Metascore

Universal acclaim - based on 27 Critics What's this?

User Score

Universal acclaim- based on 58 Ratings

  • Starring: Maggie Cheung, Tony Leung Chiu Wai
  • Summary: Chow Mo-wan rents a room in a Hong Kong apartment building. It's sheer coincidence that he moves in the same day that Su Li-zhen moves in next door. They never have a real conversation until Mr. Chow realizes that their respective spouses are having an affair. This discovery shocks both of them. Mr. Chow, feeling hurt and wishing to understand how the affair happened, begins finding excuses to spend time with Mrs. Chan. (USA Films) Expand
Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 25 out of 27
  2. Negative: 0 out of 27
  1. 100
    Rapturously elegant and deeply sexy in a deliciously restrained way. One of the most romantic movies I have ever seen, right up there with "Brief Encounter"and "Casablanca."
  2. A feast for the eyes and succor for the soul.
  3. Reviewed by: Ken Fox
    80
    It's extraordinarily sexy: The atmosphere is all cigarette smoke and Nat King Cole songs, silk suits and tight sheath dresses.
  4. Reviewed by: Mike Clark
    50
    A stylistically fastidious, exasperatingly affected package that will put most people in the mood for slumber.

See all 27 Critic Reviews

Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 19 out of 22
  2. Mixed: 0 out of 22
  3. Negative: 3 out of 22
  1. "In The Mood For Love" is easily one of the best art-house achievements of the decade, striking all of the qualities a good film should have while remaining unique to itself. Wong's use of color, repetition, and his unique delivery of revelation and plot development complement perfectly to the two lead actors' performances, which were reason enough to watch this movie. Expand
  2. JMH
    10
    Wong Kar-Wai's 2000 In the Mood for Love may be the best film, thus far, of the 21st Century. In just over 90 minutes, it conveys, through a voyeur-like cameras eye and spot-on, often silent, acting from Tony Leung and Maggie Cheung, an intensity of locked-up longing that's perhaps never been so captured on screen. The leads' spouses are having an affair, which brings them together unwittingly, though they too live in neighboring apartments. Initially joined by mutual heartbreak, they become joined by shared desire for one another that, in 1960s Hong Kong, is verboten. The leads are never joined through plain expression, but rather in often tense, mannered, scenes where they share a space (e.g., a cab) and communicate through just a glance or movement. And, in these scenes, the camera latches on to their subtle gestures with a yearning of its own that brings slight, soft acting full circle, giving it clear meaning. The leads encounter one another, repeatedly, in somewhat scripted, yet somehow not contrived, terms. An encounter might involve bumping in to a neighbor running a common daily (or nightly) errand. Indeed, an encounter of this sort becomes a centerpiece of the film, and the subject of perhaps the most entrancing visual sequences put to film in recent decades. In the Mood for Love is about quiet but telling action that, when enveloped by the camera, becomes loud. Wongs rich visuals tug the viewer into a muted world wrought with emotion. A feat many directors aspire toward. A feat Wong executes to perfection. Collapse
  3. RG
    10
    there is no director like wong kar wai who in every movie explores the stale and done state of love. but somehow he makes this theme more beautiful every movie and this movie is the pinecale of films about love. there is no sure way to describe this movie to someone because of the seemingly thin plot and its experience. somehow one has to create their own definition to be engaged with it. the details that every shot contains begs multiple viewings and the cinematic response to the repeated settings and music is something of an awe experience. hands down one of the best movies of the new mellenium. Expand
  4. Fikret
    3
    I guess my challange is to try to understand why there are so many people who fell in love with this movie. No plot, meaningless scenes (Cambodia scenes), slow, and a stupid ending. I can't resist but ask the questions: is it the romantic music that made people love this movie? or do they just think that they're supposed to love this movie like we were told to find the "Mona Lisa smile" amazing? Expand

See all 22 User Reviews