2046

China, 2004, 128 minutes, Colour.
Tony Leung, Gong Li, Fae Wong, Zhang Ziyi.
Directed by Wong Kar- Wai.

Wong Kar Wei has made some bold films and directed the highly effective portrait of two lonely people and a restrained quest for intimacy in In the Mood for Love. Would 2046 continue in this direction? In the direction, yes, but…

In one sense, the film is inflated. It looks and sounds too big for what it is offering in terms of plot and characterization. Cinematographer, Chris Doyle, ensures that it looks good. There is a wide-ranging score - but here is a problem. Mixed with opera are a number of popular American songs ranging from Perfidia to Sway with Me and pop Christmas songs. They begin and then cut out in mid-sequence making us wonder whether this is a deliberate dramatic effect or whether they just finished and, too bad, the scene continues on.

Tony Leung, as in In the Mood for Love, can play handsome and suave, but his character here is a self-centred womanizer who claims that he has loved but gives very little sign of it in his exploitative behaviour. The women, though strong, are still his victims, even when they are played by (an older) Gong Li and Zhang Ziyi.

Contrary to publicity, 2046 bears almost no relationship to the year, the 50th anniversary of the unification of Hong Kong with China. Rather, it is a mythical place (as illustrated at beginning and end with some arresting computergraphs) where memories disappear (except for our hero's) and where the women are malfunctioning androids.

For those who like it, it will be a beautiful, even poetic, portrait of a lost man seeking meaning and intimacy. For those who don't, it is all a bit like the emperor's clothes.

1. The aesthetic and visual impact of the film? Aural? The difference between style and content?

2. Wong Kar- Wai and his career, his interest in relationships, direct presentation of drama, oblique presentation?

3. The title, 2046 as a place, memories, the room, the loss of memories, the hero going, the only one to return?

4. The opening and the computer graphics, the voice-over, the travel and the vehicle to 2046, the future? The men as human, the women as androids, broken down androids who need fixing? The issues of men and machines, women going wrong? This recurring theme throughout the film? The end?

5. The structure of the screenplay: the opening and 2046, the voice-over, the continued voice-over, Singapore in the 1960s, going back into the past? The transition to Hong Kong, Christmas 1966, 67, 68, 69? The references to Thailand and Cambodia? The insertion of news footage and the riots in Honk Kong in the mid-60s?

6. The overall action being confined within, a claustrophobic sense, the hotels, the hotel rooms?

7. The choice of Christmas for the recurring events, the popular American songs, on the soundtrack, suddenly stopping? The contrast with the opera excerpts? What did the musical selection indicate about East and West, popular and higher culture?

8. Mr Chow, Tony Leung's screen presence, in himself? Good looks? Journalist? His comment about 2046, memories, identity? Relationships, one-night stands? The reference to his novels? The quality of his life, his relationship with the women, his past loves? The relationship with Su, the cards, the ace of spades, her black glove? The stabbing to death of the woman in the room next door? His memories, the younger woman, the interaction with her, the affair? His later lifestyle, gambling and its effect?

9. The owner of the hotel, the death by stabbing, his wanting to stay in the hotel, room 2047 and getting used to it? His long stay in the hotel?

10. The young woman, in herself, age and beauty, the range of her clients, the noise against the wall? Her liaison with Mr Chow? The sexual relationship? Eating with him, the question of money? The effect on each of them? Her going, his grief, her return?

11. The man and his daughters, the marrying of the Japanese, the writing of the letters from Japan, Mr Chow helping by posting them? The other daughter? On the roof? Suicide?

12. The fate of women compared with that of the men? Mr Chow and his self-centredness, ego? Did he grow in maturity as a person? Or was continually seeking? And expressing regrets?