In the Mood for Love (Huayang Nianhua): [Huayang Nianhua]

BFI Film Classics

by Tony Rayns

Set in Hong Kong, Singapore and Cambodia in the 1960s, Wong Kar Wai's In the Mood for Love (2000) is a film that luxuriates in the feeling of being in love – without ever turning into a love story. Its central characters, Mr Chow and Mrs Chan, are tenants in next-door apartments in Hong Kong who discover that their respective spouses are having an affair. Both of them have promiscuous colleagues at work, but they struggle to make sense of their partners' behaviour – and to control their growing feelings for each other. Hailed by the press as 'the consummate unconsummated love story of the new millennium',
this film about desire repressed has become a firmly established classic of the
twenty-first century.

In his sharp and revealing analysis of In the Mood for Love, Tony Rayns draws on his considerable expertise in East Asian cinema and on his proximity to Wong Kar Wai and his colleagues at Jet Tone during the film's long and complicated genesis. He delivers a personal and highly original commentary on the film and its production, complete with privileged insights into Wong's idiosyncratic
working methods and influences. The book also places the film in the context of Wong's other work, with sidelights on its place in Hong Kong cinema as a whole.

This special edition features original cover artwork by Jimmy Turrell.

Genres: Film, Nonfiction, Essays, Media Tie In

104 pages, Paperback

First published November 25, 2015

Reviews

[Ali Ahmadi · Rating 2 out of 5]

درست است که این فیلم به‌طور ویژه‌ای به تماشای با دقت و فهم جزئیات نیاز دارد، اما شرح طولانی و خسته‌کننده‌ی پلان به پلان — که یک‌سوم آغازین کتاب را دربرگرفته— چندان این نیاز را برآورده نمی‌کند. (البته این بخش دربردارنده‌ی نکاتی خواندنی هم هست، مثل اینکه کدام شخصیت و کجا به گویش کانتونی حرف می‌زند و کجا با گویش شانگهای، و اصلن اهمیت این قضیه چیست.) بخش کوتاه پایانی هم به حواشی فیلم می‌پردازد که تاثیر خاصی در خوانش و فهم فیلم ندارد. بخش دوم و سوم ارزش بیشتری دارند، اما اینطور نیست که از زاویه‌ی جدیدی به فیلم نگاه کنند. (البته این سری کتاب‌ها اصلن با این هدف نوشته نشده‌اند.) در حقیقت نویسنده که چند مصاحبه‌ی دست اول با وونگ دارد، نگاه ژورنالیستی‌اش را با کمی تحلیل مخلوط کرده و نتیجه چیزی پایین‌تر از میانگین کتاب‌های این مجموعه است.

[Masoud msn · Rating 3 out of 5]

تا نیمه‌ی کتاب صرفا توضیح صحنه‌ها و پلان‌های فیلم هست. در ادامه نکات کمابیش جالبی درباره‌ی زیست ونگ کار وای و چالش‌ها و منابع الهامش در فیلمسازی ارائه میده. خواندنش تنها به کسانی که فیلم رو قبلش دیدند، به این جنس سینما علاقه‌مندند یا ارتباط بین فیلم‌های کارگردان رو میخواهند بیشتر واکاوی کنند توصیه میشه.

[Untimely Gamer · Rating 2 out of 5]

Rayns is a smart and interesting author, but it was a mistake to dedicate nearly forty pages of an already slim volume to a scene-by-scene breakdown of the movie. Describing a movie in this way feels like that old Twain quip about analyzing humor: it's like dissecting a frog ... and you end up with a dead frog.

[Christopher · Rating 3 out of 5]

Tony Rayns is not only an esteemed scholar of Asian cinema, he was also a personal acquaintance of Wong Kar-Wai until they had a falling out, and so it was a real authority on the filmmaker who was chosen to provide the BFI Film Classics entry for In the Mood for Love.

Certainly there is some useful information here that will expand viewers’ appreciation of the film. For example, Rayns underscores how the opening dialogue is spoken in both Shanghai dialect and Cantonese, something that non-Chinese might not pick up on. Also, In the Mood for Love was famously assembled in the editing room; Wong Kar-Wai cut a lot of what he shot, much of it comedic or uncertain, until he ended up with the poignant masterpiece that is the film. Some of these cut scenes are available as extras on DVD/Blu-Ray releases, but Rayns mentions some cut scenes I was hitherto unaware of, like one of Mrs. Chow in Cambodia.

