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A lot of fun.

This story has more twists and turns than a second-rate soap opera.

It’s fine. It's literally the definition of a fine movie. You’ve seen it before, you know every beat and outcome before the characters even do. Only question is how much escapism you’re looking for.

It is impossible to separate Wong Kar Wai's 2046 from its predecessor, In the Mood for Love. Tony Leung reprises Chow Mo-wan, the writer from Hong Kong who has fled from the tragic events of the previous film. 2046 is positively dripped with the melancholy that he has accumulated over the years. He looks for that same connection he found with Maggie Cheung everywhere he goes; he and the landlord's daughter co-write in the hotel room in the same manner, and in a scene permeated with nostalgic longing, he reaches over for the hand of Bai Ling, mimicking that taxi ride from In the Mood for Love. The black and white seems to suggest something that is of the past, but he is unrelenting in his search for it again. Actually, I think that 2046 can be watched on its own. What isn't possible is to ignore the connotations of ITMFL after watching both; see how Chow flirts and puts on a playboy persona, how he indulges in physical lust but shuts down any attempts to form a stronger connection. But while the tragedy of the latter was infinite in the way Chow visits Cambodia and whispers a secret that he will carry with him to the grave, 2046 feels like an awkward interlude in-between. It is presented to us in non-chronological order for no particular reason, making Chow's characterisation uneven, and WKW makes little references and nods to the trilogy; intoxicatingly beautiful women with the same name as past desires, wearing black gloves that symbolise a identical loss in the past, characters that have becomes weary in the years past after the previous movies. Doyle and co.'s cinematography is just as lush; the reds, greens and yellows seep into the screen and render a beauty that our characters seem to lack the ability to enjoy. The compositions force them into the edges of the frame and into corners as they process their grief. Two- shots are rarely used; we peek around and from behind corners like neighbours encroaching on a private affair or a telephone call made with deliberate loudness as to invoke jealously, much like the pair are immodest in their lovemaking. Mirrors are used to suggest duplicity; reflecting each facet of our character's profile but revealing none of their intent. Chow shields his heart from another affair that would seek to ruin it. As he urges Bai Ling to accept his gift, they struggle in the same shot, before she slaps him and they are separated in the frame. Later they share the same bed.2046's biggest miscue is to focus on so many lost loves and opportunities, and make them unrelenting in their grief and regret. ITMFL was tragic because each moment was heightened to its utmost sensuality and slowed down to a agonising pace - but still they could not consummate the affair. 2046 is as physically lush, but each different period and each different girl proves to be less and less effective. The sci-fi element of it all is based on Chow's novel; the flashy, shimmering CGI landscapes transport us to an alternate time and the scenes in the train are drenched in red - but the entirety of this subplot is merely a metaphor for Chow's longing for the landlord's daughter. There's nothing sensual or erotic or tragic about the way he tries to woo the android - despite his claims. WKW's handling of these segments is, ironically, robotic-like. He again slows down moments of poignancy to their extremes, and fills our ears with opera and mournful strings, but these moments seem less deftly picked that before. A new, unwanted element is Chow's droning voice-over, which seeks to elicit the maximum amount of anguish from each encounter. Zhang Ziyi sobs into a doorframe as Chow rejects her for the last time, but the performance is not allowed to excel on its own; Chow interrupts with his narration, wistfully remembering that this was the last time that they ever saw each other. As if we couldn't already figure that out by ourselves? Chow and the Black Spider embrace for the last time, and then she has to acknowledge it openly and sob against the wall, but how long have we really been given to drown ourselves in reminiscing of the relationship's similarities to the past? The moment of agonising goodbye does not feel earned. We end on the camera barrelling towards a dark hole, beckoning for a secret; only in this case, it is numerous secrets, but none are as potent as Chow's previous affair.

A brilliant movie!If The Hours has 3 story lines at 3 different time lines intertwined, 2046 is a collection of bit of stories, real and imagined ones, at different time period. All of theme comes together as a philosophic story about love.The story followed Chow Mo-wan in In The Mood For Love after he left Hong Kong for Singapore. If In The Mood For Love was about a secret platonic love, 2046 paints a picture of sorrowful reminiscence. The majority of the movie was taken place in side the old small room, with studio light, yellow and black tin, giving the audience a feeling of suffocation and confine..Kar Wai Wong masterfully exploited metaphors and repeative details to portray the character. The story of Wang Jing Wen and her Japanese boyfriend is a reflection of the story of Chow Mo-wan and his lover Su Li-Zhen in In The Mood For Love. The last words of Chow to Black Spider – "The day you leave your past behind, go find me" – was he talking to her, or to himself? Could he ever escape his own past?The movie features wonderful monologues. It has a beauty of Chinese literature, little words, lots of meaning."All memories are traces of tears…"For more reviews, please visit: http://voicemotion.wordpress.com

