In the Mood for Love (BFI Film Classics)

Good but not great. Lots of interesting information but not quite as good as it could have been (and should have been). Too long and not an easy reading.

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.