It's 1962 Hong Kong, and Tony Leung, and Maggie Cheung find out theirs spouses are cheating on them, SPOILER: with each other!!! OK, first of all, this is a BRILLIANT movie, almost perfect, which is as close as we can actually get to perfect without being a deity.
And not brilliant, like when a friend makes a wisecrack about somebody's ugly outfit, but brilliant filmmaking, great acting, and a rueful story about two people being cheated on, and feeling guilty anyway because they're falling in love. SPOILER: there's no penetration, not even a kiss. And something for everyone: beautiful actors, great costumes, wonderful cinematography, music. One false note: who would cheat on Tony and Maggie? Related, but about actual cheaters:
Brief Encounter: post-war England, Trevor Howard, written by Noel Coward, a gem, but one of the actor's voices is painful, really painful.
The End of the Affair (the book, not the movie; seeing the pubic hair in the movie spoils the movie's perverse spiritual angle): also post-war (oops! we did it again; numero dos this time) England; pubic hair provided by Julianne Moore and Ralph Fiennes; it's nice pubic hair don't get me wrong.
The Age of Innocence: Scorsese does Wharton, and what a happy baby they make. Well, it's a sad baby, but you know what I mean.
Fatal Attraction: See it for the crazy. Another SPOILER: Glenn Close is craaaaaaaaaazy, and makes the rest of the cast so boring. You never knew you wanted to punish smug suburbanites so much. SPOILER: the smug suburbanites win.
The Apartment: one of Billy Wilder's most overrated movies; the office stuff is great, Fred MacMurray is reaaaaally creepy, but the apartment stuff is maudlin, cloying and dripping with earnest lugubriousness! Makes you yearn for that ole time cynicism.
Double Indemnity: And here's that ole time cynicism! Billy Wilder redeems himself 16 years previous, and he's at his best! Works as a comedy and a cautionary tale, and a ripping good yarn to boot.
Enjoy!
