2046 (2004)

It's not a year, it's a place. In 2046, his loosely connected sequel to In the Mood for Love, Wong Kar Wai highlights several years in the life of bachelor journalist Chow Mo-wan (Tony Leung) and his various romantic entanglements. Many of his experiences are written into the erotic science-fiction stories he writes on the side, about a futuristic city called 2046 and one man trying to leave it. In the early 1960's (I saw this a couple weeks ago so I'm a little shaky in my memory of the dates/chronology, sorry), Mr Chow moves from Singapore to Hong Kong, where he runs into an old friend, Lulu (Carina Lau), who for some reason pretends not to remember him. He later visits her apartment to find she's abruptly left after a brutal quarrel with her boyfriend. Finding himself inexplicably attached to her room (2046), he decides to move in to the next door while it's being refurnished.

When not writing freelance pieces for newspapers, he spends his time romancing random ladies, who find him quite the charmer, but of course for all his popularity he is actually quite detached. He develops a friendship with the beautiful prostitute who moves into room 2046, Bai Ling (Ziyi Zang), which eventually grows into a weird romantic, sexually charged relationship. She loves him and therefore allows him to pay her menial amounts of money when he sleeps with her (so he won't feel tied down? I guess? Since he has such a fear of commitment?) so that he'll keep seeing her.

She ends up leaving after realizing he will never feel the same for her, and soon he strikes up a writing partnership with his landlord's (Wang Sum) daughter, Wang Jing-Wen (Faye Wong), who has been forcibly estranged from her Japanese boyfriend (Takuya Kimura) because her father disapproves. Mr Chow starts to fall for her, but quickly realizes she is inextricably attached to her old flame. At the end Mr Chow tells of his last days in Singapore, during which a mysterious one-gloved woman named Su Li-Zhen (Maggie Cheung) helps him win enough money at the poker table for his trip to Hong Kong. She reminds him of another Su Li-Zhen, with whom he had had an affair, and he struggles with the memory. All of these instances are somehow worked into his "2046" stories, parts of which are intermittently shown in the film.

Much of the 2046 feels like a series of short stories involving Mr Chow, instead of one cohesive narrative. It is meandering and seemingly without a goal. This turned me off a little, hindering my total enjoyment of the film. I think Wong Kar Wai wanted to say too many things, wanted to include too many examples of unrequited or unfulfilled love. The narrative structure of the film also resulted in time flowing strangely. Years would pass, but I would have no idea until Mr Chow narrated the date, and it was always a surprise. This movie covers like a decade, but feels like it all happened within a year.

Aside from that it is an exhilaratingly gorgeous, slightly epic tale with a beautiful sense of longing permeating throughout. The color palette is lovely and the shots exceptionally well-placed. I liked the references to In the Mood for Love- this isn't so much a sequel as it is a reimagining of one of the main characters. Mr Chow remembers his romance with Su Li-Zhen, collaborating on an action novel, their trystes in hotel room 2046, and his ensuing heartbreak, but he is not the same character. He is outgoing and carefree, unconcerned with finding love or meaningful relationships, and more wrapped up in himself. As the film progresses we see him evolve upon his realization of how his demeanor has affected those around him. He pours himself into his writing, hoping to find some kind of new truth or understanding in the process, but for the most part he only discovers more about his own fantasies.

The performances were wonderful. I really enjoyed all of the female actors here, from Maggie Cheung's too-short appearance as the strong but sad Su Li-Zhen, to Zhiyi Zhang (whom I had never seen before) bringing incredible passion and liveliness to the potentially-annoying Bai Ling, to Faye Wong's adorable and subtle turn as Wang Jing-Wen (as well as an android character in one of the futuristic segments). I have mixed feelings about Tony Leung. It's not that he isn't good in the role- he's great- but I often found his character too sleazy to redeem, and I wasn't sure if it was in the writing or his characterization. But his emotive and thoughtfully-written narration gives Chow more depth and relatability.

I wish there had been more of the fictionalized 2046 world of Chow's stories. I guess for some reason going into this, I thought it was wholly a futuristic sci-fi film, and not just partially one. I still really enjoyed the stories of Mr Chow in 1960's Hong Kong, but I think because of my geek expectations, I was a little let down. But legitimately it felt a little like the 2046 segments could have been woven in more with the major narrative. It only really became a thing at the end, in a short story Mr Chow writes for Wang Jing-Wen.

All in all, this is a really wonderful movie, but I didn't quite enjoy it as much as In the Mood for Love. It didn't affect me in the same way. But it was still breathtaking visually and full of heartwrenching stories of love and loss. Also it was surprisingly sexy. I have yet to see the initial installment of the trilogy A Fei zheng chuan (Days of Being Wild) but I'll definitely get on that when I get home in August.

4/5