245 commentaires
The title of the film, "2046," refers both to a time in the future and to a hotel room in the past. Chow Mo Wan is a writer living in Hong Kong in the mid to late 1960's. The hotel room he rents is right next door to Room 2046, whose various residents, all beautiful but troubled women, he observes and interacts with and puts into his fiction, a sci-fi story entitled "2046," about a futuristic world in which people desperate for love and happiness journey to an unspecified place called 2046 where, we are told, love remains eternal and nothing ever changes. Chow's literary work also reflects much of what he himself feels about women, love and relationships. It's not always easy following the time shifts and parallel stories upon which this multi-level narrative is constructed, but "2046" is a mesmerizing film for anyone willing and open enough to give himself over to the experience.
At the start, the film feels episodic and disjointed, as writer/director Kar Wai Wong reveals in gradual stages the complex story he is telling. We can tell that this is a movie that will require our full and undivided attention if we hope to enter into the minds of the filmmakers and make any real sense at all out of it. But after some initial confusion, most of the early ambiguity begins to fade away as the major themes and characters come to the fore. Chow is a man who has clearly lost the love of his life and who has since been trying to come to terms with that fact in his later dealings with women. He has made a decision - whether conscious or unconscious we are never really sure - to keep women at arm's length, being willing to bed or help them but not allowing himself to enter into any permanent or meaningful relationships with them. Instead, he uses his writing to express those yearnings for true companionship that he cannot allow himself to act upon in real life.
Unlike many Chinese films, which enact their tales against expansive landscapes bathed in glorious sunlight and vibrant colors, "2046" is set in a claustrophobic world of dingy rooms and darkened hallways, with the camera almost never journeying outdoors or even pulling very far back from the actors in the frame. The effect of this is to plunge us fully into the world and minds of the characters, particularly that of Chow, whose thoughts and musings become the canvas on which the story is painted. Tony Leung Chiu Wai gives a subtle, masterful performance as do the various actresses who play the women in his life. It is his affair with Bai Ling, a beautiful prostitute who wants more out of their relationship than Chow is willing to give, that leaves the greatest mark on our heart.
There are times when the movie seems almost too fancy and showy for its own good, when the simplicity of the theme gets buried under the complexity and artiness of the filmmaker's style. But this is, for the most part, a challenging and stimulating work that moves us even when we don't fully understand it.
At the start, the film feels episodic and disjointed, as writer/director Kar Wai Wong reveals in gradual stages the complex story he is telling. We can tell that this is a movie that will require our full and undivided attention if we hope to enter into the minds of the filmmakers and make any real sense at all out of it. But after some initial confusion, most of the early ambiguity begins to fade away as the major themes and characters come to the fore. Chow is a man who has clearly lost the love of his life and who has since been trying to come to terms with that fact in his later dealings with women. He has made a decision - whether conscious or unconscious we are never really sure - to keep women at arm's length, being willing to bed or help them but not allowing himself to enter into any permanent or meaningful relationships with them. Instead, he uses his writing to express those yearnings for true companionship that he cannot allow himself to act upon in real life.
Unlike many Chinese films, which enact their tales against expansive landscapes bathed in glorious sunlight and vibrant colors, "2046" is set in a claustrophobic world of dingy rooms and darkened hallways, with the camera almost never journeying outdoors or even pulling very far back from the actors in the frame. The effect of this is to plunge us fully into the world and minds of the characters, particularly that of Chow, whose thoughts and musings become the canvas on which the story is painted. Tony Leung Chiu Wai gives a subtle, masterful performance as do the various actresses who play the women in his life. It is his affair with Bai Ling, a beautiful prostitute who wants more out of their relationship than Chow is willing to give, that leaves the greatest mark on our heart.
There are times when the movie seems almost too fancy and showy for its own good, when the simplicity of the theme gets buried under the complexity and artiness of the filmmaker's style. But this is, for the most part, a challenging and stimulating work that moves us even when we don't fully understand it.
Movies, due to dubbing, are usually late in Germany. While the rest of the world is enjoying, or has finished enjoying their movies, we are still waiting here. Except when it comes to many of the new Asian movies.
2046 was the same. Already released on DVD me and my girlfriend were quite interested in seeing it. Having already seen "In the Mood for Love" we were looking forward to something much the same, except hopefully a little faster in pace and emotionally-heated. I thought I was going to be the Hero renting a romance (which I don't normally go for) but it turned out to be a disappointment.
Perhaps it is not so much the fault of the movie, but of the trailers that lead you to believe that the movie is something that it isn't.
The movie is, like many other films from Kar Wai Wong, a visual masterpiece in my opinion. I was riveted to the images he is truly a modern painter. This is not to be underestimated. This is enough to get you through the whole movie, despite its crawling pace. Simply for the images I can understand that many viewers would love this movie.
But it takes more then that to make the "ultimate love movie" (as it was advertised here in Germany). I found many parts in the movie confusing and mixed up, I got the impression towards the end that the movie might not be in chronological order. If it isn't, then there is much more to investigate for me, if it is, then I have to say that the movie isn't that clear, and that the characters motives and feelings are not always properly portrayed.
If this was a book, I would love to read it. Simply to get into the heads of the characters and find out what they were thinking, what was driving them, and how they were feeling. Perhaps that is what is left out, perhaps that is why we find it so odd here in the West. We are used to romances being opened and voiced, and usually simple. We are not used to people feeling emotions but hiding their motives behind those emotions, which might be more understood in a conservative society such as China.
This is a movie I would love to own, and watch over and over again, just to try to understand if there is any magic hidden that cannot be seen at the first watching. I would not be surprised if that is how it is, but the long dragging scenes might hinder me from sitting though it more then 2 more times, because it drags. Perhaps next time Kar Wai Wong should hire a brutal editor and good writer to get his ideas out, because this movie had greater potential then what it became. Still, for me it gets 7/10 : its far from BAD.
2046 was the same. Already released on DVD me and my girlfriend were quite interested in seeing it. Having already seen "In the Mood for Love" we were looking forward to something much the same, except hopefully a little faster in pace and emotionally-heated. I thought I was going to be the Hero renting a romance (which I don't normally go for) but it turned out to be a disappointment.
Perhaps it is not so much the fault of the movie, but of the trailers that lead you to believe that the movie is something that it isn't.
The movie is, like many other films from Kar Wai Wong, a visual masterpiece in my opinion. I was riveted to the images he is truly a modern painter. This is not to be underestimated. This is enough to get you through the whole movie, despite its crawling pace. Simply for the images I can understand that many viewers would love this movie.
But it takes more then that to make the "ultimate love movie" (as it was advertised here in Germany). I found many parts in the movie confusing and mixed up, I got the impression towards the end that the movie might not be in chronological order. If it isn't, then there is much more to investigate for me, if it is, then I have to say that the movie isn't that clear, and that the characters motives and feelings are not always properly portrayed.
If this was a book, I would love to read it. Simply to get into the heads of the characters and find out what they were thinking, what was driving them, and how they were feeling. Perhaps that is what is left out, perhaps that is why we find it so odd here in the West. We are used to romances being opened and voiced, and usually simple. We are not used to people feeling emotions but hiding their motives behind those emotions, which might be more understood in a conservative society such as China.
This is a movie I would love to own, and watch over and over again, just to try to understand if there is any magic hidden that cannot be seen at the first watching. I would not be surprised if that is how it is, but the long dragging scenes might hinder me from sitting though it more then 2 more times, because it drags. Perhaps next time Kar Wai Wong should hire a brutal editor and good writer to get his ideas out, because this movie had greater potential then what it became. Still, for me it gets 7/10 : its far from BAD.
- matthewbowles
- 4 août 2005
- Permalien
2046 was directed by Kar Wai Wong, who also directed In the Mood for Love. This film is also lyrical, deliberately paced, and very romantic.
Without giving too much away, the film takes place in Hong Kong and Singapore in the 60's. The main character, Chow, is a writer and womanizer. Part of the story takes place in his work, a science fiction tale called 2046.
The story is told out of sequence, with past and present jumbled. In a clever use of irony, we gradually understand that the future is being used to tell the past. Some scenes are presented early, in a way that is confusing until the context is presented later.
There are 3 female characters who are in his life, and the story is segmented accordingly.
The cinematography is beautiful. Interestingly, Wong uses 3 colors nearly exclusively: Blood red, sea green, and yellow. Sometimes he will use light to make those colors stand out, other times it is the objects themselves which are in that color.
I would characterize the story as one of love and loss. There is one poignant scene where, after he realizes what has been happening, he states that timing is crucial in love.
The film is well acted, the characters are understandable if not necessarily ones we can identify with, and the story gradually allows itself to be revealed, a peek here and a peek there, until all the pieces fall into place.
Turn off the lights, cuddle up with a glass of wine, and see this one. Well worth it.
Without giving too much away, the film takes place in Hong Kong and Singapore in the 60's. The main character, Chow, is a writer and womanizer. Part of the story takes place in his work, a science fiction tale called 2046.
The story is told out of sequence, with past and present jumbled. In a clever use of irony, we gradually understand that the future is being used to tell the past. Some scenes are presented early, in a way that is confusing until the context is presented later.
There are 3 female characters who are in his life, and the story is segmented accordingly.
The cinematography is beautiful. Interestingly, Wong uses 3 colors nearly exclusively: Blood red, sea green, and yellow. Sometimes he will use light to make those colors stand out, other times it is the objects themselves which are in that color.
