2046

Genre: romantic drama
Director: Wong Kar-wai
Release: 2004
Studio: Block 2 Pictures et al. - Sony Pictures Classics
Rating: R
MBiS score: 8.1/10


“ Maybe One Day You'll Escape Your Past. If You Do, Look For Me. ”


Hong Kong, circa 1966. Journalist Chow Mo Wan (Tony Leung Chiu-wai) spends his leisure hours wooing women and working on a science fiction novel. “ In 2046, he writes in his manuscript, the world is criss-crossed by railroads. One notable destination is 2046, a region where people go to find lost memories. From there no traveller has ever returned, none except me. ” With Wang Sum (Mr. Wang, the hotel owner), Faye Wong (Jing Wen, one of the owner’s daughters), Ziyi Zhang (Bai Ling), Gong Li (Su Li Zhen), Maggie Cheung Man-yuk, Carina Lau Ka-ling (Lulu or Mimi), Takuya Kimura (Tak, the Japanese lover), Lam Siu-ping (Ping) and Dong Jie (Jiewen, the owner’s other daughter).

For your sake, I won’t beat around the bush: 2046 is a messy film or, more accurately, an arty, ravishing and poignant jumble involving the male protagonist from IN THE MOOD FOR LOVE (recently reviewed). If allowed to see just one of these loosely connected flicks, you should pick ITMFL because of its better structure and stronger appeal. Eventually, if you thirst for esoteric pleasures and have ample time on your hands, you may watch 2046 – preferably twice – to follow up on Chow’s misadventures with the fair sex.

As indicated above, the film follows two main characters, our journalist and his fictional hero of the future. Chow’s story is straightforward enough and much more interesting than his hero’s. Our dapper gentleman is still looking for love and, as you will find out, his prospects are abundant though rarely satisfying. His fictional creature faces a similar dilemma, but with only one love interest, an unresponsive android.

To make the most of this unusual, unpredictable and sometimes confusing movie, you should focus more on mood and less on plot… in the same way that poetry and prose use the same basic materials to attain very different goals. As was the case for ITMFL, 2046 offers little concrete action but a powerful emotional charge heightened if need be by an entrancing music score and elegant visuals. Like in those dazzling old movies from Hollywood, you will find glamour everywhere, in those tightly framed faces adoringly studied by the camera, in the sensuous pose of a woman daydreaming while puffing away at a cigarette, in those seductive and well-dressed characters tugging at each other’s heartstrings in the hope of igniting the fires of love. Among them, Chow and Bai Ling reign supreme with their impossible charisma and snappy, humorous banter; I can’t tell you how much Tony Leung Chiu-wai, as our journalist, reminded me of that lovable scoundrel Rhett Butler in GONE WITH THE WIND. By comparison, the futuristic passages of Chow’s novel are cryptic and cold despite their undeniable aesthetic flair.

So there you have it… 2046 is a magnificent cinematic experience about love and regret but also a confusing film that leads nowhere. To see or not to see? You know where I stand, but the decision is yours entirely.


MBiS

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