IN THE MOOD FOR LOVE
Hong Kong, 1962: Chow Mo-Wan (Tony Leung Chiu Wai) and Su Li-Zhen (Maggie Cheung Man Yuk) move into neighboring apartments on the same day. Their encounters are formal and polite—until a discovery about their spouses creates an intimate bond between them. At once delicately mannered and visually extravagant, Wong Kar Wai’s In the Mood for Love is a masterful evocation of romantic longing and fleeting moments. With its aching soundtrack and exquisitely abstract cinematography by Christopher Doyle and Mark Lee Ping Bing, this film has been a major stylistic influence on the past twenty-five years of cinema.

with the “rarely seen” short film IN THE MOOD FOR LOVE (2001)
Initially conceived as one-third of a triptych about food, In the Mood for Love was expanded into a stand-alone feature that won immediate recognition as a contemporary classic. Another third—intended as the “dessert,”as Wong Kar Wai has put it—was, until now, only screened during his masterclass at the 2001 Cannes Film Festival. Now available in wide release for the first time, In the Mood for Love 2001 demonstrates the director’s elegant ability to generate palpable atmosphere and striking characterizations on a miniature canvas—with In the Mood for Love stars Tony Leung Chiu Wai and Maggie Cheung Man Yuk once again providing the sizzling chemistry—evoking the mystery of transient, unexpected connections in the modern city through his inimitable romantic touch.

*Join us after the 3pm screening on Sunday, July 20, for a post-screening discussion with Sam Shapiro, the former film archivist at Charlotte-Mecklenburg Library.