In the Mood for Love 4K Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		5.0
Video		3.5
Audio		5.0
Extras		5.0
Overall		3.5

In the Mood for Love 4K Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Dr. Svet Atanasov November 7, 2022

Wong Kar Wai's "In the Mood for Love" (2000) arrives on 4K Blu-ray/Blu-ray courtesy of Criterion. The supplemental features on the release include documentary on the making of the film; deleted scenes; video interview with director Wong Kar Wai; footage from a press conference featuring actors Tony Leung Chiu-wai and Maggie Cheung; and more. In Cantonese, with optional English subtitles for the main feature. Region-Free.

They move into the same apartment building on the same day. Both are shy and extremely polite. Both are married but living their lives as if they are single. Both are lonely and frustrated but pretend that they are happy.

Mrs. Chan (Maggie Cheung) tells everyone that asks about her husband that he is a man with a busy schedule. Right now he is in Japan, finalizing an important deal. She misses him but understands that spending time abroad is part of his job. Her job is simple -- she is a secretary in a tiny office in a busy district of the city.

Mr. Chow (Tony Leung Chiu-wai) is a news reporter. He has his own office and a big desk. He likes to smoke and often buys soup from a street vendor not too far away from his building. Occasionally, he also stops at a local bar where people know him and his wife. He pretends that he is there to have a drink with her, though he has no idea where she is. The act is to kill any potential rumors about his marriage before they spread around.

Because their apartments are next to each other, Mrs. Chan and Mr. Chow often meet. She always wears a beautiful dress and her hair is always impeccably coiffed. He always wears an elegant suit and tie. They smile at each other but rarely talk. Maybe if they were younger and still single…

Then, one day they break their rules and talk about their lives. They reluctantly admit what they have known for a long time -- that her husband has a mistress and that his wife has a lover. For a short period of time, the realization that the other person is just as miserable makes them feel better.

Eventually, Mrs. Chan and Mr. Chow begin teaching each other how to confront their partners. They are supposed to be angry but are not, because the feelings that ought to fuel their anger are missing. Very soon, however, they lose interest in the lessons and instead fall madly in love with each other.

This most beautiful film, which won the Best Actor Award (Tony Leung Chiu-wai) at the Cannes Film Festival in 2000, tells two very different stories. The first is about two lonely people who fall in love but decide not to follow their hearts. Their struggle to suppress their feelings is beautifully filmed by what was once the most formidable team in Asia: Hong Kong director Wong Kar Wai and Australian cinematographer Christopher Doyle.

The second story is about a city that no longer exists -- the overcrowded and claustrophobic, exotic, irresistibly beautiful Hong Kong from the early '60s. The film is filled with numerous elegant shots of unique buildings, streets, and marketplaces that Wong Kar Wai visited as a child after he moved with his family from Shanghai. These elegant shots are essentially the director’s memories of this lost city.

The sense of nostalgia that permeates the film is the glue that keeps the two stories together. The first is far easier to embrace, but the second is far more intriguing as the camera often spends a great deal of time studying the environment in which the main characters exist.

In addition to the excellent period locations (some filmed in Thailand and Macau), decors, dresses, and hairstyles, In the Mood for Love has a tremendous soundtrack. It combines music by Michael Galasso and Shigeru Umebayashi, who composed the terrific main violin theme, which was initially meant to appear in a film directed by Sejun Suzuki. Excerpts from classic songs performed by the great Nat 'King' Cole are heard throughout the film as well.

In the Mood for Love 4K Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Criterion's release of In the Mood for Love is a 4K Blu-ray/Blu-ray combo pack. The 4K Blu-ray disc is Region-Free. However, The Blu-ray disc is Region-A "locked".

All of the screencaptures that are included with this article are taken from the 4K Blu-ray and are downscaled to 1080p. Therefore, they do not accurately reflect the quality of the 4K content on the 4K Blu-ray disc, including the actual color values of this content.

The following text appears inside the leaflet that is provided with this release:

"Supervised and approved by director Wong Kar Wai, this digital transfer was created in 4K resolution on an ARRISCAN film scanner from the 35mm original camera negative and restored at L'Immagine Ritrovata in Bologna, Italy. The 5.1 surround soundtrack was created from the original dialog, music, and effects track, with additional foley and effects. The audio was restored by Jet Tone Films at Robert Mackenzie Sound and 3H Sound studio, under the director's supervision.

Transfer supervisor: Wong Kar Wai.
Colorist: Calmen Lui/One Cool Production Ltd., Hong Kong.
Restoration production coordinator: Bede Cheng/L'Immagine Ritrovata Asia, Hong Kong."

