"In the Mood For Love" and the state of American movies

I don't know about you, but I generally loathe romances and love stories in Hollywood movies, especially current ones. It's probably because of the way in which they present love as this simple, neat little package life drops in our laps from time to time rather than the complex, messy, often painful beast that it really is. Whenever I see a film that captures it's true nature - which happens rarely - I'm genuinely impressed.

Well, last night my girlfriend and I watched such a film, Kar Wai Wong's "In the Mood For Love", a delicately mannered drama in the same vein as Scorcesse's "The Age of Innocence", the story of two neighbors in 1960's Hong Kong whose spouses are having an affair with one another. The two of them form a fast friendship that blossoms into something much deeper, but they ultimately agree to avoid the dishonor of breaking their marriage vows. Short on plot, the primary focus of the film is on the character's turbulent emotions, brilliantly evoked through sumptuous imagery and tenderly wrought performances from the two leads (the always terrific Tony Leung and Maggie Cheung).
The cinematography and imagery in this movie are just to die for. This is one of those rare films that makes you feel like you're watching a moving painting, like you could literally take any single frame and throw up on your wall. There are images of loneliness and desolation in this film that will stay with you long after the end credits have rolled. Maybe even forever.
All of this left me wondering:
Why can't *we* (by we I mean America) make movies like this? Is it that our sensibilities are too naive? Or is it the opposite - because we're too jaded? I dunno, but it seems like every time my darling and I are in the mood for a romantic movie it seems like the one I end up throwing into the DVD player is in Cantonese or Mandarin with English subtitles? Why can't *we* make movies with this kind of poetic beauty, depth and maturity?
It's a shame that when a truly special film like this (which I'm not going to avoid calling a classic) gets made that it flies in under the radar here. Don't get me wrong - I think it's great that Hong Kong movies are finally getting mainstream theatrical releases here, it's just a shame that they all have to have Kung Fu in them.
Anyway, enough of my bitching. If you haven't seen this sparkling emerald of a movie, put it on your list. I can't guarantee you'll like it, but I can guarantee you'll never forget it.
Cheers,
B