By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 5 cats
Director: Wong Kar-Wai
Starring: Faye Wong | Gong Li | Tony Leung | Zhang Zhiyi
Country: china, france, germany, hong_kong
Year: 2005
Running time: 129
IMDB: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0353969/combined
Thom says: “I was looking forward to seeing this film almost more than any other I knew about. With Wong Kar Wai as director and starring Tony Leung, Li Gong, Ziyi Zhang, Maggie Cheung, & Faye Wong how could it fail? It had been billed as a Sci-fi film but that is really a stretch as that element of this beauty is very minor, really only used as a metaphor. As beautiful to look at as any film you’re likely to see this year, the film moves at a very languorous pace, to the point of hypnotism at times. It reminded me great of Alain Resnais’ masterpiece LAST YEAR AT MARIENBAD, with its dreamy, hazy quality. Does anyone film people walking better than this director? For those that prefer Wong Kar Wai’s action films to HAPPY TOGETHER & IN THE MOOD FOR LOVE, you probably won’t love this film. Basically it’s the tale of a man that goes back & forth in time through the book he is writing, concentrating completely on his love life. The film is hopelessly romantic and after it is over you can’t stop thinking about it. I know most will think this blasphemy but I preferred it to IN THE MOOD FOR LOVE, mainly because it was more complicated. 5 CATS!!!!!”
Michael says: “** POSSIBLE SPOILERS**
“There are so many films that don’t cry out for sequels, yet at the same time, you find yourself wondering what happened to that character after the credits rolled? I never thought that IN THE MOOD FOR LOVE was one of these films, but I’m so glad that Wong Kar Wai decided to tell me what happened to Mr. Chow after the credits rolled anyway.
“The much-anticipated, and much-delayed 2046 is a complex, densely layered film the follows a man from Shanghai to Hong Kong in the mid to late 60’s. He leaves behind a stunning beauty in black (Gong Li) and enters a world of clubs and women, both of which he frequents between writing for the newspaper. He is clearly dealing with the loss of a great love in his past, but whether that is the woman he left behind in Shanghai, or something deeper, remains to be seen. He finds himself involved with two very different women while living at a small hotel. The first, Bai Ling (Zhang Zhiyi), is an exotic beauty who is used to being paid for her company. The second, Wang Jing Wen (Faye Wong), is pining for a boyfriend in Japan. While we see the man struggle with his relationships with these two women, we also see the science fiction story that he is writing. It is a story about a mysterious place called 2046, where people go to leave behind their secrets, and end up never returning from. The man writes about a Japanese man who is the only person to leave 2046, but that man is actually him, and the story is more about his past than his future.
“The film ends with his return to Shanghai, and revelations about his earlier relationship with the beautiful woman in black, and even more about the love that broke him. His journey has taken years, but in that time some of his emotional wounds have healed. There was some discussion after the film about how tragic it was, but Scot and I were talking about it afterwards, and we disagree. The film closes on a hopeful note; the man has moved beyond his past and is ready to enter the world emotionally whole again.
“2046 clearly requires multiple viewings, and I’m looking forward to the opportunity to do just that when it is released later this year. Wong Kar Wai has constructed a film of beauty, emotional pain, filled with metaphor and plot that leaves the viewer swooning with a love for film even while trying to digest the complex storyline. Tony Leung is riveting as the emotionally damaged man, and the women who he encounters, Gong Li, Zhang Zhiyi and the compelling Faye Wong (CHUNGKING
EXPRESS) are all outstanding. Not having seen PURPLE BUTTERFLY yet, here’s a film where Zhang Zhiyi shows me her acting chops. And it’s so wonderful to see Gong Li at last in a Wong Kar Wai film.
“Fortunately, like IN THE MOOD FOR LOVE, the cinematography is handled by the master, Christopher Doyle. He has some help here from Yiu-Fai Lai, with whom he shot INFERNAL AFFAIRS, and Pung-Leung Kwan. The color schemes, lighting, and fascinating framing are almost enough to simply enjoy the film for without paying attention to the dialogue. Of course, like his last film, with such gorgeous leads, it’s easy just to watch them interact.