The native 4K presentation of In the Mood for Love does not have an HDR/Dolby Vision grade, so the main upgrade from the 1080p presentation is the increase in resolution. I think that the discrepancy is very difficult to describe as substantial because the overall quality of the visuals in 1080p is already very strong. I would say that fluidity is slightly better, but I have a very large screen and tend to pay a lot more attention to it than a casual viewer would. I paid very close attention to the darker areas because there are a lot of very delicate shadows/shadow nuances and I assume that this is where trained eyes will recognize the benefits of the move to native 4K. There are some areas that look very sharp and tight now. Unfortunately, I have to restate my profound disappointment with the new color grade. It does not look right and gives the film a completely different vibe. I associate the prominent color red from the original theatrical appearance of the film with passion and the new grade replaces it with green. Needless to say, there are entire sections of the film that look off.

In the Mood for Love 4K Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

There is only one standard audio track on this Blu-ray release: Cantonese DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1. Optional English subtitles are provided for the main feature.

This is the same lossless track that was used on the recent Blu-ray release of In the Mood for Love. Naturally, my take on it remains the same. Here are my comments from the Blu-ray release:

The only minor difference that I could identify is the slightly fuller sound in some areas, but I don't think that the difference is significant enough. The music sounds fantastic and there are plenty of lovely dynamic nuances, especially in more subdued material where the difference is typically difficult to appreciate. The dialog is very clear, clean, and stable.

In the Mood for Love 4K Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

4K BLU-RAY DISC

• Special Features - there are no special features on the 4K Blu-ray disc.

BLU-RAY DISC

• @ "In the Mood for Love - a long and very informative documentary on the making of the In the Mood for Love created by Jet Tone Films. It features various interviews with director Wong Kar Wai, Maggie Cheung, Tony Leung Chiu-wai, and Rebecca Pan, among others. In Cantonese, with optional English subtitles. (52 min, 1080i).

• Hua Yang De Nian Hua - a short film by Wong Kar Wai created from print elements discovered in a California warehouse. The film was created in 2000. Music only. (3 min, 1080i).

• The Soundtrack - in this video interview, film critic Tony Rayns discusses the unique soundtrack of In the Mood for Love. Also included are cues from the soundtrack. The interview was conducted for Criterion in 2012. In English, not subtitled. (9 min, 1080p).

• Wong Kar Wai - a video interview with director Wong Kar Wai conducted by film critic Michel Ciment and filmmaker Hubert Niogret and a "cinema lesson" presented by the director at the Cannes Film Festival.
  
  1. Interview - director Wong Kar-wai discusses some of the obstacles that had to be overcome during the production process and talks about the main characters in In the Mood for Love. In English, not subtitled. (23 min, 1080i).
  
  2. Cinema Lesson - director Wong Kar Wai talks about the creative process he favors, and specifically how an idea could evolve into a film, finding the right rhythm for his films, the editing process, etc. In English, not subtitled. (16 min, 1080i).

• Toronto International Film Festival - footage from a press conference held after the screening of In the Mood for Love at the 2000 Toronto International Film Festival, featuring actors Tony Leung Chiu-wai and Maggie Cheung. In English, not subtitled. (40 min, 1080i).

• Deleted Scenes - four deleted scenes. Excluding A Last Encounter, the rest come with optional commentary by director Wong Kar Wai. In Cantonese, with optional English subtitles.
  
  1. Room 246 (9 min, 1080i).
  2. Postcards (9 min, 1080i).
  3. The Seventies (9 min, 1080i).
  4. A Last Encounter (8 min, 1080i).

• Music Video - archival music video featuring a performance by Tony Leung Chiu-wai ("In the Mood for Love"). In Cantonese, with optional English subtitles. (5 min, 1080i).

• Restoration Trailer - trailer for L'Immagine Ritrovata's new 4K restoration of In the Mood for Love. (2 min, 1080p).

• Leaflet - an illustrated leaflet featuring novelist Charles Yu's essay "Notes on In the Mood for Love" as well as technical credits.

In the Mood for Love 4K Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

I find the 4K restoration of Wong Kar Wai's In the Mood for Love every bit as unconvincing as the recent 4K makeover of Steven Soderbergh's Out of Sight. I associate the prominent color red from the original theatrical appearance of In the Mood for Love with passion and the 4K restoration replaces it with green. As a result, the entire film has a completely different vibe now. Criterion's first Blu-ray release of In the Mood for Love with the proper color grade is still in circulation, so my advice would be to pick it up if you want to see the film as it was shot and screened theatrically.