I would characterize the story as one of love and loss. There is one poignant scene where, after he realizes what has been happening, he states that timing is crucial in love.
The film is well acted, the characters are understandable if not necessarily ones we can identify with, and the story gradually allows itself to be revealed, a peek here and a peek there, until all the pieces fall into place.
Turn off the lights, cuddle up with a glass of wine, and see this one. Well worth it.
- myfavoriteartform
- 31 déc. 2005
- Permalien
I love story with impact, new ideas and rich characters. I love exploring the mechanics of the thing. There are few films like 2046 proposing radical new ways of vicariously experiencing time and place. Easily misunderstood or confusing, it can be. Understanding and completing the 'story' in these kinds of films doesn't occur in the films themselves. We complete them in the realm of reflection, experience, and assumptions made in how to reflect, collect, categorize, and morph them with our own life stories. Sometimes these films are just a call to empathize with the filmmaker.
Wong Kar Kai is a filmmaker who calls for a personal empathy. He works to capture all the unique dynamics of romance, and how they bend our sense of time and space.
He turns his camera every which angle to try and find new vocabulary for telling a story. Well, he doesn't tell stories, he asks whether stories are found in relationships. We get pieces of stories on top of hidden stories, our focus shifts from "story" to emergent feelings out of the glimpses.
This is sophisticated, and scary when unprepared for the exotic nature. We want the familiar, but are given delicately meandering puzzles, opaque hints at beginnings, middles, and endings. Just like we don't always know at what point our own stories are unfolding. But we know the emotional states as they are lived.
Since 2046 lacks many standard cadences, it is a struggle to follow the statement through the movements. These are not even vignettes, these are a seamless series of leaps that push and pull like the emotions of day to day life. They have an indecisive flux we hope is asymptotically reaching a conclusion, but they just keep coalescing and spilling over into the imagined future from where no one has yet returned. Once we think we have moved beyond the past do we then realize that we create an unknown future by attempting to reconstruct the past in the present.
And so the main character is a writer of 'fiction' (this very movie) who through the process of embedding real life circumstances into his science fiction he also tries to determine if there is a destination this is all heading. 2046 is a place you visit to relive unchanging memories so that you will never change. Alternately, 2046 is also a time existent only within a science fiction novel when people will access substitute lovers without the haunts of what broke them in the past. So they think.
He has already been damaged by the loss of an impossible standard that cannot be met by another (see In the Mood for Love first!). So in his novel, lovers become characters. Feelings become fictional ornamentations in the future. In the present, he cannot connect with the women who come and go. In the fiction, the lack of connection is simply a matter of technological limitations.
Think about what happens in the aftermath of a failed relationship or a missed opportunity. We may grieve, but also sometimes we obsessively construct a future fantasy based on what should have happened if things had gone right; if only some vital detail didn't change things how it did. We inhabit that imagined future and interact with our counterpart ghost, making plans and times and places accordingly. We might use this process as a shield and a warning. Or it sabotages, taking on a life of its own as a mental blueprint, directing the actual present and perceptions of new companions.
Lush, poetic cinematography fills each second of this film to great mood inducing effects. In 1960's Hong Kong, where the bulk of the events take place, the dynamics of romantic encounters hide in unassuming corners of that society, only brought to light by looking at the normal world in very abnormal ways. One almost gets the impression that set pieces and abstract designations were literally dreamed up. The camera often cramps our frame of vision. Various off-center closeups which in a sense shut out the outside world, but paradoxically bring it all in to bear. There are many places where the camera does not seem to have a good shot of a character or an event, we the viewers were just unlucky to miss the opportunity of getting the full revelation of something.
And it frustrates; we want to know everything but get very little by way of visual exposition. We are forced to work on the clues, the voice overs, the symmetrical accidents in different centuries and different countries. This is not analogous to idly putting together a complex puzzle set, this is reconstructing a mystery while at the same time being on the verge of shedding tears at the quiet understanding that it isn't a mystery, it's life with a character who mediates between reality and fantasy to deal with it all. I know the kinds of things this film is about, but I've never looked at them from this stance before. As is often the case, the artist (here the writer/filmmaker) is just the one who experiences what the rest of us experience and talks about its secrets rather than conceals them.
See this film if you want to know how it's possible to visually show the invisible, inner turbulence and romantic visions that tend to hide from the outside world. On the whole, 2046 weaves in the present a future fiction invaded by the past, bred by the throes of confronting the human faces of opportunities that appear, disappear, reappear and fade and collapse into each other.
Wong Kar Kai is a filmmaker who calls for a personal empathy. He works to capture all the unique dynamics of romance, and how they bend our sense of time and space.
He turns his camera every which angle to try and find new vocabulary for telling a story. Well, he doesn't tell stories, he asks whether stories are found in relationships. We get pieces of stories on top of hidden stories, our focus shifts from "story" to emergent feelings out of the glimpses.
This is sophisticated, and scary when unprepared for the exotic nature. We want the familiar, but are given delicately meandering puzzles, opaque hints at beginnings, middles, and endings. Just like we don't always know at what point our own stories are unfolding. But we know the emotional states as they are lived.
Since 2046 lacks many standard cadences, it is a struggle to follow the statement through the movements. These are not even vignettes, these are a seamless series of leaps that push and pull like the emotions of day to day life. They have an indecisive flux we hope is asymptotically reaching a conclusion, but they just keep coalescing and spilling over into the imagined future from where no one has yet returned. Once we think we have moved beyond the past do we then realize that we create an unknown future by attempting to reconstruct the past in the present.
And so the main character is a writer of 'fiction' (this very movie) who through the process of embedding real life circumstances into his science fiction he also tries to determine if there is a destination this is all heading. 2046 is a place you visit to relive unchanging memories so that you will never change. Alternately, 2046 is also a time existent only within a science fiction novel when people will access substitute lovers without the haunts of what broke them in the past. So they think.
He has already been damaged by the loss of an impossible standard that cannot be met by another (see In the Mood for Love first!). So in his novel, lovers become characters. Feelings become fictional ornamentations in the future. In the present, he cannot connect with the women who come and go. In the fiction, the lack of connection is simply a matter of technological limitations.
Think about what happens in the aftermath of a failed relationship or a missed opportunity. We may grieve, but also sometimes we obsessively construct a future fantasy based on what should have happened if things had gone right; if only some vital detail didn't change things how it did. We inhabit that imagined future and interact with our counterpart ghost, making plans and times and places accordingly. We might use this process as a shield and a warning. Or it sabotages, taking on a life of its own as a mental blueprint, directing the actual present and perceptions of new companions.
Lush, poetic cinematography fills each second of this film to great mood inducing effects. In 1960's Hong Kong, where the bulk of the events take place, the dynamics of romantic encounters hide in unassuming corners of that society, only brought to light by looking at the normal world in very abnormal ways. One almost gets the impression that set pieces and abstract designations were literally dreamed up. The camera often cramps our frame of vision. Various off-center closeups which in a sense shut out the outside world, but paradoxically bring it all in to bear. There are many places where the camera does not seem to have a good shot of a character or an event, we the viewers were just unlucky to miss the opportunity of getting the full revelation of something.
And it frustrates; we want to know everything but get very little by way of visual exposition. We are forced to work on the clues, the voice overs, the symmetrical accidents in different centuries and different countries. This is not analogous to idly putting together a complex puzzle set, this is reconstructing a mystery while at the same time being on the verge of shedding tears at the quiet understanding that it isn't a mystery, it's life with a character who mediates between reality and fantasy to deal with it all. I know the kinds of things this film is about, but I've never looked at them from this stance before. As is often the case, the artist (here the writer/filmmaker) is just the one who experiences what the rest of us experience and talks about its secrets rather than conceals them.
See this film if you want to know how it's possible to visually show the invisible, inner turbulence and romantic visions that tend to hide from the outside world. On the whole, 2046 weaves in the present a future fiction invaded by the past, bred by the throes of confronting the human faces of opportunities that appear, disappear, reappear and fade and collapse into each other.
This film is the autobiographical narrative of a writer's love life between 4 women back in 1960's, and his imaginative reality on board of the train 2046.
This film is very beautifully made. It is atmospheric, with excellent cinematography and a very beautiful classical soundtrack. The story weaves from one relationship to another without getting confusing, even though they do not occur in chronological order. The emotions portrayed are rich and varied. I am particularly impressed by Ziyi Zhang's performance in the film as a woman who makes the transition from being strong willed and independent woman to being desperately in love. The plot is complex and will require many viewings to understand what it is about. There is a lot of imagery in the film, and many of them I have not been able to spot if I had not read the other comments here. This film is really a piece of art!
This film is very beautifully made. It is atmospheric, with excellent cinematography and a very beautiful classical soundtrack. The story weaves from one relationship to another without getting confusing, even though they do not occur in chronological order. The emotions portrayed are rich and varied. I am particularly impressed by Ziyi Zhang's performance in the film as a woman who makes the transition from being strong willed and independent woman to being desperately in love. The plot is complex and will require many viewings to understand what it is about. There is a lot of imagery in the film, and many of them I have not been able to spot if I had not read the other comments here. This film is really a piece of art!
Without a doubt "2046" is one of the most impressive Chinese films that I have seen. It invites the viewer to a world of time (year 2046, when Hong Kong truly integrates with mainland China; the past, the present, and the future of the storyteller) and space (the hotel rooms 2046 and 2047). The film urges the viewer to look at the future with nostalgia for the past (not its achievements, rather its missed opportunities). On the face of it all, it appears the battleground of the four dimensions revolve around man-woman relationships. But the director teases the viewer, is that all that is presented? "2046" probably eclipses Hollywood's "Matrix" and "Minority Report" in its elliptical story-telling. "2046" is a heady mix of fine screenplay, alluring cinematography and clever choice of music. Not having seen the prequel to this film, I might be at a disadvantage at appreciating several nuances.