I think part of the difficulty was caused by the difference in culture (Chinese), and my own tiredness, because it was quite difficult a lot of the time to distinguish between different characters (particularly the women). It was quite erratic as well; with a loose miss-match of flash- backs, fantasy scenes, and quotes; which together depict an equally loose interweave of plot-threads. The film had some rather grand moments; when it's general chaos was dispersed to reveal a rather pleasing clarity about any one of a whole series of concepts which the film tried to express. At these moments, I found myself sitting up straight and paying attention, rather than slumped and gently passing the time.I would summarise this film to be Asia's equivalent to the French "Before Sunset" (and probably "Before Sunrise" albeit I have not seen the film yet). I think that I relate to the French mindset better than I do the Asian one.

The theme is about how a sad romantic past (a lost true love) can leave you emotionally "out of sync" unless you understand that by trying to recapture your past feelings, you are cutting off your ability to fall in love because your emotional anchor is looking backward. You see, the past is fixed, so it cannot change -- you can rely on the past, but the future because it is not establish fact yet, makes one feel powerless to affect the outcomes. So people just "give up" because there are too many variables that would need to come together to make that "perfect feeling of love" to happen again.2046 is a summation of two other movies this Director made .. "In the Mood for Love", primarily; but also "Days of Being Wild".In 2046; there are several stories, but the one involving Miss Wang and her Japanese boyfriend, is essentially a simpler version of the story the main character went through in "In the Mood for Love".Since the writers failed romance, we open with him saying how has become a womanizer and does not need a serious relationship - in fact he has changed a lot since "in the mood for love" where he was innocent and loving. Here the women love him, but he gives them "his time" in repayment. But he wants nothing beyond a surface fun friendship. Essentially, he has given up on falling in love because it is out of his control. We see the story of the special women in his life .. and all the people end up in the novel eventually - Lulu jealous boyfriend, Miss Wang, the Hotel owner (Miss Wang's dad) become the Train Captain of 2046 for instance.The stories weave around each other. The one that shows us how to escape 2046 is that of the sad story of Miss Wang and her Japanese boyfriend. Miss Wang is forbidden to see her boyfriend because he is Japanese, and the father would disown her if she saw him. She begins to talk to herself - repeating over and over the words she wished she could have said - I will come with you. Her story takes a break as she is eventually hospitalized; returning later in the story, a shell of her former self. The writer has been observing her relationship and is touched by her perseverance and sacrifice --she knows her situation is hopeless but she seems unable to give up. He eventually surprises us by helping her out by having the boyfriend's letters sent to him, and slipping them to her privately so her father is not mad. She eventually helps him write for the summer, and he falls in love with her - but she longs for her boyfriend. He then gives her a gift by writing a new novel called 2047 where he wants to show her how he sees her relationship with her Japanese boyfriend. He says that the more he wrote about the Japanese boyfriend, the more he felt he was really writing about himself.FROM 2046: "I once fell in love with someone. After a while she was gone. I couldn't stop wondering if she loved me or not. I went to 2046 hoping to find her there. But I never found her."We go to a dinner scene with Bai, which seems to serve no purpose, but shows us how she went looking for the writer the previous Christmas, and he was not there .. similar to 2046 quote above.He has figured out the emotional damage people get -- "Our cabin attendants are superbly designed... But there's only one problem: when they've served on so many long journeys, fatigue begins to set it. For example, they might want to laugh, but the smile would be slow to come. They might want to cry, but the tear wouldn't well up till the next day... "In the 2047 the Japanese character TAK concludes - "So at last, I got it. It's entirely beyond my control. The only thing left for me... was to give up." The writer then has dinner with Miss Wang - he asks her if she has heard from her boyfriend. She says she stopped because the situation was impossible because of her fathers feelings. The writer concludes - it is only impossible if you give up (take "no" for an answer), and offers to take her to call him. The expression he has as he looks in through the window is touching -- as she makes her call - he says he felt like Santa that year.Mr Wang meets up with the writer to say that he is off to Japan for his daughter's wedding. The father says he has learned that all he wants is for his daughter to be happy. So the impossible has happened. Mr Wang adds .. "my daughter loved 2047; but wishes you would change the ending as its too sad." Which begs the question - can our main character get a happy ending himself.He meets Bai again for dinner, she hands him the $10 bills he had given her, and he pays for dinner without realizing."He didn't turn back. It's AS IF HE BOARDED A VERY LONG TRAIN headed for a drowsy future through the unfathomable night"In short, he knew he was stuck in 2046 forever because he had given up. However, he was able prevent the couple from giving up and they got out of 2046.The only theme I've not touched upon is the "single gloved hand" .. simply put it shows a past undisclosed but visible to everyone.