The era-defining aesthetic of “In the Mood for Love” | Hacker News Reader

The era-defining aesthetic of “In the Mood for Love”

newyorker.com

88 pointsherbertl35 comments

If you enjoy In the Mood for Love, I would highly suggest watching the rest of his movies. Every single one is a masterpiece. Maybe start with Chungking Express for a more upbeat and fun movie.

California Dreamin is forever associated with Chungking Express now, it's impossible to listen to it without thinking of the movie.

It’s canned pineapple for me!

And yet the opening soundtrack is like something from Philip Glass. Amazing soundtrack. (Also, Faye Wong covering The Cranberries, Dreams for the closing song - great.)

I think of Congo.

Underrated when judged as a B (minus) movie.

It's all subjective, but My Blueberry Nights is a masterpiece?

I absolutely love it, and believe someday people will see it in a more favorable light. Most of the criticism seems to center around aesthetics over plot, which apply to all of his films, or that the characters are unrealistic fetishes, which again, apply to all of his films.

Looking at an English speaking Wong Kar Wai film located in America may have brought some shock to the critics, who understood how disjointed his films are. But Cantonese speaking audiences already knew that.

My Blueberry Nights is a masterpiece.

I definitely think his movies with Doyle are worth watching, but without . . . he just seems lost. Chungking Express, Fallen Angels etc. through to 2046, are cinematographic first with anything else a very distant lower priority.

What seems so unusual is the reverse is also true. Doyle without Wong Kar-wai is not the same.

Like Lennon and McCartney

The Grandmaster is a poem too.

Some of his movies were ahead of their time, like Happy Together [1], amazing directing and performance. The acting was soul crushing [2].

[1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5VPvFaAWX9U

[2] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qlPsE0gKTd4

Jia Zhangke (mentioned in the article as being influenced) directed a similar film with incredible cinematography: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ash_Is_Purest_White / https://www.imdb.com/title/tt7298400/

Just watched the trailer. This looks really good! Thanks for the rec

I think it's worth watching if you're into Chinese cinema, but I'd also temper expectations a bit.

It's slow, but meditative. Best to watch it when you have plenty of time.

Buying noodles never looked so good! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ypY9OaKCfRU

The movie that was in many ways its sequel, 2046, was also a masterpiece.

Fun fact I discovered recently is that Lost in Translation was heavily influenced by In The Mood For Love.

If not the whole thing there are definitely aspects of Lost in Translation that connect if you’ve ever been in the situation where someone was translating you.

I loved In the Mood for Love but loathed Lost in Translation. I don't see any parallels, either in mood or cinematography. I think Coppola is name-checking the earlier film to claim cred, as has been the story of her whole career, based as it is on the original 'cred' gifted to her by way of her surname.

Not about the content of the article, but there are few things as annoying as being hit with multiple popups preventing me from reading the article.

I guess I expect it on shadier parts of the internet. Seeing it on the New Yorker is just embarressing.

Never watched film but remember listening to Yumeji's Theme on repeat:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f1w4qnfux-o

Live version: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=923np_OxcG4

Didn't stay to read article - the barrage of animation uppers, downers and sideways contortion is not enjoyable!

It’s good that this classic has been resurfaced by its stylistic cameo in “Everything Everywhere All at Once” — a movie which has a lot to admire, but tries so extremely hard to be clever and likable that it just fell completely flat for me.

I watched it twice, and both times I just found myself wishing I was watching “In the Mood for Love” instead when the multiverse kaleidoscope spun that way.

Agreed. Everything Everywhere had a lot of style and the potential to be a great film, but it got bogged down in unfunny gags and sentimental cliches. Tár deserved to win best picture, in my opinion.

> Everything Everywhere had a lot of style and the potential to be a great film…

"Great" is subjective. We all experience art through our own lens, and for me it was magic. I'm glad that, sometimes, Weird Shit™ like Everything Everywhere All at Once, Swiss Army Man, etc. can somehow make it through a system that abhors risk.

Tár was subtly layered. I saw several people discussing it as if it was about "the separation of art and artist", when the film spent several minutes explaining how much of a talentless phony she was.

EEAAT was much easier to digest. The message was embedded and one doesn't need to reflect on it, and make decisions about it.

You misread Tar

Please expand, don't leave me hanging.

"Clever," for sure, but it's hard for me to square your claim of "tries so extremely hard to be likable" with people getting bludgeoned with dildos or jumping on buttplugs or bagel black holes...

Those are all bold choices and the opposite of playing it safe for general likeability.

https://archive.ph/nNZh1

That page doesn't render correctly the intricate visuals of the original (which, btw, works for me without a subscription).

The first part was certainly pretty. The rest, I'm not sure. I found it quite boring.

Anyone who wants more of movies like this, please check out "Past Lives". I call it "In The Mood For Love" in New York.

How are those things flying around ? Lots of CSS Transitions and Transforms ?

Yup! It's not the easiest page to inspect, but there's a healthy amount of `transform: translate3d` going on. Parallax scrolling is a good keyword to start with.

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