I saw the film during the recent Dubai Film Festival within 24 hours of two other engaging films: "Kong Kue" (Peacock) a brilliant Chinese film and the Italian film "Consequences of Love" and I cannot but help compare the three. "Kong Kue" leaves you satisfied of having seen a great film, "Consequences of Love" makes you marvel at how Buster Keaton and Tati can be creatively adapted to contemporary tastes (with similar symbolic hotel rooms as in "2046"), and "2046" enthralls the intelligent viewer without satiating his intellect. "2046," unlike the other, two does require more than one viewing.
While all three are major films, one fact is quite evident--the current decade seems to belong to serious Chinese cinema, just as the previous decade belonged to Iranian cinema.
I saw the film during the recent Dubai Film Festival within 24 hours of two other engaging films: "Kong Kue" (Peacock) a brilliant Chinese film and the Italian film "Consequences of Love" and I cannot but help compare the three. "Kong Kue" leaves you satisfied of having seen a great film, "Consequences of Love" makes you marvel at how Buster Keaton and Tati can be creatively adapted to contemporary tastes (with similar symbolic hotel rooms as in "2046"), and "2046" enthralls the intelligent viewer without satiating his intellect. "2046," unlike the other, two does require more than one viewing.
While all three are major films, one fact is quite evident--the current decade seems to belong to serious Chinese cinema, just as the previous decade belonged to Iranian cinema.
- JuguAbraham
- 9 janv. 2006
- Permalien
Review: 2046 (2004) By Ken Lee
Several years in the making and highly anticipated, _2046_ (2004) should pacify director Wong Kar Wai's fans, at least, for its end-of-an-era feel and look. At its core, this is a decidedly (or deceptively) simple movie, in spite of its fractured and non-linear narrative. It tells the tale of an emotionally wrecked man, Chow Mo Wan (played by Tony Leung), a reprised character from Wong's critically acclaimed earlier oeuver, _In the Mood for Love (2000)_, and the many beautiful women he keeps and fails to keep, in a time-space continuance that is laden with sepia-tinted memories: a monologue, if you will, of Chow's torrid love affairs, love spats, and the ensuing heartbreaks resulting, no doubt, from the pangs of a failed liaison Chow is trying to escape. It'd appear that the failed relation with Su Lizhen (Maggie Cheung) in _In the Mood for Love_, who has a "special appearance" in this film, has changed Chow irrevocably, which is key to understanding Chow's troubled soul.
But it is not a sequel necessarily, per se, to _In the Mood for Love_. This film can still be watched on its own, though it'd certainly help if you could link moments in _2046_ to the director's earlier works, for it's laden with jumbled continuity (take the character of Lulu, for example, first seen in _Days of Being Wild (1991)_), hidden meanings (read: Neo-Godardian) and other fun stuff, sorta an insider's joke, if you dig such esoteric things. But I digress. And it's been said that this is a culmination of all the previous filmic experience of director Wong (bordering on narcissism); hence its "end-of-an-era" feel and look is duly appreciated and a point well taken.
In _2046_, Chow's isn't an easily likable character owing to the frailty and the vagaries of his own personal emotions and peccadilloes, but that makes him only human and real, and his character, believable. Take the following exchange:
Su Lizhen (Gong Li) to Chow Mo Wan (Tony Leung): Do you know my past?
Professional gambler Su (she who is of the same name as that of Maggie's character in _In the Mood for Love_) asked Chow, dissonantly, questioning the latter essentially whether there is a future for the both of them, if he cannot forget his past. And it's for the same reason, or so we're led to believe, that Bai Ling (Zhang Ziyi) is left devastated, as Chow cannot treat her any differently from the scores of other women he's seeing; hence eliciting the following memorable line from Bai which I'm sure speaks to most of us one way or another:
Bai Ling (Zhang Ziyi) to Chow Mo Wan (Tony Leung): You may not like me. But I'll like you all the same.
What fools we are made by love. :)
Contrasting Chow as a man who dwells in the past and in need of closure to move on, Tak (Kimura Takuya) isn't ambiguous when it comes to matters of the heart.
Tak (Kimura Takuya) to Wang Jingwen (Faye Wong): I do not know what your answer may be. (I dread to know.) But I need to know.
Here is a man who is not afraid to love and says his love. And he needs to know if his love is unrequited. And in seeking happiness, the message seems to be that there is no other way. Now why does this remind me of all the sorry tales with which we are all-too-familiar with men-who-cannot-commit-or-decide? :) And so the film is thusly replete with impressions of repeated variations of the same theme: the pointlessness of returning to the past. Which is why we have the following line:
Bai Ling (Zhang Ziyi) to Chow Mo Wan (Tony Leung): Why can't it be like before? (The same reason why nobody returns on the 2046 train, in Chow's sci-fi novel of the same name. Seen in this light, it is also a double-entendre for director Wong: Why can't this film be like the one before in the form of _In the Mood for Love_? Where does he go from here?)
Those familiar with Wong's earlier works will notice his signatures throughout: quick cutting, slow motion, fast motion, freeze frames, black and white, tilt shots, color filters, neon-sign lighting, aided ably by three able cinematographers. Production value of _2046_ is expectedly top-notch. Music by Shigeru Umebayashi is haunting and sets the right mood. Zhang Suping (William Chang Suk Ping) does a wonderful job in creating an enrapturing atmosphere set in the late '60s.
How great it is, in an otherwise desolate world of unease, vulnerability, hopelessness, and pathos, we have directors such as Wong to feast our senses. Highly recommended.
Several years in the making and highly anticipated, _2046_ (2004) should pacify director Wong Kar Wai's fans, at least, for its end-of-an-era feel and look. At its core, this is a decidedly (or deceptively) simple movie, in spite of its fractured and non-linear narrative. It tells the tale of an emotionally wrecked man, Chow Mo Wan (played by Tony Leung), a reprised character from Wong's critically acclaimed earlier oeuver, _In the Mood for Love (2000)_, and the many beautiful women he keeps and fails to keep, in a time-space continuance that is laden with sepia-tinted memories: a monologue, if you will, of Chow's torrid love affairs, love spats, and the ensuing heartbreaks resulting, no doubt, from the pangs of a failed liaison Chow is trying to escape. It'd appear that the failed relation with Su Lizhen (Maggie Cheung) in _In the Mood for Love_, who has a "special appearance" in this film, has changed Chow irrevocably, which is key to understanding Chow's troubled soul.
But it is not a sequel necessarily, per se, to _In the Mood for Love_. This film can still be watched on its own, though it'd certainly help if you could link moments in _2046_ to the director's earlier works, for it's laden with jumbled continuity (take the character of Lulu, for example, first seen in _Days of Being Wild (1991)_), hidden meanings (read: Neo-Godardian) and other fun stuff, sorta an insider's joke, if you dig such esoteric things. But I digress. And it's been said that this is a culmination of all the previous filmic experience of director Wong (bordering on narcissism); hence its "end-of-an-era" feel and look is duly appreciated and a point well taken.
In _2046_, Chow's isn't an easily likable character owing to the frailty and the vagaries of his own personal emotions and peccadilloes, but that makes him only human and real, and his character, believable. Take the following exchange:
Su Lizhen (Gong Li) to Chow Mo Wan (Tony Leung): Do you know my past?
Professional gambler Su (she who is of the same name as that of Maggie's character in _In the Mood for Love_) asked Chow, dissonantly, questioning the latter essentially whether there is a future for the both of them, if he cannot forget his past. And it's for the same reason, or so we're led to believe, that Bai Ling (Zhang Ziyi) is left devastated, as Chow cannot treat her any differently from the scores of other women he's seeing; hence eliciting the following memorable line from Bai which I'm sure speaks to most of us one way or another:
Bai Ling (Zhang Ziyi) to Chow Mo Wan (Tony Leung): You may not like me. But I'll like you all the same.
What fools we are made by love. :)
Contrasting Chow as a man who dwells in the past and in need of closure to move on, Tak (Kimura Takuya) isn't ambiguous when it comes to matters of the heart.
Tak (Kimura Takuya) to Wang Jingwen (Faye Wong): I do not know what your answer may be. (I dread to know.) But I need to know.
Here is a man who is not afraid to love and says his love. And he needs to know if his love is unrequited. And in seeking happiness, the message seems to be that there is no other way. Now why does this remind me of all the sorry tales with which we are all-too-familiar with men-who-cannot-commit-or-decide? :) And so the film is thusly replete with impressions of repeated variations of the same theme: the pointlessness of returning to the past. Which is why we have the following line:
Bai Ling (Zhang Ziyi) to Chow Mo Wan (Tony Leung): Why can't it be like before? (The same reason why nobody returns on the 2046 train, in Chow's sci-fi novel of the same name. Seen in this light, it is also a double-entendre for director Wong: Why can't this film be like the one before in the form of _In the Mood for Love_? Where does he go from here?)
Those familiar with Wong's earlier works will notice his signatures throughout: quick cutting, slow motion, fast motion, freeze frames, black and white, tilt shots, color filters, neon-sign lighting, aided ably by three able cinematographers. Production value of _2046_ is expectedly top-notch. Music by Shigeru Umebayashi is haunting and sets the right mood. Zhang Suping (William Chang Suk Ping) does a wonderful job in creating an enrapturing atmosphere set in the late '60s.
