There is a train that goes to a place called 2046, a place trapped in memory, at least for characters in Wong Kar-Wai's filmography. Also the year 2046 is the eve of Hong Kong's supposed return to the control of mainland China. The end of an era marking the 50 years of self-governing after British Handover in 1997. Memories are nothing but trails of tears, the title card says. Once you get to 2046, you can't escape from it. So starts WKW's a sort of sequel to Days of Being Wild and In the Mood for Love.
Mr. Chow (Tony Leung), the same man who had a platonic relationship in In the Mood for Love and cultivated his gigolo status at the end of Days of Being Wild, is a hack writer for a newspaper in 60s Hong Kong. The film, in nonlinear fashion, traces his many encounters with various female characters who tread his pad, room 2047, in Hotel Oriental. The film is an observation of a gigolo from his room the goings on in the room next door 2046. Su Li-Zhen from in the mood for love, played by Maggie Cheung, is now played by Gong Li and Zhang Ziyi, with Cheung making a brief appearance as a memory/dream. Faye Wong of Chunking Express also makes an appearance as the hotel manager's daughter who is in love with a Japanese man (Takuya Kimura).
2046, like most of Wong's films, is about unrequited love and yearning. Chow, who is incapable of emotional attachment, is the only one who can observe the love's fickle nature objectively. He even creates science fiction to exemplify the unanswerable nature of love - the train to 2046 is attended by fembots that passengers shouldn't fall in love with. In 2046, everyone is a reminder of lost love or what would have been. Time and timing are the enemies.
In true WKW fashion, 2046 took 4 years to make, with three different DP attached. But it's stunning. Gorgeous costumes and beautiful actors unhurriedly go in and out of tightly held frames. Chow gets to consummate with Su Li-Zhen, who is now a high-priced call girl. Zhang Ziyi is at the height of her youth and beauty and thrives in Wong's astute melodrama. But again, I'm Chunking Express/Fallen Angels/Happy Together Wong fan, not In the Mood for Love fan. I find this revisit to the film since its initial release, overlong and tedious. If 2046 is a lamentation of a bygone era and a specific place, Wong has a funny way of (not) showing the place except for some heavily CGI shot of the neon landscape.
I rewatched Fallen Angels just before 2046 and the contrast can't be more obvious. It was his humor, light touch and Chris Doyle's handheld, intimate photography that made his 90s films so iconic. 2046 is more of an idea of the lamentation of a place that gave Wong much freedom to capture the place's spontaneity and vibrance. And the film marks the end of WKW supremacy.
