Such a moody, wistful, beautiful film, this one. A love story, more or less, it's suffused by a sense of longing, but marked by the disconnectedness of its protagonists - although their almost-romance seems to be almost fated, there are spaces between them which can't be closed, and while they blur the lines in acting out roles, there's a heaviness to it all, a sense of sadness and untransgressable restraint and an implicitly acknowledged awareness that some things aren't to be. Need I say it: there are all sorts of resonances here with my own current emotional landscape.
Had I not responded to this film so intensely, and so personally, I might have rhapsodised about the marvellous craft which has gone into it - the effectiveness of Wong Kar Wai's stylistic choices, the subtlety of the performances, the manner in which every cinematographic element (colour, lighting, framing, music...) is so evocatively oriented towards the overall effect and mood - but instead I'll just sigh, leave off here, and begin to nurse myself through the rest of the night.
So much for leaving the personal out of these entries...
