Michael Galasso – Yumeji’s Theme – In The Mood For Love Soundtrack

Another lyric-less one.

I’m currently seeing a Taiwanese… um well a gangster-type guy I suppose I would define him, who has been woo-ing me for a while. We’ve had a few cultural clashes, but he perfectly suits my frame of mind at the moment. I’m slowly learning to appreciate the Taiwanese mentality when it comes to relationships. The fact that you don’t need to speak, to touch. That you can sit quietly. A look, a smile. A gesture which would not have been missed but which means a lot when noticed. The thoughtful ways through which you demonstrate your appreciation of a person… it’s not about opening a car door or tucking a strand of hair behind your loved one’s ear. That would be too flashy, too invasive. It’s little words, little gestures. A respect that I wasn’t expecting, a kindness that surprises me. He will be shouting into the phone about business and fights and deals, and then hang up and glance at my hands in my lap before sighing an apology… it makes no sense to a westerner, there are no words to explain a cultural phenomena that we don’t have. But there is such subtlety, such impliciteness. I’m learning that there is no need to push things, to say things which have no point in being said.

It’s not a language thing. It’s not because we wouldn’t understand each other; when we speak Chinese we always get out point across and he is very patient. In Chinese there is a word, 默契, which means tacit understanding, silent or unspoken agreement. I feel that we have that moqi…

In The Mood For Love explores that unspoken but silently shared appreciation of another person. That it can be enough to just be near a person, knowing they share that feeling.

~ by orange on June 28, 2007.