" In the mood for love" --- the Chinese name is " Far Yeung Neen Hwa or flower like years". As the curtain rises, we see Hong Kong in 1962. Well, this is the time not too long after when the lighters were at Pui-ching, and you immediately understand why I was engrossed in this movie. The movie was more like a play, most of scenes are indoors. We saw a taxi of the 60s vintage, offices just like those in the 60s. In fact, some of the offices I visited recently look pretty much the same even today. In this sense , HK has not changed in 40 years, it may not change in another 40 years.
I was not too impressed with the plot, but the mood created by the director was rather remarkable. In contrast to " crouching tiger, hidden dragon" where Chow yun-Fat had very unclear and low voiced Mandarin pronunciation, those in "Mood" spoke perfect Cantonese. I even understood the
Shanghainese spoken in the movie. The westerners seem to like it, perhaps, for very different reasons that I like it. The movie seemed choppy at times, I consider this to be
the director's way of suggesting that life is intrinsically choppy, and that continuity is an except rather than a rule, especially in Hk in the 60s. The story ends in the year of 1966, just one year before the big riot in HK. I think the lighters would enjoy this movie. I did. You get to listen to song " Far yeung neen hwa" sung by the incomparable Chow Sheung, after all.
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