In the Mood for Love (Hong Kong/France: Wong Kar-Wai, 2000)

Has there ever been a more beautiful couple in the history of cinema than Tony Leung and Maggie Cheung in Wong Kar-Wai’s smouldering love story In the Mood for Love? Not that they’re a couple, technically. It’s 1962. Chow (Tony Leung) and Li-zhen (Maggie Cheung) move in next door to each other in a cramped Hong Kong block of flats. His wife is having an affair – with her husband. The cheated-on pair become friends, but vow not to behave badly. Like Brief Encounter, the film aches with the understanding that impossible love makes for a more romantic movie. It’s gorgeously detailed, drenched in sensuality – a scene in which the two squeeze past each other in a narrow alleyway by night has a humid sexiness. 100 Best Films of the 21st Century

In the Mood for Love (Hong Kong/France: Wong Kar-Wai, 2000: 98 mins)

Biancrosso, Giorgio. "In the Mood for Love: Haunted Heart." The Current (October 2, 2012)

Flores, Steven. "The Auteurs: Wong Kar-Wai." Cinema Axis (January 5, 2014)

Koski, Genvieve, et al. "In the Mood for Love / Moonlight, Part 1." The Next Picture Show #51 (November 22, 2016) ["Inspired by one of the year’s biggest indie sensations, Barry Jenkins’ MOONLIGHT, we’re looking at another highly romanticized tale of unrequited love: Wong Kar-wai’s beautiful 2000 film IN THE MOOD FOR LOVE. In this half, we talk about how affecting LOVE’s central non-love-story is - and why - and consider how the film reflects Wong’s improvisational methods and his desire to create a dreamlike return to the Hong Kong of his childhood."]

---. "In the Mood for Love / Moonlight, Part 2." The Next Picture Show #52 (November 24, 2016) ["Our discussion of lyrical portraits of unrequited love turns its attention to Barry Jenkins’ MOONLIGHT, the look and feel of which—the final third in particular—recalls the bittersweet tone of Wong Kar-Wai’s IN THE MOOD FOR LOVE. We share our reactions to MOONLIGHT, and consider the two films’ shared qualities, including their use of unusual framing and the thematic importance placed on food."]

Marcantonio, Carla. "In the Mood for Love." Sense of Cinema #56 (2010)

Merrick, Amy. "Living In: In the Mood for Love." Design Sponge (March 2010)

Wright, Elizabeth. "Great Directors: Wong Kar-Wai." Senses of Cinema (May 2002)