In the Mood for Love sees Wong Kar-Wai abandon the overtly experimental style that has characterised his recent work to opt for more traditional tactics in tracing the hesitant love affair between cuckolded Hong Kong neighbours, Maggie Cheung and Tony Leung, writes David Parkinson.

Recalling the glossily melodramatic visuals of Douglas Sirk, as well as echoing Tsai Ming-liang's The Hole and Frderic Fonteyne's Une Liaison Pornographique, Wong re-creates the 1960s ambience with the same accumulation of detail that made his earlier Days of Being Wild so authentic. But, like that film, form takes precedence over content. Similarly, the action shifts location towards its conclusion, giving the impression that a screenplay that had been much altered over a 14-month period had received one last (and rather hasty) tweak.

Creating credible characters out of almost nothing, the performances are masterly, while Christopher Doyle and Mark Li Ping-Bing's photography is achingly beautiful. It's a genuinely romantic romance, and sublime cinema.