CUBS READY TO SEE WHICH IMANAGA ARRIVES as the Chicago Cubs are closely watching pitcher , wondering which version will show up after his transition to MLB. Will the Cubs get the dynamic force who dominated in Japan, or a player who needs time to adjust? Fans are eagerly anticipating this unknown as Imanaga’s future in Chicago hangs in the balance. 👇👇👇

It’s Monday of a new week here at BCB After Dark: the grooviest hole-in-the-wall for night owls, early risers, new parents and Cubs fans abroad. Thanks for stopping by. The place seems empty without you. Come on in and join us. There’s no cover charge. The dress code is casual. The hostess will seat you now. Bring your own beverage.

BCB After Dark is the place for you to talk baseball, music, movies, or anything else you need to get off your chest, as long as it is within the rules of the site. The late-nighters are encouraged to get the party started, but everyone else is invited to join in as you wake up the next morning and into the afternoon.

Last week, I asked other than Team USA, who were you pulling for in the World Baseball Classic? Obviously there were 19 possible answers and 18 of the 19 countries got at least one vote. But Puerto Rico got the most with 16 percent of the vote and the Dominican Republic was second with 13 percent.

Here’s the part with the jazz and the movies. Feel free to skip it. But you might like it. You won’t hurt our feelings if you don’t.

Tonight I’m writing about the movie In the Mood for Love in the next section, so I thought I’d feature the Great American Songbook standard “I’m in the Mood for Love,” written by Jimmy McHugh and Dorothy Fields.

The actual title of the movie in Cantonese translates to “Age of Blossoms,” but director Wong Kar-Wai knew that idiom wouldn’t translate into English, so he struggled for an international title for his film. It wasn’t until he was in post-production that he heard Bryan Ferry singing “I’m in the Mood for Love” that he realized that that was the title to his movie.

Here is the great Charlie Parker performing it on his Charlie Parker with Strings album.

I’m getting back to my thoughts on the top ten movies in the 2022 BFI Sight & Sound critics poll of the greatest movies of all time. I got caught up with Citizen Kane and Tokyo Story, but now with the World Baseball Classic going on, I’m going to get back to my original idea of doing just some short capsules, although the first one got a little long today.

Today’s two films finished fifth and sixth in the most recent Sight & Sound poll. They are director Wong Kar-Wai’s In the Mood for Love and director Stanley Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey.

5. In the Mood for Love. (2000) Directed by Wong Kar-Wai. Starring Tony Leung and Maggie Cheung.

In the Mood for Love is an elegant love story that captures the pure aching sadness of love as well or better than any other film. Set in Hong Kong in 1962, the film paired two of the biggest stars in the world (Tony Leung and Maggie Cheung) in a carefully constructed love story where what isn’t said is more important than what is.

The plot of In the Mood for Love isn’t deep, but it gets the characters to where we need them to be. Mr. Chow (Leung) and Mrs. Chan (Cheung) become neighbors in an overcrowded building in Hong Kong. They both fled the Cultural Revolution in Mainland China (As Wong and his family had around this time) and while they aren’t poor, they’re forced to grab whatever lodgings they can find in crowded Hong Kong, no matter how small.

Both of their spouses are gone a lot and Wong wisely never shows either of them on camera. Mr. Chow and Mrs. Chan start spending a lot of time with each other out of loneliness and because it’s nearly impossible to avoid each other in this tiny space. They become friends but they worry about how it looks. They meet in secluded places so that no one thinks they’re having an affair.

But eventually, they realize their spouses are gone so much because they’re having an affair with each other. Both are deeply wounded by their spouses’ infidelity and they are pushed even closer to each other by the betrayal. Eventually, they realize what we’ve realized for a long time—Mr. Chow and Mrs. Chan are deeply in love with each other. But both of them know the pain and betrayal of infidelity and think “we’d be no better than them” if they consummated their love. Or at least, that’s what they both think the other one thinks.