How great it is, in an otherwise desolate world of unease, vulnerability, hopelessness, and pathos, we have directors such as Wong to feast our senses. Highly recommended.
Being an avid fan of Wong Kar Wei, I must say that I'm really disappointed with this offering. Very much style over substance and overly long, 2046 could do with a bit more story telling.
None of the stories seem very interesting and one might surmise that Wong has dried up on ideas. The performances were good and the film is visually stunning (as with all works by Chris Doyle). However, it just doesn't move you as much as his previous works. And though there's always some suspicion in previous films of some link or reference to an earlier film (usually Days of Being Wild), this is the only offering where the references are less than subtle.
I'm sure this film will still impress newcomers but for those who have followed him the last 15 years, it's best to lower your expectations.
Johnny To (another HK director) once said that Wong wasn't doing anything new in his films. With 2046, I'm inclined to agree.
None of the stories seem very interesting and one might surmise that Wong has dried up on ideas. The performances were good and the film is visually stunning (as with all works by Chris Doyle). However, it just doesn't move you as much as his previous works. And though there's always some suspicion in previous films of some link or reference to an earlier film (usually Days of Being Wild), this is the only offering where the references are less than subtle.
I'm sure this film will still impress newcomers but for those who have followed him the last 15 years, it's best to lower your expectations.
Johnny To (another HK director) once said that Wong wasn't doing anything new in his films. With 2046, I'm inclined to agree.
- edward_tan
- 21 mars 2005
- Permalien
I went to watch 2046 after reading millions and millions of interviews and reviews... seriously, it was really difficult to keep an open mind about a movie as talked about as this... imagine 5 years of anticipation.
I started watching trying my very best to keep an open mind, but after a while... i realize i din have to, gradually, my mind just goes on this journey with the story, gone were the reviews and interviews and comments. During the movie, i did not think about anything else except wat was happening in the movie. There is so much in this movie that i think i could write a novel about it.
This movie is about perceptions and memories. how a memory can dictate the way a person lives his or her life. The stories of the many girls are seen thru the eyes of the charismatic and talented Tony Leung. There are many girls in his life. All these girls have a story, a story as seen and perceived by Zhou Mu Yun.
The first story would definitely be the story of the first Su Li Zhen (Maggie Cheung) and Zhou Mu Yun, this is the story that shaped Zhou's life, even though in this movie, Maggie only appears in a few shots. but the basis is all laid out in "In the Mood for Love".
The second story is lulu's (Carina Lau) story. The meeting described by Zhou took place in the time span after "Days of Being Wild". I find it such a pity that Wong Kar Wai edited out so much of Lulu's story. I would really wish to have seen more of it.
Then there is the story of the second Su Li Zhen in Singapore. The mysterious woman who wears one black glove. Zhou finds new solace in her. Using her to fill up the gap left by the first Su.
The saddest story in in movie will have to be Bai Yun's(ZHang ZiYi). She definite loves Zhou with all her heart, but he treats her like a pro. At some point in the movie, i wanted to slap both Bai and Zhou. Bai for being so lovelorn, and Zhou for being so stupid, the girls he love wouldn't leave with him, now the girl that loves him so much, he refused her over and over.
The last, and definitely my favourite story would definitely be Wong Jing Wen's(Faye Wong), any mandarin speaking person would know that Wong Jing Wen is the moniker Faye Wong went with when she first started singing. Anyway... all these while i never thought Faye could act, but i guess with no anticipation, there wont be disappointment. And Faye proved that her portrayal of the hotel proprietor's daughter. Wong is the only woman in the movie that is not romantically linked to Zhou, although it was hinted that he was in love with her. Wong and her Japanese boyfriend(Takuya Kimura) were in love but Proprietor Wong refused to even meet the boy. Undaunted Takuya asked Wong to leave with him, but her refusal to give him an answer span the very basis of 2046, which Zhou aptly named "2047" in the movie. *grinz*
*Self-Indulgent Note* I am the Biggest fan of the late Jeanette Lin Tsai from the 50's Cathay era. And i have always felt that Faye looks a whole lot like her. But i will be kissing the ground that Wong Kar Wai step on, because he managed to capture Jeanette Lin's essence in Faye. Unwittingly no doubt, but it helped me indulged in a memory that i wish to forever keep in 2046.
I started watching trying my very best to keep an open mind, but after a while... i realize i din have to, gradually, my mind just goes on this journey with the story, gone were the reviews and interviews and comments. During the movie, i did not think about anything else except wat was happening in the movie. There is so much in this movie that i think i could write a novel about it.
This movie is about perceptions and memories. how a memory can dictate the way a person lives his or her life. The stories of the many girls are seen thru the eyes of the charismatic and talented Tony Leung. There are many girls in his life. All these girls have a story, a story as seen and perceived by Zhou Mu Yun.
The first story would definitely be the story of the first Su Li Zhen (Maggie Cheung) and Zhou Mu Yun, this is the story that shaped Zhou's life, even though in this movie, Maggie only appears in a few shots. but the basis is all laid out in "In the Mood for Love".
The second story is lulu's (Carina Lau) story. The meeting described by Zhou took place in the time span after "Days of Being Wild". I find it such a pity that Wong Kar Wai edited out so much of Lulu's story. I would really wish to have seen more of it.
Then there is the story of the second Su Li Zhen in Singapore. The mysterious woman who wears one black glove. Zhou finds new solace in her. Using her to fill up the gap left by the first Su.
The saddest story in in movie will have to be Bai Yun's(ZHang ZiYi). She definite loves Zhou with all her heart, but he treats her like a pro. At some point in the movie, i wanted to slap both Bai and Zhou. Bai for being so lovelorn, and Zhou for being so stupid, the girls he love wouldn't leave with him, now the girl that loves him so much, he refused her over and over.
The last, and definitely my favourite story would definitely be Wong Jing Wen's(Faye Wong), any mandarin speaking person would know that Wong Jing Wen is the moniker Faye Wong went with when she first started singing. Anyway... all these while i never thought Faye could act, but i guess with no anticipation, there wont be disappointment. And Faye proved that her portrayal of the hotel proprietor's daughter. Wong is the only woman in the movie that is not romantically linked to Zhou, although it was hinted that he was in love with her. Wong and her Japanese boyfriend(Takuya Kimura) were in love but Proprietor Wong refused to even meet the boy. Undaunted Takuya asked Wong to leave with him, but her refusal to give him an answer span the very basis of 2046, which Zhou aptly named "2047" in the movie. *grinz*
*Self-Indulgent Note* I am the Biggest fan of the late Jeanette Lin Tsai from the 50's Cathay era. And i have always felt that Faye looks a whole lot like her. But i will be kissing the ground that Wong Kar Wai step on, because he managed to capture Jeanette Lin's essence in Faye. Unwittingly no doubt, but it helped me indulged in a memory that i wish to forever keep in 2046.
Some of Wong Kar-Wai's films are a bit hazy in my memory but judging just by Happy Together and In the Mood for Love he was near to sublime in going into the ineffable intricacies of that old catchall metaphysical concept, think they call it love. 2046 is pedestrian by comparison both plot-wise and visually. What could persuade this guy to make an uninspired sequel to something that was perfect is something that beats me. The poor writer fellow in the movie, Tony Leung reprising his role from ITMFL, certainly didn't need it because he comes up with some lousy stories and more women than he can handle. He's not in the mood for love anymore, so why should we?
I read different takes on 2046 and its connection to its predecessor by writer/director Wong Kar-Wai, In the Mood for Love. Some said you had to see it before 2046, although the general consensus was that the unusual romanticism and little details in both films, and actors like Tony Leung and Maggie Chung, made the only real connection(s) (Wong himself has said ironically to see 2046 before In the Mood for Love). It seems, after seeing the film, that he was correct; I had seen half of In the Mood for Love a while back, and I did get an idea of what I might expect, but the fact is is that 2046 really does work fine as a film on its own terms. It's a story that at first seems like it will be style over substance, and at times it is, but the substance is usually very intriguing, and keeps attention. It isn't a perfect film, and towards the end it starts to lag, but such criticisms are made up for by the attributes.
We learn from the narrator and lead character, Chow (Leung), that there is a place, if not a time, called 2046, where people don't leave unless they fall in love. But, for the bulk of the film, the film is not set in any kind of futuristic setting that might be assumed on the outset of going into the film. It's set in late 60's Hong Kong, where Chow writes lurid fantasy stories. He takes room 2046 after seeing a woman, Su (Li Gong), in the room. He feels that this place is where he, like others, can go to "lose memories" ("All memories are traces of tears", a title-card reads), which spurs him on the start writing a sci-fi novel with the room's title.
During his stay, he meets two women that effect him: an abused girl, at first acting aloof, Lulu/Mimi (Carina Lau), leaves and the later comes back in the film as a kind of writing assistant for Chow. The more significant woman, however, is in the form of call-girl Bai Ling (Zhang Ziyi, a woman so gorgeous it borders on the unreal), who like the others takes room 2047, and becomes Chow's "drinking buddy". But this soon turns to playfulness, to a side affair. Although there is much else that goes on in the film, this has some of the best material, with wonderful dialog and style giving room for perhaps th best performance I've seen from Ziyi yet.
