SummaryPicking up where "In the Mood for Love" left off, 2046 is a visually seductive reverie of memory and regret, refracted through a serial womanizer's experiences with six women. (Sony Pictures Classics)
SummaryPicking up where "In the Mood for Love" left off, 2046 is a visually seductive reverie of memory and regret, refracted through a serial womanizer's experiences with six women. (Sony Pictures Classics)
This one of those 'must see before you die' things. It's one of my five favorite movies of all time. Visually it's stunning and mesmerising. The story is a puzzle that drags you in and keeps your eyes locked on the screen the whole time. Make sure you go to bathroom before pressing play.
As for the title, well, it made me think of Thomas Carlyle's wife, who read Browning's long poem "Sordello," enjoyed it, but still couldn't work out whether Sordello was a man, a city, or a book. So it is with 2046. A place? A date? A hotel room? A bar tab? You tell me.
At the beginning, I couldn't understand this film, it looks like a epic film of future like "Blade Runner" or "Dune" but, continuing, I watch that this film is a sequel of another movie, "In the Mood for Love"). "2046" is more different than "In the Mood for Love", it's more abstract, less direct. Result is well.
If it wasn't for Faye Wong's sub-plot, including the anime-esque Sci-fi sequences, I would haven't liked 2046. But it's the second half in general that changed my mind completely about the entire film. There are two main reasons I found the first half so underwhelming...
First, I felt that the character of Chow Mo-wan, played as usual by the great Tony Chiu-Wai Leung, is here nothing but a misogynistic scumbag. I was shocked that I found myself loathing this character even more than the purposely detestable character, Yuddy, from Days of Being Wild.
Secondly, and most importantly, is that the film simply didn't seem to be a Wong Kar-wai film to me. His poetic depiction of the themes of love and affection is totally absent here, and replaced with lust that's used as an object; not as a subject. And even the cinematography is so classy and filled with garish over-stylized visuals and colours. Nevertheless, the way Wong Kar-wai uses music to set the mood in his stories of lovers suffering from loneliness is still brilliantly evocative and poignant throughout the film's entire runtime, and as good as it was in all of Wong Kar-wai's film I've seen.
One of the of the highlights of the first half is the character of Bai Ling. Besides the fact that Ziyi Zhang delivered one of the finest performances here, I really found her character to be quite interesting character. And as much as the excessive sex scenes offended me; I liked the how intoxicating her relationships are, since they developed the character pretty well, and made it well-rounded.
The second half is otherwise a pure Wong Kar-wai magic! I was immensely worried that 2046 would be the second Wong Kar-wai film to leave me cold after Fallen Angels (which I like maybe even more than this), I finally found Wong Kar-wai's unique atmospheric mood at its most poetic. The overall theme of the film became completely clear, and I was really impressed by Wong Kar-wai's brilliant script, and how it managed to compensate for the uneven fake and sybaritic first half that I completely failed to be connected with on an emotional level.
The only thing that the second half didn't fix is that the lines, and some of the themes, Wong Kar-wai recycled from his other two films in his unofficial trilogy felt forced, and annoyed me with their lack of authenticity.
(6.5/10)
Despite the fact that it has been nominated for Palme d' Or in Cannes Film Festival and won six local awards in Hong Kong Film Awards this overrated movie (a drama/romance and sci-fi mixture) is aesthetically perfect but completely meaningless.
Kar Wai Wong, best knows for "In the Mood for Love" made this experimental two-hour movie of an original 5-hour (or so) material (thank god he didn't use all of it). The title of the film refers to the last year before the 50-year period the Chinese Government promised to let Hong Kong remain as it is (Hong Kong was returned to China in 1997). Of course this has little or nothing to do with the film (whose general idea is people searching love and their identity in a futuristic Hong Kong) which is non-sensical, completely delusional and will have you wonder whether you accidentally smoked some giant pot. Nevertheless the cinematography of the futuristic Hong Kong is so artistic and beautiful that it's worth watching just (and only) for that.
I personally find this film to be tedious and boring. I see so many people praising this film due to how spectacular it looks and feels. I agree that the filming technique and acting is wonderful but the whole thing just falls flat. It is painfully long which just ruins it. This is a movie that might have been interesting if the pacing weren't so horrible and the story was more interesting.
Production Company
Jet Tone Production,
Shanghai Film Group,
Orly Films,
Paradis Films,
Classic,
Precious Yield,
Arte France Cinéma,
France 3 Cinéma,
ZDF/Arte