Milez Das (Rohit Shivdas)’s review published on Letterboxd:
It is a restless moment. She has kept her head lowered... to give him a chance to come closer. But he could not, for lack of courage. She turns and walks away.
As I pressed the button play, I knew I won't be able to bear the pain this movie makes me. Soaked in the color red, it is the melancholy between these two lost souls who are stuck in those blurred lines of a relationship. Even though it starts as something of an friendship but as Mr. Chow says to Mrs. Chan Feelings can creep up just like that. I thought I was in control.
Falling into these coincidences, which I think they didn't believe in them but for the sake they had to keep it that way. The soup Mrs. Chan makes when she hears about Mr. Chow's health or the rehearsals they have while Mrs. Chan weeping in the arms of Mr. Chow.
There is this subtlety to their relationship as they both agree not to downgrade themselves as their spouses have. As Mrs. Chan walks down the stairs, while the theme begins to play. The slow motion that feels like a dream altogether, her almost brushing to Mr. Chow, the wait. Her outfits...Everything is just so surreal.
Christopher Doyle's every frame in those colors of love are just beyond beautiful. The sequences where the both characters are standing talking or the scenes of them eating...Perfect!
Wong Kar-Wai has always been one of my all time favorite directors. He just understands love in a way that is so unique that from Days of Being Wild to In the Mood for Love and 2046 juts seem like a part of our lives itself. And I have heard he doesn't even really use scripts. It is like a poetic thing that just flung's from his mind.
The chemistry between Maggie Cheung and Tony Leung is just electric. I mean just with glances and those smiles they do everything to make you fall in love with them. I literally felt to be with them in those rains, the stand in talks, and the almost they have. One of the most beautiful scene in the movie is when they both are in taxi and the first time as Mr. Chow tries to hold her hand slowly she takes it back but after a period of time we see again the same scene but now they are holding their hands. I mean the smallest thing is more to bring out those feelings of love rather than anything big for me.
In the Mood for Love is something I want in my life. Even if don't ever find love and end up being alone I know atleast this movie will be there for me, showing a love that was, a secret that is plugged into a wall. I know it will make me miserable, sad and cry till me eyes wear out. But still it will be worth everything.
Personally I want to my life to be Directed by Wong Kar-Wai, Shot by Christopher Doyle while Yumeji's Theme plays in the background and someone like Maggie Cheung is there or even Tony Leung.
He remembers those vanished years. As though looking through a dusty window pane, the past is something he could see, but not touch. And everything he sees is blurred and indistinct.