrayal as the shared longing for the authentic love they could not find in their marriages. But their sharp awareness of society's view of them--and perhaps their own fears of future heartache--keep them apart. While the color schemes are less dazzling than in some of the director's earlier films, this is a visually distinctive work with two fine performances and a muted yet resonant emotional tone. Cantonese with English subtitles. 98 minutes.