This is not all to the film, though it could've been and been as successful. The women in Wong's films, like with Hitchcock or even Antonioni or Godard (all directors he was obviously inspired by for his own original stance), are crucial to how it turns out. These women express everything Wong desires, abandons, represses, flirts, and acts cool with. They spur on almost every one of his creative pieces (he gives a short story of 2047 to one, who wonders why the ending is so sad, to which he cannot create a happy one), and all of the things he'd rather not forget. Without the strong performances from them all, in particular Ziyi, Lau and Cheung, the drama just wouldn't be there, and certainly the style giving much weight to the film would become over-cooked and pretentious.
The style, of which, was something I took various notes of while I watched, scribbling bits, elements, colors and shots that caught my eyes: the greens in the halls, the brightness of outside on the porch, the black and white scene in the cab (one of my favorites), and of course the futuristic visualization scenes of Chow's own 2046. What's curious about the real sci-fi type scenes is that they make little sense aside from the central point- finding real love and the exile following- but the atmosphere, use of different colors and shots and film speeds (Christopher Doyle, a DP on most of Wong's films, does beautiful work all around) is unique, and basically saves a dramatically empty sequence.
There is also the question of slow-motion, which is used to much more effect than in the previous Wong films I've seen, and if it is over-used. It becomes a distraction only towards the end, when one wishes things were not TOO romanticized, but many times it is affecting, and tries to past the melodrama in some of the (above average) writing. Overall, Wong Kar-Wai displays without a shadow of doubt with 2046 that he is a master of compositions, of moods, and of creating characters that are true to themselves, who feel and love but can't seem to reach for it. But this doesn't make it an 'empty' film. If a scene missteps or something gets irksome with the style, it comes back around at the next minutes.
We learn from the narrator and lead character, Chow (Leung), that there is a place, if not a time, called 2046, where people don't leave unless they fall in love. But, for the bulk of the film, the film is not set in any kind of futuristic setting that might be assumed on the outset of going into the film. It's set in late 60's Hong Kong, where Chow writes lurid fantasy stories. He takes room 2046 after seeing a woman, Su (Li Gong), in the room. He feels that this place is where he, like others, can go to "lose memories" ("All memories are traces of tears", a title-card reads), which spurs him on the start writing a sci-fi novel with the room's title.
During his stay, he meets two women that effect him: an abused girl, at first acting aloof, Lulu/Mimi (Carina Lau), leaves and the later comes back in the film as a kind of writing assistant for Chow. The more significant woman, however, is in the form of call-girl Bai Ling (Zhang Ziyi, a woman so gorgeous it borders on the unreal), who like the others takes room 2047, and becomes Chow's "drinking buddy". But this soon turns to playfulness, to a side affair. Although there is much else that goes on in the film, this has some of the best material, with wonderful dialog and style giving room for perhaps th best performance I've seen from Ziyi yet.
This is not all to the film, though it could've been and been as successful. The women in Wong's films, like with Hitchcock or even Antonioni or Godard (all directors he was obviously inspired by for his own original stance), are crucial to how it turns out. These women express everything Wong desires, abandons, represses, flirts, and acts cool with. They spur on almost every one of his creative pieces (he gives a short story of 2047 to one, who wonders why the ending is so sad, to which he cannot create a happy one), and all of the things he'd rather not forget. Without the strong performances from them all, in particular Ziyi, Lau and Cheung, the drama just wouldn't be there, and certainly the style giving much weight to the film would become over-cooked and pretentious.
The style, of which, was something I took various notes of while I watched, scribbling bits, elements, colors and shots that caught my eyes: the greens in the halls, the brightness of outside on the porch, the black and white scene in the cab (one of my favorites), and of course the futuristic visualization scenes of Chow's own 2046. What's curious about the real sci-fi type scenes is that they make little sense aside from the central point- finding real love and the exile following- but the atmosphere, use of different colors and shots and film speeds (Christopher Doyle, a DP on most of Wong's films, does beautiful work all around) is unique, and basically saves a dramatically empty sequence.
There is also the question of slow-motion, which is used to much more effect than in the previous Wong films I've seen, and if it is over-used. It becomes a distraction only towards the end, when one wishes things were not TOO romanticized, but many times it is affecting, and tries to past the melodrama in some of the (above average) writing. Overall, Wong Kar-Wai displays without a shadow of doubt with 2046 that he is a master of compositions, of moods, and of creating characters that are true to themselves, who feel and love but can't seem to reach for it. But this doesn't make it an 'empty' film. If a scene missteps or something gets irksome with the style, it comes back around at the next minutes.
- Quinoa1984
- 10 août 2005
- Permalien
I believe Kar Wai Wong is one of the greatest directors this planet has ever seen. His ability to bring images and characters together cannot be compared to any other living director. He is original, energetic, and all together poetic with his form and style. Wong's work is what those infamous directors of Hollywood dream about at night. I was impressed with his gripping tale of love in Happy Together and mesmerized by his emotionally draining film In the Mood for Love. Wong is brilliant behind the camera, creating some of the most beautiful visuals ever to grace the silver screen. Alas, I can spend all day here speaking about this master's work, but it doesn't conceal the fact that 2046 was not his best work released. As a man who enjoyed Happy Together and In the Mood for Love, I was expecting nothing short of perfection with this film, yet somehow, I did not get it. I believe I was duped by the marketing behind this film. I must warn others that if you are renting this film expecting a science fiction film, you will be greatly disappointed. I even thought that it would follow a path similar to Blade Runner, but again, I was wrong. After watching 2046 all I could think about was Wong's refrigerator. This film reminded me of all the leftovers in Wong's fridge. If you took all the elements that made his prior films extraordinary and slopped them together on one plate, threw it in the microwave, and watched it cook, than you would be experiencing 2046. This film was nothing more than Wong's leftovers handed to us in hopes we wouldn't see through the charade.
Harsh words, I agree, but I didn't feel the emotional strain, the power of the characters, or the challenge of the story as I did with his prior two films that I experienced. Kar Wai Wong is a brilliant cinematographer, capturing some of the most beautiful images in film, I believe though that he didn't quite know what to do with them all in this film. In 2046, we are handed, nearly pounded down, with image after glorious image of characters attempting to build their lives together. With pastels, blurred backgrounds, and off centered camera angles, Wong has created one of the most beautiful films of 2005! Yet, no amount of beauty can honestly disguise leftovers. Everyone in the house knows what you are serving, there is no need to literally color-coat it. One of the images that annoyed me greatly was that centered around Tony Leung Chiu Wai and Ziyi Zhang in a taxicab after a night of drinking. We even revisit it later in the film, but was annoyed me about this scene is that it is exactly the same scene from Happy Together, nearly cut and pasted onto another film. The final conclusionary remarks of this film were completely reused from In the Mood for Love, while breathtaking in its own sense, it just didn't work for me to have all of these repetitive scenes. I wanted creative Kar Wai Wong, but all I was handed was a poorly spliced reprint of his older films.
Science fiction is a difficult genre to handle. A GOOD sci-fi film is a rarity. 2046 is not a science fiction film. For those considering this film due to the sci-fi press that it received, you will be surely misguided. There are moments in the film that are supposed to be in our future, but they are so poorly crafted that they distract from the already budding story. I believe it is these science fiction "train" elements were cheap, dull, and completely underdeveloped. In fact, they stole from the rest of the film. In 2046, it is not uncommon for you to find yourself completely caught up in a character, learning about their mannerisms and challenges, only to be snapped into this random world which trains have apparently become the dominate species. While other praise Wong's work in these moments of the film, I believe them to be very unlike Wong. These paper mache science fiction elements were not the reasons I first fell in love with Wong's work. While changing genres may work well for the likes of Spielberg and Ang Lee, for Wong it doesn't. Wong does better with his character driven stories that are simple, yet beautiful enough to keep your eyes on the screen. 2046 was so poorly developed that sleep seemed like a better option, and I hate to say that about Wong's work.
The characters were decent with the material they were given. Ziyi Zhang gives a Nicole Kidman-esquire performance that should open up more and more doors for her. Her range is amazing, and I think that Wong captured it extremely well. This was less of a character-developed story and more of an actual plot, which is where I believe Wong theoretically shot himself in the foot. Wong need to keep with characters and beautiful scenery and his stories will then just fall into place. I must admit, this was a confusing tale. I was intrigued one minute and befuddled the next. 2046 is not a film for the light of film watchers. It is not your "date night" film, but instead one that needs to be watched with microscopes attached to your eyes to ensure that you do not miss any elements. I, a novice film watcher, had trouble following this film. Wong didn't fully have his direction tied on tightly enough with this film.
Overall, I wasn't impressed. I could not watch this film again. I saw what Wong wanted to accomplish with this film, I do not think that he had enough control over the finished product. 2046 reminded me of my first thesis paper. I knew what my thesis wanted to be, but it was buried so deep within my paper that it ultimately ruined the entire body of work.
Grade: ** out of *****
Harsh words, I agree, but I didn't feel the emotional strain, the power of the characters, or the challenge of the story as I did with his prior two films that I experienced. Kar Wai Wong is a brilliant cinematographer, capturing some of the most beautiful images in film, I believe though that he didn't quite know what to do with them all in this film. In 2046, we are handed, nearly pounded down, with image after glorious image of characters attempting to build their lives together. With pastels, blurred backgrounds, and off centered camera angles, Wong has created one of the most beautiful films of 2005! Yet, no amount of beauty can honestly disguise leftovers. Everyone in the house knows what you are serving, there is no need to literally color-coat it. One of the images that annoyed me greatly was that centered around Tony Leung Chiu Wai and Ziyi Zhang in a taxicab after a night of drinking. We even revisit it later in the film, but was annoyed me about this scene is that it is exactly the same scene from Happy Together, nearly cut and pasted onto another film. The final conclusionary remarks of this film were completely reused from In the Mood for Love, while breathtaking in its own sense, it just didn't work for me to have all of these repetitive scenes. I wanted creative Kar Wai Wong, but all I was handed was a poorly spliced reprint of his older films.