BFI Film Classics books have quite limited space, and half of this one is taken up by a scene-by-scene breakdown of the film. This is excessive and many readers will probably wish that Rayns had used the available space differently, though he does point to Wong Kar-Wai’s highly original stylistic cinematography and editing choices, for example a failure to match eyelines. After that, Rayns explores Wong Kar-Wai’s inspirations, mainly literary, and how this film is connected with others in his body of work.

The irksome thing about this book is that it was clearly written in a rush, with some jumbled trivia hastily thrown in at the end as Rayns became aware that he was running out of space.

[Patrick McCoy · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'm glad that the British Film Institute finally got around to commissioning a book about Wong Kar-wai, one of my favorite contemporary directors. In The Mood For Love (2015) is written by Tony Rayns, a champion of Asian film making-so he has personal ties with Wong and adds some great insight into the making of this great film. It is the story of two people brought together because their spouses are cheating on them-Tony Leung and Maggie Cheung. The first section, "Valse triste" is an overview of the film and the title comes from the soundtrack,it means sad waltz. This "sad waltz" was composed by Shigeru Umebayashi, "Yumeji's Theme (from Seijun Suzuki's film Yumeiji, 1991) that is the main musical motif in the film. Wong is particularly good at selecting and syncing the appropriate music with the scenes from his films. I have the soundtrack to this films and several others. It is followed by a scene by scene breakdown of the films complete with musical cues, and Maggie Cheung's wardrobe changes throughout the film. In the second section, "Secret Origins," gives the context of how and when the film was made. In the third section, "Oblique Strategies," Rayns discusses Wong's visual style and how he is different form other contemporary directors. Noting that "the mix of visual discontinuities and strong, repetitive music..evokes the style of music videos..." There is further discussion of Wong's film grammar and how it is often interpreted as "art cinema." In the "Miscellany" section that ends the book, Rayns adds some uncollected observations and information about the production that didn't fit within the context of the other sections. It is another well-written, informative and well-research BFI publication about one of my favorite films of the 2000s.

[Jack Mansfield · Rating 1 out of 5]

Ultimately a hugely disappointing entry in the BFI Film Classics series. Tony Rayns was a long term friend of director Wong Kar Wai, so you’d expect this essay to be well structured with a uniquely personal view of In the Mood For Love, and while there is value in Rayns’ personal knowledge of the director, this essay is a total mess.

Why Rayns thought that a scene breakdown of the entire film, taking up half of this book, was a good use of space is beyond me. Other entries in this book series have been able to cater to the viewer and the non-viewer equally without verbally storyboarding 100 minutes of film, so this feels like a cheap tactic to fill space. Additionally, the final chapter, “Miscellany”, similarly feels tacked on to add pages, however this chapter is thrown together like a glorified IMDb trivia section.

As a companion piece to one of Wong’s most celebrated films, this simply isn’t worth your time.

[سپید · Rating 4 out of 5]

شاید بی‌ربط باشد شاید هم نه، شاید تمام این چیزهایی که می‌خواهم در حاشیهٔ این فیلم و کتاب بنویسم شکستن سکوتی چندین ساله باشد. البته باز هم نه به طور کامل. آنطور که شایسته ا‌ست قصد ندارم وارد جزئیات شوم. فقط خواندن این کتاب و دیدن چندبارهٔ این فیلم را فرصتی می‌گیرم تا دربارهٔ این سکوت آزارنده بنویسم. سکوتی که از یک پرهیزکاری تلخ و کشنده نشأت می‌گیرد. هیچ زمانی را به خاطر ندارم که در آن با خود و احساساتم صادق بوده باشم، همیشه وقتی بیش‌ازحد دچار علاقه می‌شوم فرار می‌کنم، نمی‌دانم کدام زنگ خطر به من هشدار میدهد. هرچیزی که هست تبدیل به عادت بدی شده، قدرت انتقام و صداقت را همزمان از من گرفته‌ست. دروغ می‌گویم، پیش از هرکسی به خودم. خیال می‌کنم تمام این کارها را می‌کنم تا خوشحال نباشم. تا این غم گس و چسبناک را با خودم همه‌جا حمل کنم. مثل خانم چان در تن‌پوش‌های خوش‌رنگ و لعاب، تنها و منکر.

