The soundtrack to Wong Kar-wai’s movie, In the Mood For Love, is not only magnificient but remarkable in the way it suggests the mood and aids in the storytelling. The film de-emphasizes other externalities, including supporting roles, and minimizes dialogue. Instead, the musical score and the lush palette of colors assume a primary role in the narrative, in addition to the characters’ subtle gestures. As the movie progresses, the music fills the viewer with a sense of longing, despair, love, and nostalgia. The soundtrack begins with this piece, “Yumeji’s Theme”, originally written by Shigeru Umebayashi for a Seijun Suzuki film called Yumeji. The piece taps perfectly into the ambivalent feelings of the two main characters: fidelity and decency will not allow them to consummate their affection no matter how intimate their bond.

-Jessie