There is something so important about the truthfulness of ones ethics and morals. The fact that no matter what forces its way into your direction, that you'll stand up proud, tough and noble, preventing your inner desires from tripping you from behind and falling down a long stairway far away from grace. There is nothing far worst than facing the inalienable truths in your life on a daily basis, we know this. But what's important is how we succeed in this rather than failing in escaping it.

Some people find fate in true love, while others discover it in coincidence. Personally, I found fate in Wong Kar-Wai's "In the Mood for Love" simply for the coincidence of its two main characters, meeting and falling in love. But a love like theirs, this type of passion has never been explored in any other film. Whereas most films dealing with the subject of love and romance focus on two lovers having an affair and finding perfection in their bond, "In the Mood for Love" concentrates on the rejected and cheated on. Usually, the previous loves are always stereotyped with extreme imperfection in order to rationalize the adulterous acts of the lead, but Kar-Wai gives us a more interesting and complex look at characters that have a heart, who hurt and who do feel pain when discovering the people they have loved have loved another.

Though the "true love, no matter what" theory may be popular with audiences who believe that true love is the only and best love, I've always hated the type of romantic dogma that considers a more perfect love, giving it dimensions and plateaus that can always be left and conquered disregarding any other promises you've made before on behalf of your heart. I agree with it in a sense, but there is something so uncomforting and disturbing about a form of selfishness in love when you embrace a love a better than the one you currently have.

What amazes me the most about "In the Mood for Love" is that Kar-Wai decides to give some integrity and honesty to its characters in the face of emotional treachery. Though both Su Li-zhen (Maggie Cheung) and Chow Mo-wan (Tony Leung) know of their respective partners are having an affair with each other, Cheung and Leung never succumb to an affair of their own in order to exact revenge. Even when an emotional connection builds and they have a love of their own, their sincerity and devotion to each of their marriages remain and retain. It's such an original concept giving two betrayed characters the emotional threshold to be true to themselves and to the promises of their heart.

"We won't be like them" is a recurring theme that is spoken and expressed through the Cheung and Leung's characters. Such a small piece of dialogue that is so powerful in context that it resonates throughout your mind constantly in the picture. You're always wondering if the two will ever let each other fall victim to the same affair their own partners experienced. And after a while of admiring them for their strengths, you almost do throw everything out the window and just hope they get together. Maybe that's the strength of this film, the fact that you candidly hope for all the happiness in the world for these two. That you care so much that, for all their honor and loyalty they have to their husband and wife, that maybe a little sex and lust would help. It's a contradiction that I was ashamed to admit.

Another interesting situation Li-zhen and Mo-wan put themselves in is the role playing of the affair that their partners are having. Even acting out the beginning and how their husband and wife may have met on the streets is almost psychologically sadistic. But what starts out as an innocent pastime of "know and how" becomes the most fascinating and intimate version of living vicariously through play. The dynamics are unbelievable and the layers of every single interaction are so deep, even the mere motion of spooning some hot mustard on another's plate is significant.

Along with the marvelous direction of Wong Kar-Wai, his long time collaborator and friend, Christopher Doyle lends a hand at painting the beautiful and artistically stunning cinematography for "In the Mood for Love." The slow motion montages are eerily beautiful and sadly romantic at the same time, slowly giving the audience pieces of nostalgic ecstasy. These are intertwined with the many scenes of Cheung and Leung hanging about in alleyways, hotel rooms and noodle stands in bleedingly gorgeous colors that drown the picture, leaving no uncolored mark left without the blushes and blemishes of the skillful dreamy eyes of Doyle.

Accompanying Kar-Wai and Doyle are Mike Galasso and Shigeru Umebayashi in the composition of the music and ambience of the film. The score is my current favorite soundtrack that I listen to constantly mostly because I can actually see the film while I'm listening to it. The music is so distinct for many of the scenes that it was as if the notes and sounds were made to be brought together in this particular harmony, laid against the touching and poignant back drops of "In the Mood for Love."

I love the film for everything that it is. I love it even more for everything that it is not. Wong Kar-Wai weaves one of the most remarkable films of his career, something that most will watch and feel that it was made specifically for them. Sometimes, I get that feeling, too when I watch one of his films, as if he knew of every single thing that made me smile and emotional and put it all together in each film as I grew up, just so I can have little landmark pictures that represented a certain time in my life.

I give this film the highest recommendation.