Auteur filmmaker Wong Kar-wai directs this moody period drama about unrequited love that, like his earlier work, swoons with romantic melancholy. Set in a Shanghaiese enclave in Hong Kong in 1962, the film centers on two young couples who rent adjacent rooms in a cramped and crowded tenement. Li-zhen (Maggie Cheung) works as a secretary in an export company while her husband’s job at a Japanese multinational keeps him away on extended business trips.
“The film is gorgeous, dripping with texture and sensuality and, well, mood.”
–Christy Lemire, Associated Press
“Director Wong Kar-wai, Hong Kong’s most romantic filmmaker, is known for his excesses, and in that sense the film’s spareness represents a bold departure.”
–Jonathan Rosenbaum, Chicago Reader
“Stylized, set-designed to the last hair wisp, the film is a mixture of bold devices with delicate understatement that leave a remarkable aftereffect.”
— Liam Lacey, Globe and Mail
