Miscellaneous Movie Musings

[innerSpaceman]

Two films by Wong Kar Wai last nite:

Happy Together - 1997 movie about a dysfunctional Chinese gay couple stranded in Argentina. OMG, botched mess of bad editing, script, cinematography and concept. The fuctupness of the two guys and their on-again-off-again lives together and not was relentlessly distressing. But Tony Leung is a total cutie as the more sympathetic of the two lovers.

-and-

In the Mood for Love - beautiful but sad film about neighbors in 1962 Shanghai who find their respective spouses (his wife, her husband) are having an affair. They start spending a lot of time together, fall deeply in love, but refuse to carry on like the spouses they are so upset with ... and never fulfill the promise of their romance.

I found it astonishing that, in 2000, just 3 years later, the same director and cinematographer created this work of stunning beauty. Gorgeous cinammontography, assured editing, stylish directing, fantastic use of music. Evocative and moody, but not a downer until near the end when you realize the two lovesters will never be lovers. They are played by the yummy Tony Leung (a little older than he was in Happy Together, but still so handsome) and the unbelievably gorgeous Maggie Cheung.

It took me a while to remember where I'd seen them as a couple before ... and it was in Yimou Zhang's stunning 2002 film Hero (which I also hearily recommend if you haven't seen it).