[Shanya Putri · Rating 3 out of 5]

Where has this book been? I should’ve read any kind of books like this for my thesis last year because it’s so descriptive and very insightful, especially when describing each scenes.

In the Mood for Love is one of my favorite films ever! Reading a book version of my favorite film was such a great experience. I got to explore everything about it. It’s so eye-opening, like, I didn’t know that much about this film! I didn’t even thought of that!

Unfortunately, I can’t understand the references when it’s talking about Wong Kar-Wai’s other films, like 2046, Days of Being Wild, Happy Together, Summer in Beijing–because I’ve only seen some of his top movies like Chungking Express and Fallen Angels, beside In the Mood for Love. Most of his filmography are already in my watchlist, so reading this book makes me feel like BROOO I really need to watch all of his filmography REAL SOON! I’ve always wanted to do a marathon since last year (I think) but never really got to. Maybe it’s time.

[Jacob Pellegrino · Rating 2 out of 5]

Interesting information about how the film was made and the origin of the idea but super slight and uninsightful for the writer actually knowing Wong Kar-wai. This did NOT need the shot for shot retelling of the film. Not too heavy on analysis, the biggest interest is just stories about the genesis of the film but I think most writers could have done better. Would have preferred just a printing of Rayns’ interview with WKW instead.

[Robert Pulvermacher · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting but slight. I found the author's suggestion that the choices the director made were designed to make the movie itself feel like a memory was very insightful and probably accurate. Pairs well with the author's commentary on the Criterion blu-rays.

[Marlene Goo · Rating 3 out of 5]

Buen análisis sobre la filmografía de Wong Kar Wai que sirve para entender un poco más su estilo, sus elementos recurrentes, narrativa y amor por el cine.

[Carol · Rating 1 out of 5]

Disappointing and far too gossipy.

[David Klingenberger · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is already a particularly thin volume in the BFI series, so it’s a shame this deeply knowledgeable author devotes so much space to Wong’s other projects.

[Diane · Rating 1 out of 5]

I’ve read about two dozen of these BFI Film Classics books and, while some are stronger than others, this is the first time I’ve been disappointed in one. The writer clearly didn’t get the job description, and for some reason, no editor at BFI stepped in to prevent this mess.

These books are limited to about 100 pages, so the author must be efficient. This author, however, spent over 40 (!!) pages summarizing the film scene-by-scene. I saw the movie, thanks, so I didn’t need this. Maybe this would be a reasonable way to begin a 500-page treatise on the film, but that’s not the assignment. And it’s not what we get. Because the remainder of the book is a disorganized bunch of thoughts about the director and his OTHER films, and other directors and their films, and some uninteresting trivia about the actors, the production process, etc.

Buried in all of that is about 14 pages discussing the director’s unusual approach to scene cuts. I did find this interesting, but even this was not discussed in a satisfactory way (i.e., disorganized, and not really evaluating what the director was trying to do, or how well it worked). I figure I paid well over a dollar a page for the only 14 pages that were worth reading.

What I really wanted to get out of this book was an explanation for a scene near the end of the film when a certain pair of political figures inexplicably appear in this story that has, until then, focused intently and nearly exclusively on two (intensely) private individuals. Guess I’ll be looking elsewhere for that.

It’s quite a shame, because I loved the film, yet this book actually made me think less of it.

This book is a stain on the reputation of this series, and I hope that BFI will not allow this to happen again.

[Spiros · Rating 3 out of 5]

On the whole, I found much of the material in this slim overview to be insightful. As the book wore on, I found that Rayns' tone towards Wong became increasingly condescending, particularly when viewing Wong's work in full: almost as though he knows more about what motivates Wong's creative process that the director does.

[Pamela · Rating 3 out of 5]

Early on the author says it would be a waste of time to try to interpret the meaning behind some of the more enigmatic scenes, or to review theories about the ending and meaning....I understand his point, but I also wanted this book to explain the enigmatic scenes and ending.

[Jack Novarese]

An insightful piece of analysis on one of my favourite films.

[Cameron K]

Paperback from BFI

[Kyler Polson · Rating 3 out of 5]

Eh. It's mostly a shot for shot breakdown of the movie. Doesn't really add too much value.