Wong Kar Wai’s movie In the Mood For Love celebrates its 24th anniversary this year. CULT Gallery presents an art show that is an ode to the movie’s visual beauty.
IN THE MOOD FOR LOVE
Wong Kar Wai’s movie In the Mood For Love celebrates its 24th anniversary this year. CULT Gallery presents an art show that is an ode to the movie’s visual beauty.
In The Mood For Love failed to make the cut in Hollywood despite making the cut for Palme d’Or at Cannes and taking home five trophies at the Hong Kong Film Awards in 2001. However, in 2016 BBC poll of 177 critics placed Wong’s masterwork as the second greatest of the 21st century, behind only David Lynch’s Mulholland Drive. According to writer James Balmont in a recent article in www.dazeddigital.com, “The solipsistic romances and intoxicating characters of the Wong-verse have never felt more tantalising, and In The Mood For Love remains a spellbinding entry point to behold.” This year, the British Film Institute pays respect to Maggie Cheung, a protagonist in the movie by creating a series of programs around her work including In the Mood for Love. The iconic film shaped and enriched the world of cinema with its opulent colours, stylish music score, striking and sensuous cheongsams worn by Maggie Cheung, sharp suits worn by the smoking journalist character Tony Leung. Who can forget the moody and neon-lit rooms and back lanes of Hong Kong where the characters meet - each time in perfect photographic composition with luminous colour palettes?
The movie is a masterpiece that spans film, art, music, design and fashion. Perhaps that is why artist Ahmad Zakii Anwar, who is an avid film lover, chose to paint a number of artworks based on the stills of the movie several years ago. In this show, Zakii’s charcoal drawing evocative of the movie’s sense of nostalgia and longing is aptly called “Untrue Romance 10”. The drawing recalls the compositional aesthetics of the movie and much like his “Kota Sunyi” series. Kara Inez’s series of atypical and singular sculpture series “Irridescent Decay of a Reckless Heart” inspired by the movie’s “kaleidoscope of colours, patterns, curling smoke and cheongsams” allow us to relive emotions throughout the movie through her titles too: “Rest your bruised petals beneath my weighted wings” , “her “Swollen Heart” and “Tea after sex”. On the other hand, Fafa’s “Silent Yearnings” and Khuzairie’s artwork on unsaid words and feelings “Tiada Kata Secantik Bahasa” capture the pain and longing emanating from the lovers in the movie like no words could. This is, after all one of the most beautiful things about art and movies. They can say things that words alone cannot.
