What Wong Kar-Wai is basically dealing with here is reality and artificiality. The two neighbours in this film begin their romance by imitating their idea of the romance between their spouses -- but the line between imitation and reality is always in question. As filmgoers, we believe in the fake romance and unconsummated adultery more than the real thing, as both spouses don't appear in the film. But there's also a dreamlike tone to the film and its cinematography that quashes any idea of reality.
With that said, I think it's this slippery idea of reality that made it so hard for me to engage with the film. There's not much traditional narrative to grab onto here -- the characters are ciphers and the story is slow and frequently interrupted by musical sequences. Kar-Wai is most obviously drawing on Sirkean melodrama and Ozu-esque slow family drama as influences, and I'm not a huge fan of either. It's a beautiful film, especially visually, lingering over the colours of 1960s China and often getting unorthodox, such as the long takes of just one side of a conversation. And it's given me a lot to think about, but the actual experience of watching the movie was kind of a drag. Maybe I'm just not a mature enough cinemaphile. Beautiful, but it's an estranged, sterile type of beauty.
With that said, I think it's this slippery idea of reality that made it so hard for me to engage with the film. There's not much traditional narrative to grab onto here -- the characters are ciphers and the story is slow and frequently interrupted by musical sequences. Kar-Wai is most obviously drawing on Sirkean melodrama and Ozu-esque slow family drama as influences, and I'm not a huge fan of either. It's a beautiful film, especially visually, lingering over the colours of 1960s China and often getting unorthodox, such as the long takes of just one side of a conversation. And it's given me a lot to think about, but the actual experience of watching the movie was kind of a drag. Maybe I'm just not a mature enough cinemaphile. Beautiful, but it's an estranged, sterile type of beauty.