Science fiction is a difficult genre to handle. A GOOD sci-fi film is a rarity. 2046 is not a science fiction film. For those considering this film due to the sci-fi press that it received, you will be surely misguided. There are moments in the film that are supposed to be in our future, but they are so poorly crafted that they distract from the already budding story. I believe it is these science fiction "train" elements were cheap, dull, and completely underdeveloped. In fact, they stole from the rest of the film. In 2046, it is not uncommon for you to find yourself completely caught up in a character, learning about their mannerisms and challenges, only to be snapped into this random world which trains have apparently become the dominate species. While other praise Wong's work in these moments of the film, I believe them to be very unlike Wong. These paper mache science fiction elements were not the reasons I first fell in love with Wong's work. While changing genres may work well for the likes of Spielberg and Ang Lee, for Wong it doesn't. Wong does better with his character driven stories that are simple, yet beautiful enough to keep your eyes on the screen. 2046 was so poorly developed that sleep seemed like a better option, and I hate to say that about Wong's work.
The characters were decent with the material they were given. Ziyi Zhang gives a Nicole Kidman-esquire performance that should open up more and more doors for her. Her range is amazing, and I think that Wong captured it extremely well. This was less of a character-developed story and more of an actual plot, which is where I believe Wong theoretically shot himself in the foot. Wong need to keep with characters and beautiful scenery and his stories will then just fall into place. I must admit, this was a confusing tale. I was intrigued one minute and befuddled the next. 2046 is not a film for the light of film watchers. It is not your "date night" film, but instead one that needs to be watched with microscopes attached to your eyes to ensure that you do not miss any elements. I, a novice film watcher, had trouble following this film. Wong didn't fully have his direction tied on tightly enough with this film.
Overall, I wasn't impressed. I could not watch this film again. I saw what Wong wanted to accomplish with this film, I do not think that he had enough control over the finished product. 2046 reminded me of my first thesis paper. I knew what my thesis wanted to be, but it was buried so deep within my paper that it ultimately ruined the entire body of work.
Grade: ** out of *****
- film-critic
- 26 janv. 2006
- Permalien
- philaychan
- 12 oct. 2004
- Permalien
A journalist quits his job, when his novels became top-seller. To be able to finish his last novel he needed inspiration, so he revisits a cheap motel which he has lived bittersweet memories with his ex-love, 2 years ago in 1967. The story takes place in 1969 in the same motel, once the novelist decided to stay there.
The novel he was writing has been a science fiction at first. Whereas, he's driven by a serendipity that the name of this novel "2046" is also the room number in which he and his ex has shared a love. Into that room, now a harlot settles in. He enriches his novel by putting himself as the true love of this harlot staying in room 2046. As destiny would have it, when the harlot meets him she really falls in love with him. By courtesy of her swallowing his bait, the novelist subjoins an erotic component into his novel. Let's gather together the first phase of the movie: We have one man and two woman. First woman left him 2 years ago, and he is still in love with her. Then at the present time, the second woman falls in love with him.
The second phase is the vengeance of the novelist from the woman he loved in 1967. This phase forms the essence of the novel: The future in the year 2046. Future is under the control of dreamers. Everybody who can dream and who can love, can travel into 2046 deep in their heart to recapture their lost memories. The novelist never goes there, 'cause he knows that if he goes once, he would never return to the present time, and would stay stuck in the future, living in the memories. Instead of making himself gone, he sends her inconstant love into 2046 as an android woman. Living as an android, the woman doesn't have a heart. But a young man falls in love with her. She yearns for him so much, but she could never express her feelings nor the look in her eyes could ever change; since she has no heart no more. She realizes that she deserves to be loved, and denies herself. She begins suffering of the love she remained lighthearted to the novelist 79 years ago. Witnessing her repentance, the novelist forgives her love; and wants her back at the present time in 1969.
At the last phase the novelist loses himself before his love finds him. Because his novel concludes to an ending which he doesn't have the love for her true love anymore, he depletes his inspirations to finish his novel without the memories of his past love. When she returns to him, he stands indifferent.
An amazing story layering ahead, including tons of short stories inside, and the director Wong Kar Wai uses a giddy and ravishing cinematography for use of symbolism. It's the viewers' duty to solve the puzzles of the storyline, to match the short stories with their attributions and to set in order of the straight-going novel versus unsteadily progressing movie; which altogether I shared with you above.
Both director and the writer of 2046, Wong Kar Wai presents a novel adaptation in the movie, and a movie adaptation in the novel; in conclusion a mixture of two arts on silver screen.
The novel he was writing has been a science fiction at first. Whereas, he's driven by a serendipity that the name of this novel "2046" is also the room number in which he and his ex has shared a love. Into that room, now a harlot settles in. He enriches his novel by putting himself as the true love of this harlot staying in room 2046. As destiny would have it, when the harlot meets him she really falls in love with him. By courtesy of her swallowing his bait, the novelist subjoins an erotic component into his novel. Let's gather together the first phase of the movie: We have one man and two woman. First woman left him 2 years ago, and he is still in love with her. Then at the present time, the second woman falls in love with him.
The second phase is the vengeance of the novelist from the woman he loved in 1967. This phase forms the essence of the novel: The future in the year 2046. Future is under the control of dreamers. Everybody who can dream and who can love, can travel into 2046 deep in their heart to recapture their lost memories. The novelist never goes there, 'cause he knows that if he goes once, he would never return to the present time, and would stay stuck in the future, living in the memories. Instead of making himself gone, he sends her inconstant love into 2046 as an android woman. Living as an android, the woman doesn't have a heart. But a young man falls in love with her. She yearns for him so much, but she could never express her feelings nor the look in her eyes could ever change; since she has no heart no more. She realizes that she deserves to be loved, and denies herself. She begins suffering of the love she remained lighthearted to the novelist 79 years ago. Witnessing her repentance, the novelist forgives her love; and wants her back at the present time in 1969.
At the last phase the novelist loses himself before his love finds him. Because his novel concludes to an ending which he doesn't have the love for her true love anymore, he depletes his inspirations to finish his novel without the memories of his past love. When she returns to him, he stands indifferent.
An amazing story layering ahead, including tons of short stories inside, and the director Wong Kar Wai uses a giddy and ravishing cinematography for use of symbolism. It's the viewers' duty to solve the puzzles of the storyline, to match the short stories with their attributions and to set in order of the straight-going novel versus unsteadily progressing movie; which altogether I shared with you above.
Both director and the writer of 2046, Wong Kar Wai presents a novel adaptation in the movie, and a movie adaptation in the novel; in conclusion a mixture of two arts on silver screen.
- CihanVercan
- 22 sept. 2008
- Permalien
Kar Wai Wong is more than a film director (though he is one of the finest directors working today!): he is a visual, poetic, creative and daring artist capable of more cinematic miracles in one isolated film than most directors achieve in a lifetime. '2046' is a visually stunning, intellectually challenging, emotionally charged view of love and lust in today's kinetically dysfunctional society.
There is no one way to interpret this non-linear film and therein lies much of its rewards. The main character Chow (Tony Leung) is a writer and a libertine who has pushed his vacuous life around with his hormones and though he has had many affairs he has failed to find the illusory 'love'. He has lived in Singapore and Hong Kong, makes his living writing columns of newspapers while his novels formulate in his mind. One of his novels is called '2046', the title based on the room number in a hotel where he witnessed a bizarre incident involving a gorgeous woman, and resulted in his moving into the adjoining room 2047 where is meets the hotel manager's daughter in love with a Filipino Japanese man her father loathes. He desires this unattainable woman and fuses her with a fictional 'android' in his novel which now uses '2046' as a year or time or place where people go to find memories. He continues to encounter women for whom he desires more than surface relationships (there is a stunning lady gambler cameo who represents everything he lusts and longs for, etc) but he is never able to find his tenuous ideal: his memory is his only source of consolation.
The actors in every role include many of the finest actors available: Li Gong, Ziyi Zhang, Carina Lau, Maggie Cheung, Takuya Kimura, Chen Chang, and of course Tony Leung. But it is Kar Wai Wong, the writer, director, choreographer, colorist, visionary that makes this excursion into the interstices of the mind/imagination so overwhelmingly satisfying. Whether the viewer elects to view the story as a continuation of the director's previous films, or as reality vs memory, fiction vs imagination, sci-fi excursion, or simply a plethora of vignettes about the challenges of finding love in a world geared toward instant gratification, this is a magnificent achievement. In many ways the sound track could be turned off (though the beautiful musical score by Peer Raben and Shigeru Umebayashi with a lot of help from Maria Callas! would be missed), and the inventive cinematography and visual image manipulations by Christopher Doyle, Pung-Leung Kwan and Yiu-Fai Lai such as the constant dividing of the screen into triptychs and diptychs would remain some of the most beautiful photographic images on film.