“2046 is a rich and powerful film experience. You can get this one on DVD, but I strongly urge you to wait until you get to see it on the big screen. Or at the very least, if you just can’t wait, see it again when it does get to the big screen. An additional viewing is definitely worth it. 5 cats”
Bruce says: “2046 examines love from many angles. Wong’s operative axiom in this film is man’s innate need to recapture the lost memories of love. But that axiom has many corollaries: sacrificial love, unrequited love, unexpected love, and protective love. 2046 explores them all. ‘Looking for love, risking everything,’ is how the protagonist describes the elusive love, the one worthy of obsession.
“Mr. Chow (Tony Leung Chiu Wai) has never recuperated from his ill-fated romance with Su Li Zhen, the subject of IN THE MOOD FOR LOVE. To escape his anguish he moves to Singapore where he becomes a gambler deeply in debt. He meets a woman known as the Black Spider who is enveloped in mystery and lucky at the gambling tables. They strike an unusual bargain. She will gamble to get his money back; he will pay her a token commission. ‘Why?’ he asks. ‘Of all the men I’ve met you’ve been the best
to me,’ she replies. Throughout the film love is a motive for most of the action. Both Chow and the Black Spider (Li Gong) wish things were different between them but are wise enough to recognize a mistake before it is made. One senses she could love him; he could not return that love.
“Back in Hong Kong, Chow finds a cheap hotel where he rents room 2047. He becomes a voyeur first when the hotel owner’s daughter stays in the adjacent 2046 and continues the voyeurism when Bai Ling a high class prostitute moves in. He enters a torrid affair with Bai Ling because of her irresistible beauty. She falls madly in love but for Chow she is nothing more than a plaything. Chow is embarrassed by Bai Ling’s ardor and his own coyness. He is helpless to behave otherwise.
“Wang Jin Wen (Faye Wang), the hotel owner’s daughter falls in love with a handsome Japanese man but her father will not allow her to continue the relationship. After the young man moves back to Japan, Chow develops a collaborative relationship with her writing a martial arts novel. Chow falls in love, taken totally by surprise. Wang Jin Wen would have settled for Chow as second best. Chow’s token of love is his engineering of a reunion with the Japanese boyfriend.
“The flow of 2046 drifts in and out of the real world into fantasies which help ease Chow’s pain. To deal with his despair, Chow has written a sci-fi novel about traveling forward into space to gain the ability to recapture the past. The scenes with gorgeously made-up androids and Chow’s alter ego Tak are quite wonderful.
“The film is a visual masterpiece, stunning and entrancing. William Chang, a longtime Wong fixture, is in charge of both the production design and the editing which may explain why the physical environment of 2046 is on equal footing with the emotional architecture. The sets are filled with visual details that help tell the story. Christopher Doyle, Pung-Leung Kwan and Yiu-Fai Lai share the cinematography credits. For Wong Kar Wai the images drive the narrative more than the dialogue. That has been the case beginning with DAYS OF BEING WILD in 1991. Other contemporary luminaries of Asian cinema – Hou Hsaio-hsien, Tsai Ming-liang, Pen-Ek Ratanaruang and Kim Ki-duk are image driven directors as well. The music is lush and haunting. The soundtrack is perfectly matched to the themes of the film, part original efforts from Shigeru Umebayashi and Fassbinder collaborator Peer Raben and part excerpts from Connie Francis, Xavier Cugat, and Nat King Cole. Angela Gheorghiu sings the mesmerizing ‘Casta Diva’ and Maria Callas, an aria from ‘Il Pirata.’ The music is used repetitively as leitmotif lending an operatic air to the film.
“Ziyi Zhang more than acquits herself following her less than satisfying performances in HERO and PURPLE BUTTERFLY. She is both lovely and moving as the unrequited Bai Ling. I never tire of watching Tony Leung on screen. He acts with an economy of scale so that a twitch of the mouth or a tightening of the eye captures multiple emotions. It is impossible to imagine 2046 without him. 5 cats”
Diane says: “I didn’t like it. I acknowledge its great acting, sumptuous cinematography, complexity…but I was so disappointed in it as a sequel to one of my favorites. Maybe too much for my sleepy head. Two or three of the stories would have been plenty for me, but I guess that would negate the point. Narration really turns me off, too–was it that much in evidence in IN THE MOOD?”