In The Mood For Love and Number 77

Well, right now my wife is sick, I'm drinking a beer and a police chopper is flying overhead probably looking for a fugitive hiding in my trailer park. This is the perfect time to blog! And what better to blog about, than Wong Kar Wai's recent film In The Mood For Love. This is the first Wong Kar Wai film I've seen and I have to say I'm impressed. It is a slow moving, atmospheric movie about two people whose mates are having an adulterous affair which tempts them to do the same.

Set in 1950's Hong Kong, Tony Leung and Maggie Cheung play the husband and wife to their cheating spouses. The two couples live next to each other in the same building and their spouses are gone for long periods of time under the pretense of working in Japan. The two spouses in Hong Kong begin to spend time together to nurse each other's hurt feelings and try to control their attraction to each other to avoid being like their spouses. It's a beautifully acted film with Leung and Cheung giving carefully modulated performances. Much of the movie is carried by movement and physical expression rather than dialogue. Both actors portray sadness, desire and resignation with realism and depth. I still can't believe this is the same Maggie Cheung who I saw in one of my all time favorite movies, Jackie Chan's Police Force. Cheung displays an aloof attractiveness and maturity in complete opposition to the physical comedy of the Jackie Chan movies.

But, it's Wong Kar Wai's movie and he never lets you forget it. Dimly lit passages, camera framing that consistently obscures the actors and slo mo dominates the film. And rain. A lot of rain in this movie. It also has an interesting use of color, which are muted throughout the film. The slow pace drags a little bit towards the end, but the rhythm of the editing is important to this movie because the two characters "dance" around each others shared but anguished feelings. Some may find this slow and ponderous, but I definitely recommend In The Mood For Love.

An album that can never be described as slow and ponderous is Number 77:

X - Los Angeles (1980)

I must admit, for the most part I missed the punk movement. It didn't make any sense to me at the time, the playing was not very technical and the songs were not melodic. It seemed out of tune, sloppy and incoherent. As I've gotten older, I've found a lot of emotional content in the sloppy punk rantings of bands like X.

X's Los Angeles album is a nihilistic trip through the LA underground of the early 80's. A strong shot of droning vocals, rockabilly guitar and punk rhythms mark the album. Although there are nine songs, they are all cut from the same cloth and hang together thematically. Lyrically facinating in decribing "The World's A Mess, It's In My Kiss" while "Sex and Dying In High Society" with "Nausea". The opening track "Your Phone's Off The Hook, But You're Not" is my personal favorite with its bopping beat and the intertwined vocals over the overrevved guitar riff make the song exciting. John Doe and Exene's vocals have the right tone of jaded detachment and sleazy energy. Guitarist Billy Zoom brings character to his punk rock via his 50's rockabilly influence. DJ Bonebrake's drums holds down the beat for the group.

Los Angeles illustrates the flip side to Southern California's fantasy land of sex, surf and sun. X shows in the land of the rich and beautiful, there's a lot of room for outsiders looking for kicks and ignoring the mainstream. Like an annoying friend that is fun in short bits but you don't want to get too close to, X hits you with their attitude and then conveniently leaves before you get tired of them.