In the Mood – A Love Letter to Wong Kar-wai & Hong Kong 

Celebrating the landmark film’s 20th anniversary, IN THE MOOD – A LOVE LETTER TO WONG KAR-WAI & HONG KONG is a fever dream live streamed performance featuring a theatrical set, ‘60s style costumes, and sax-drenched renditions of the film’s romantic soundtrack alongside new music sung by Chinese-Australian artists Rainbow Chan and Marcus Whale with narration by Eugene Choi – a lavish audio-visual journey that guides the audience through a heartbreaking cycle of longing, intimacy and forbidden love.

Inspired by In the Mood for Love’s impressionistic end title – ‘That era is past, nothing that belonged to it exists anymore.’ – Chan, Choi and Whale explore their interweaving cultural heritage in a newly commissioned performance that echoes a collective nostalgia for their ancestral homeland. Conceived in an era where lockdown and loneliness has forced us to reconcile our beloved relationships and self-identities, Wong Kar-wai’s multi award-winning film is refracted onto the live stage; a musical meditation on the restorative power of unadulterated desire.

Taking cues from Australian cinematographer Christopher Doyle’s plush red imagery, Tony Leung and Maggie Cheung’s iconic costumes and the steamy script where a brushed stroke can refract a thousand words, IN THE MOOD – A LOVE LETTER TO WONG KAR-WAI & HONG KONG will preview new songs from Rainbow Chan’s forthcoming third album, original takes on the film’s classic theme, and even a choreographed Bossa Nova dance that takes us back to a simpler time. Are you in the mood for love?