IN THE MOOD FOR LOVE / THE HAND

ABOUT THE FILMS

IN THE MOOD FOR LOVE, 2000, Janus Films, 98 min, Hong Kong, Dir: Wong Kar Wai 

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.  

FORMAT: DCP

THE HAND, 1994,  Janus Films, 56 min. Dir: Wong Kar Wai 

Like IN THE MOOD FOR LOVE, THE HAND is set in the hazy Hong Kong of the 1960s, but its characters couldn’t be more different from the earlier film’s restrained, haunted lovers. Originally conceived for the omnibus film Eros, the film—presented in this retrospective for the first time in its extended cut—tells the tale of Zhang (Chang Chen), a shy tailor’s assistant enraptured by a mysterious client, Miss Hua (Gong Li). A hypnotic tale of obsession, repression, and class divisions, THE HAND finds Wong Kar Wai continuing to transition from the frenetic, energized style of his earlier films into a register that is lush with romantic grandeur.

FORMAT: DCP