This is not an easy film to follow and it is most assuredly one that will grow in importance with repeated viewings. The comparison with Alain Resnais' 'Last Year at Marienbad' suggests its potency. But free the mind and enter into the world of '2046' for one of the most satisfying cinematic achievements of the recent past. Very highly recommended. Grady Harp
There is no one way to interpret this non-linear film and therein lies much of its rewards. The main character Chow (Tony Leung) is a writer and a libertine who has pushed his vacuous life around with his hormones and though he has had many affairs he has failed to find the illusory 'love'. He has lived in Singapore and Hong Kong, makes his living writing columns of newspapers while his novels formulate in his mind. One of his novels is called '2046', the title based on the room number in a hotel where he witnessed a bizarre incident involving a gorgeous woman, and resulted in his moving into the adjoining room 2047 where is meets the hotel manager's daughter in love with a Filipino Japanese man her father loathes. He desires this unattainable woman and fuses her with a fictional 'android' in his novel which now uses '2046' as a year or time or place where people go to find memories. He continues to encounter women for whom he desires more than surface relationships (there is a stunning lady gambler cameo who represents everything he lusts and longs for, etc) but he is never able to find his tenuous ideal: his memory is his only source of consolation.
The actors in every role include many of the finest actors available: Li Gong, Ziyi Zhang, Carina Lau, Maggie Cheung, Takuya Kimura, Chen Chang, and of course Tony Leung. But it is Kar Wai Wong, the writer, director, choreographer, colorist, visionary that makes this excursion into the interstices of the mind/imagination so overwhelmingly satisfying. Whether the viewer elects to view the story as a continuation of the director's previous films, or as reality vs memory, fiction vs imagination, sci-fi excursion, or simply a plethora of vignettes about the challenges of finding love in a world geared toward instant gratification, this is a magnificent achievement. In many ways the sound track could be turned off (though the beautiful musical score by Peer Raben and Shigeru Umebayashi with a lot of help from Maria Callas! would be missed), and the inventive cinematography and visual image manipulations by Christopher Doyle, Pung-Leung Kwan and Yiu-Fai Lai such as the constant dividing of the screen into triptychs and diptychs would remain some of the most beautiful photographic images on film.
This is not an easy film to follow and it is most assuredly one that will grow in importance with repeated viewings. The comparison with Alain Resnais' 'Last Year at Marienbad' suggests its potency. But free the mind and enter into the world of '2046' for one of the most satisfying cinematic achievements of the recent past. Very highly recommended. Grady Harp
A sequel to Wong's 2000 film, "In the Mood for Love," an elegiac ode to romantic loss and longing. "Mood" was for the most part coherent and achingly lovely in its looks and sounds. "2046" is also visually enchanting and the soundtrack again includes pop hits from the period as a nostalgic touch, but the visuals and sounds are less impressive than in its predecessor, and, in every other sense, "2046" isn't as good a film as "Mood."
Most of the earlier film was set in Hong Kong in 1962. Two neighbors, Chow Mu Wan (Tony Leung Chiu Wai) and Zhen Su Li (Maggie Cheung), found themselves sadly adrift after their spouses had jilted them and gone off together. Chow and Mrs. Zhen slowly developed an oblique, reticent, formalized and chaste relationship, but it was nonetheless comforting.
Chow, we were given reason to believe, came to care more deeply for Zhen perhaps than she was able to requite. Near the end, "Mood" became fragmented and difficult to follow as the years slipped by to 1966, and Chow, a newspaper correspondent, was assigned abroad, first to Japan, later to Singapore. Once he returned to the old apartment house in Hong Kong, searching in vain for Mrs. Zhen.
"2046" picks up the story in 1967. The narrative seems confused and muddled by design, perhaps because it is meant to represents Chow's memories and dreams, rather than a "real" sequence of events. Mr. Leung's character, Mr. Chow, seems transformed in personality, and not for the better, when compared to his conduct in "Mood." Rather than the wistful, subdued, formal and tactful man he used to be, he has become hedonistic, unctuous, predatory toward women, a drinker and gambler, sort of a nasty fellow.
The new film more-or-less traces his encounters with three women in the late 1960s in Hong Kong: Wang Jing Wen (Faye Wong), Chow's landlord's daughter, who is in love with a Japanese man (Chow's relationship with Ms. Wang is platonic, though, in a futuristic fantasy sequence, he has an amorous encounter with a robotic woman identical in facial features to Wang); Bai Ling (Ziyi Zhang), a prostitute bunking in the room next to Chow's they share sex and drink a lot together; and Zhen Su Li (Gong Li), a black clad femme fatale gambler with the same name as Chow's love interest in "Mood." Maggie Cheung also puts in a minor appearance as the original Zhen Su Li.
It's hard to know exactly what's going on much of the time. As Roger Ebert notes so eloquently, the film "exists primarily as a visual style imposed upon beautiful faces." Just for the record, the number 2046 stands for (1) the room next door to Chow's at the Oriental Hotel; (2) a room with the same number in the earlier film, "Mood"; (3) the title of a science fiction novel Chow is writing; (4) a mythical place that may or may not be identical to what's in the novel, a place we can all go to in order to embrace all of our memories, though no one who goes there ever escapes (except for the Japanese man who may be Wang Jing Wen's sweetie); and (5) the future date (in fact) when Hong Kong's quasi-independence from mainland China ceases.
If there's an overarching theme that spans Wong's two films (and there may not be one, except in the imagination of the viewer), it might be that life is plagued by discontinuities, ruptures even, that can be ruinous; the only hope of pulling things together lies in accessing our memories and dreams, but, alas, they are discontinuous as well. If we give in to the dream world totally, we are lost to this world: we never come back. The only other option available is not to care, to inure oneself, to live for today and shunt all genuine feelings aside.
If you endorse any of the following three criteria, I think you'll like this film: (1) If you liked Alain Resnais' "Last Year at Marienbad"; (2) If you enjoy songs by Nat "King" Cole; or (3) If you love to gaze at gorgeous oriental women. I preferred the more tightly woven storyline in "In the Mood for Love." Oh, and also the rain...I missed "Mood's" rain in "2046." (In Cantonese, Mandarin & Japanese). My rating: 6/10 (B-). (Film seen on 10/30/05). If you'd like to read more of my reviews, send me a message for directions to my websites.
Most of the earlier film was set in Hong Kong in 1962. Two neighbors, Chow Mu Wan (Tony Leung Chiu Wai) and Zhen Su Li (Maggie Cheung), found themselves sadly adrift after their spouses had jilted them and gone off together. Chow and Mrs. Zhen slowly developed an oblique, reticent, formalized and chaste relationship, but it was nonetheless comforting.
Chow, we were given reason to believe, came to care more deeply for Zhen perhaps than she was able to requite. Near the end, "Mood" became fragmented and difficult to follow as the years slipped by to 1966, and Chow, a newspaper correspondent, was assigned abroad, first to Japan, later to Singapore. Once he returned to the old apartment house in Hong Kong, searching in vain for Mrs. Zhen.
"2046" picks up the story in 1967. The narrative seems confused and muddled by design, perhaps because it is meant to represents Chow's memories and dreams, rather than a "real" sequence of events. Mr. Leung's character, Mr. Chow, seems transformed in personality, and not for the better, when compared to his conduct in "Mood." Rather than the wistful, subdued, formal and tactful man he used to be, he has become hedonistic, unctuous, predatory toward women, a drinker and gambler, sort of a nasty fellow.
The new film more-or-less traces his encounters with three women in the late 1960s in Hong Kong: Wang Jing Wen (Faye Wong), Chow's landlord's daughter, who is in love with a Japanese man (Chow's relationship with Ms. Wang is platonic, though, in a futuristic fantasy sequence, he has an amorous encounter with a robotic woman identical in facial features to Wang); Bai Ling (Ziyi Zhang), a prostitute bunking in the room next to Chow's they share sex and drink a lot together; and Zhen Su Li (Gong Li), a black clad femme fatale gambler with the same name as Chow's love interest in "Mood." Maggie Cheung also puts in a minor appearance as the original Zhen Su Li.
It's hard to know exactly what's going on much of the time. As Roger Ebert notes so eloquently, the film "exists primarily as a visual style imposed upon beautiful faces." Just for the record, the number 2046 stands for (1) the room next door to Chow's at the Oriental Hotel; (2) a room with the same number in the earlier film, "Mood"; (3) the title of a science fiction novel Chow is writing; (4) a mythical place that may or may not be identical to what's in the novel, a place we can all go to in order to embrace all of our memories, though no one who goes there ever escapes (except for the Japanese man who may be Wang Jing Wen's sweetie); and (5) the future date (in fact) when Hong Kong's quasi-independence from mainland China ceases.
If there's an overarching theme that spans Wong's two films (and there may not be one, except in the imagination of the viewer), it might be that life is plagued by discontinuities, ruptures even, that can be ruinous; the only hope of pulling things together lies in accessing our memories and dreams, but, alas, they are discontinuous as well. If we give in to the dream world totally, we are lost to this world: we never come back. The only other option available is not to care, to inure oneself, to live for today and shunt all genuine feelings aside.
If you endorse any of the following three criteria, I think you'll like this film: (1) If you liked Alain Resnais' "Last Year at Marienbad"; (2) If you enjoy songs by Nat "King" Cole; or (3) If you love to gaze at gorgeous oriental women. I preferred the more tightly woven storyline in "In the Mood for Love." Oh, and also the rain...I missed "Mood's" rain in "2046." (In Cantonese, Mandarin & Japanese). My rating: 6/10 (B-). (Film seen on 10/30/05). If you'd like to read more of my reviews, send me a message for directions to my websites.
