Finally got round to watching 2046 last night and once again Wong Kai Wai has left me astounded, reminding me without any shadow of a doubt why exactly he is one of my most respected directors.
The way he is able to so effortlessly fuse the familiar feelings/emotions of love, regret, nostalgia and melancholy within his films, that emanate so powerfully (and realistically) from his characters as well as the film's cinematography is truly an inspiration to any writer/filmmaker.
The film follows the same style/pace as In The Mood For Love, and is what I would call a direct sequel.
Without spoiling things too much, the viewer will be surprised to discover that Tony Leung's character of Chow Mo Wan has evolved somewhat dramatically after his affair with Su Li-zhen Chan (Maggie Cheung) in 'Mood'.
After Leung's character loses Su Lizhen in 'Mood', 2046 only shows how despondent a man can be after being rejected in love. in the beginning of 2046 he said: 'he started playing the game and had many one night stands, after all, how many 'once-in-a-lifetime' can you get?' With every woman he got involved in, he was just attracted to the little individual traits within these women that collectively resembled his Su Lizhen.Although Maggie Cheung appears in this movie only in a 5-second (blink and you'll miss her) Cameo role - the presence of Su Lizhen haunts and dominates the entirety of the film none the less.
However don’t be fooled into thinking that 2046 is a simple rehash in a desperate effort to emulate Mood's winning formula for the sake of success , but rather this is probably one of the most masterfully crafted sequels that I have seen.
To truly appreciate this film, you need to refresh yourself with the characters and themes of Days of Being Wild and In The Mood For Love - Collectively these films form an indirect trilogy - do NOT attempt to judge 2046 without seeing these first!
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