I’m trying not to spoil the film, but this is one terribly sad love story of missed chances. Wong also smartly rejects any attempt to give these characters an easy way out of their predicament. But In the Mood for Love also highlights the beauty of love at every turn. Cheung reportedly spent 4 hours a day in makeup and wardrobe to get her into the pure image of beauty from Hong Kong in the early sixties. The same kind of care goes into recreating every small corner of Hong Kong of the period. (Most of the film was actually shot in Bangkok as Hong Kong of 2000 would have been unrecognizable to 1962 Hong Kong.) There’s even a noir feel of dark alleys, rain and cramped spaces with covered with shadows.

The film’s pace is slow and the scenes are more of a series of small stories that take place over a series of months and years. It’s left up to us to fill in what took place in between cuts. It’s also a “heavy” film with only a few light movements to ease the ache. The performances of Leung and Cheung are amazing and they’re able to convey their true feelings to us through looks and tone rather than words. They are aided by a soundtrack of period specific Hong Kong pop tunes as well as a lot of Nat King Cole.

Here’s the trailer for the 20th anniversary restoration of the film. You can get a sense of the amazing look of the film here. You may also pick up the Vertigo influences in the way that Wong uses color and camera angles.

Would I put it in my top ten? Probably. I only saw In the Mood for Love for the first time back around this past Christmas, but I could instantly tell that it was a classic. I might want to rewatch it before committing to putting it in the top ten, but it’s clear to me why the critics ranked it as high as they did. There aren’t many on-screen love stories as painful and honest as this one.

6. 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968) Directed by Stanley Kubrick. Starring Keir Dullea and Gary Lockwood.

I don’t want to go too much into 2001: A Space Odyssey because we just did a science fiction tournament where we talked about it a lot and it deservedly ended up winning it. You can go back and read what I wrote back in November. I know the criticisms of the film. It’s slow. There isn’t much dialogue. It’s more philosophical than it is about plot or action.

Even though there might be nothing significant in the film that would trip up the censors at the Production Board, this is a film that could only be made in the New Hollywood era. No other time would a studio (in this case MGM) give a director the freedom and money to make a movie like this. The film is more philosophical than action- or plot-driven. The ending is open to interpretation. The “star” of the film, Keir Dullea, doesn’t show up until nearly halfway through the film. Despite all this, it made a ton of money.

To this day, we still say “Open the pod bay doors, Hal” as a criticism of artificial intelligence. That’s how broad the film’s influence is.

Would I put it in my top ten? Yes. I don’t think it’s number one, but during the Science Fiction tournament, I hope I made my admiration for the film clear. I thought Blade Runner was the only other film in the running for the greatest science fiction film of all time and I agree that 2001 comes out on top.

If you need to be reminded of the brilliance and awe 2001: A Space Odyssey, here’s the trailer for the restoration.

Welcome back to everyone who skips that other stuff.

The Cubs are really counting on Shōta Imanaga this year. They were counting on him last year but by the playoffs, Imanaga’s game had fallen off so much that they couldn’t count on him anymore.

If you’ve been following along, you have at least some clue as to why Imanaga struggled down the stretch. Certainly the hamstring injury that cost him a chunk of the season played a role. The velocity on his fastball was down to 90.8 miles per hour, down from 91.7 in his rookie season. He also wasn’t locating the pitch as well and it was getting hit hard and in the air. That lead to a lot of home runs.

But so far this spring, Imanaga’s fastball seems to be back. It’s actually averaging 92.8 mph this spring. He’s still giving up home runs and maybe he always will, but that may be more of a factor in warm, dry Arizona and most of them have come with the bases empty.

Sahadev Sharma had a good article in The Athletic explaining what went wrong with Imanaga last year and what is different in Spring Training. (sub. req.) One area of concern is that that 92.8 mph velocity is partly because Imanaga is throwing 95 in the first inning and back down to 90 by the fourth. But that could just be a factor of getting back into shape.

So tonight I’m asking you what you expect out of Imanaga in 2026? Do you think a healthy Imanaga will be back to his 2024 form when he was an All-Star and finished fifth in Cy Young Award balloting? Or do you think that the Imanaga we got last year is the Imanaga the Cubs will get this year? Which one is he more likely to be?

Thanks for stopping by tonight. We appreciate your patronage. Drive home safely. Recycle any cans and bottles. Tip your waitstaff. Join us again tomorrow evening for more BCB After Dark.