- roland-104
- 2 nov. 2005
- Permalien
Kar Wai Wong is without a doubt, one of the best directors today. That said, with "2046" he achieves something of an impressive feat with this film that keeps reminding us of his previous "In the Mood for Love", which in comparison, pales next to this new installment of Mr. Wong's take about the life of the character of the previous film. The gorgeous cinematography of Christopher Doyle, Kwan Pun Leung and Yiu-Fai-Lai has a rich texture throughout the film and the haunting musical score by Peer Raben and Shiguru Umebayashi fits the movie like a glove.
Some people commenting in this forum have expressed the view of Mr. Wong's film being futuristic because the way the film starts. But basically, those futuristic sequences last so little on the screen that it might be a misnomer for "2046" to be deemed about the future, when in reality we are taken back to the sixties when Mr. Chow is seen so much in love with Bai Ling.
Mr. Wong gives us a vivid account of what the two lovers had together, but he also takes us back when something is revealed about Mr. Chow we never knew about his involvement with SuLi Zheng, the mysterious woman who is lucky in winning for him an enormous amount, but while he falls in love with her, she coolly lets him go.
We are also shown Wong Jing Wen, who Mr. Chow had a passionate love affair with, in the previous film. It appears the involvement they both had is now clearly forgotten, or maybe it wasn't as important as it once appeared to be.
The director's technique calls for an infinite amount of medium shots, usually over the shoulder of the person that listens. As a matter of fact, there is hardly any scenery in the film since most of the action either takes place while the characters are seen in conversation, or in bed where some of the torrid encounters take place. The futuristic scenes seem to be a sort of limbo where the characters, like the beautiful Android, seems to in in a world of her own.
The best asset in the film is the music the director adds to the different scenes. Some of the music is nostalgic, some operatic, or depending on whatever is being emphasized at the moment. The music enhances the action in ways that make the film hard to forget.
The best thing the director has in the film is the enormously talented Tony Leung. Mr. Leung is an actor that is always interesting to see in anything. In this film, Mr. Wong and his main actor show how attuned they both are to their collaboration. Ziyi Zhang is tremendously appealing as Bai Ling, the woman that loved intensely and suddenly finds herself on her own after the affair ended. Gong Li is seen briefly as SuLi Zheng, the mysterious woman with the one black globe he meets in Singapore. Also Maggie Cheung and Carina Lau contributed to the film as the women in Mr. Chow's life.
"2046" is a hypnotic piece of film making because the magnificent style which Kar Wai Wong gives to everything in the film to achieve this moody piece that examines love relationships in ways that are seldom seen in the movies.
Some people commenting in this forum have expressed the view of Mr. Wong's film being futuristic because the way the film starts. But basically, those futuristic sequences last so little on the screen that it might be a misnomer for "2046" to be deemed about the future, when in reality we are taken back to the sixties when Mr. Chow is seen so much in love with Bai Ling.
Mr. Wong gives us a vivid account of what the two lovers had together, but he also takes us back when something is revealed about Mr. Chow we never knew about his involvement with SuLi Zheng, the mysterious woman who is lucky in winning for him an enormous amount, but while he falls in love with her, she coolly lets him go.
We are also shown Wong Jing Wen, who Mr. Chow had a passionate love affair with, in the previous film. It appears the involvement they both had is now clearly forgotten, or maybe it wasn't as important as it once appeared to be.
The director's technique calls for an infinite amount of medium shots, usually over the shoulder of the person that listens. As a matter of fact, there is hardly any scenery in the film since most of the action either takes place while the characters are seen in conversation, or in bed where some of the torrid encounters take place. The futuristic scenes seem to be a sort of limbo where the characters, like the beautiful Android, seems to in in a world of her own.
The best asset in the film is the music the director adds to the different scenes. Some of the music is nostalgic, some operatic, or depending on whatever is being emphasized at the moment. The music enhances the action in ways that make the film hard to forget.
The best thing the director has in the film is the enormously talented Tony Leung. Mr. Leung is an actor that is always interesting to see in anything. In this film, Mr. Wong and his main actor show how attuned they both are to their collaboration. Ziyi Zhang is tremendously appealing as Bai Ling, the woman that loved intensely and suddenly finds herself on her own after the affair ended. Gong Li is seen briefly as SuLi Zheng, the mysterious woman with the one black globe he meets in Singapore. Also Maggie Cheung and Carina Lau contributed to the film as the women in Mr. Chow's life.
"2046" is a hypnotic piece of film making because the magnificent style which Kar Wai Wong gives to everything in the film to achieve this moody piece that examines love relationships in ways that are seldom seen in the movies.
Saw the 2.20PM show in a movie house called UA on Causeway Bay, Hong Kong. It wasn't exactly a waste of money or time, but I just couldn't enjoy it as much as I would love to. The voice-over; the passage of time theme, you know 10 hours, 1,000 hours; the telling secrets to a hole are getting tiresome toward the end of the movie. I wanted to care for the characters but I just couldn't. I don't really feel their sorrows although they were like crying or feeling melancholy a lot of the time. I have had better experience with Days of Being Wild, Chungking Express, Happy Together and Fallen Angels. If you enjoy this movie very much, good for you. I just think that his prior works are much more powerful, quietly powerful than this one. When the DVD comes out, make sure you get the 16:9 version, I mean can they even make a 4:3 version with this movie?
The movie was well above my expectation and definitely worth a wait. Tony Leung plays the same man with "In the Mood for Love" but has a different character. The movie is also vaguely related to "Days of Being Wild" in 1990, co-starred by Leslie Cheung and Maggie Cheng. All three films are about the mixture of hustle-bustle and weariness of Hong Kong in 1960s.
Tony's performance in this film was again brilliant. Faye Wong performed in WKW film for the first time in 10 years (since "Chung King Express" in 1994, also co-starred by Tony Leung) and made this film one of a kind. Mysterious gambler Gong Li was also attractive. Zhang Ziyi gave me a positive surprise. The film's technical level (costumes, music, photography etc.) is also very high. Someone suggested 2004 Cannes Palm d'Or should have gone to this film instead of "Fahrenheit 9/11" and now I can totally agree.
The number "2046" is the metaphor of Hong Kong's destiny, which implies the last year of status-quo for 50 years guaranteed by Chinese government.
Tony's performance in this film was again brilliant. Faye Wong performed in WKW film for the first time in 10 years (since "Chung King Express" in 1994, also co-starred by Tony Leung) and made this film one of a kind. Mysterious gambler Gong Li was also attractive. Zhang Ziyi gave me a positive surprise. The film's technical level (costumes, music, photography etc.) is also very high. Someone suggested 2004 Cannes Palm d'Or should have gone to this film instead of "Fahrenheit 9/11" and now I can totally agree.
The number "2046" is the metaphor of Hong Kong's destiny, which implies the last year of status-quo for 50 years guaranteed by Chinese government.
I agree that this movie is very poetic and beautiful. It does have a lot of the qualities that I love Wong's films for. However, I think there are too many references and I don't really understand the point. In the Mood for Love was my favorite balance of his style. 2046 bites Mood's music and color and movement not to mention quoting scenes. It also references Days of Being Wild and maybe more if I watch it again. Also direct reference to the artist, Mariko Mori, in the novel scenes, which I also don't understand. Do these references have a simpler purpose than I want? Like pure aesthetics or allusion? I wanted to love this movie, and anticipated it's release in the States for too long, but alas, it is merely raking over Wong's former success adding a couple sexy pop references. I hope there are better ones to come.
Why do I have my problems with the movies of Wong-Kar-Wai? As always: the pictures he shows are outstanding, the music is hypnotizing, the actors are the who-is-who of contemporary Chinese cinema. But the overall impression is that of a creamy bitter-sweet chocolate-cake. Since "In the mood for love" (for which is "2046" a definitive sequel) Kar-Wai has made only one development: his erotic is sharper, more powerful, but like in the prequel: his male protagonist shows no evolution. He is as passive and dumb as a chestnut on Xmas eve. I'm beginning to fear that Kar-Wai ends up like Soderbergh: every movie is nearly a masterpiece. And i mean really "nearly", but his art-house-aestheticism is way over the top, the story wants to be multi-level and is in fact only confusing. The dialog is as poetical as boring. Leung is (as in "mood") no match for his female partners. This movie is only saved by the beautiful music and the gorgeous female characters. I'm certainly begging that Kar-Wai turns on another genre and let that existentialism of his be, then he could do something "real" outstanding (like Park did with his "oldboy").
- moviezmaniamaster
- 12 mars 2006
- Permalien
Please note that this film is almost universally acclaimed so feel free to disregard my comments:
2046 is the story of a man who is haunted by a great unconsummated love in his past. It has eaten away at him and he is left unhappy and soulless. He engages in a series of meaningless sexual affairs to try to free himself from his memories or perhaps to find a similar love.
The film took 5 years and many revisions to make and this shows. The circular meandering plot is frustrating. The action moves back and forward in time and one place is as empty and soulless as the other. Nothing seems to happen in this overly long film, which ultimately disappoints.
Dáithí
2046 is the story of a man who is haunted by a great unconsummated love in his past. It has eaten away at him and he is left unhappy and soulless. He engages in a series of meaningless sexual affairs to try to free himself from his memories or perhaps to find a similar love.
The film took 5 years and many revisions to make and this shows. The circular meandering plot is frustrating. The action moves back and forward in time and one place is as empty and soulless as the other. Nothing seems to happen in this overly long film, which ultimately disappoints.
Dáithí
- stupid_pebble
- 27 janv. 2005
- Permalien