2046

MOVIE DESCRIPTION:

Hong Kong-based filmmaker Wong Kar-Wai moves back and forth in time as he reexamines and amplifies the themes from his film In the Mood for Love in this offbeat romantic drama. Opening in the year 2046, in which a man named Tak (Takuya Kimura) attempts to persuades wjw 1967 (Faye Wong) to travel back in time with him, the film soon shifts to the year 1966, in which Chow Mo-wan (Tony Leung Chiu-wai), a struggling author, asks the woman he loves, Su Lizhen (Gong Li) to sail with him from Singapore to Hong Kong on Christmas Eve. She declines, and over the next three years, we return to Chow Mo-wan on December 24 as he finds himself with another woman each year -- lighthearted Lulu (Carina Lau) in 1967, eccentric hotel heiress Wang Jingwen (Faye Wong) in 1968, and Bai Ling (Zhang Ziyi), a high-class prostitute, in 1969. In time, Chow Mo-wan and Wang Jingwen become reacquainted, and a love affair blooms, but the fates are not on their side. 2046 had its world premiere at the 2004 Cannes Film Festival. A re-edited version featuring an additional 4 minutes of footage, but minus sequences by martial arts coordinator Tung Wai) premiered in late 2004. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

DVD FEATURES:

• Region: 1
• Number of Discs: 1
• Aspect Ratio: 2.40:1
• Audio: Dolby Digital 5.1
• Screen: Enhanced Wide Screen Letterbox for 16x9 TV
• Features:
  • Deleted scenes
  • Alternate ending
  • Behind the scenes of "2046"
  • "Anatomy of Memories": Production design featurette
  • Intervirews with Wong Kar Wai, Tony Leung & Ziyi Zhang
  • Music montage
  • "The Music of 2046" branching featurette
  • Numerology of 2046
  • Poster gallery

AWARDS

• Broadcast Film Critics Association

•     Nominated Best Foreign Language Film - 2005

• Cannes Film Festival

•     In Competition - 2004

• Chicago Film Critics Association

•     Nominated Best Foreign Language Film - 2005

• Los Angeles Film Critics Association

•     Won Best Cinematography (Runner-up) - 2005 (Kwan Pun-leung, Christopher Doyle, Lai Yiu-Fai)
•     Won Best Foreign Language Film - 2005
•     Won Best Production Design - 2005 (William Chang)

• National Board of Review

•     Nominated Best Foreign Language Film - 2005

• National Society of Film Critics

•     Won Best Cinematography - 2005 (Kwan Pun-leung, Christopher Doyle, Lai Yiu-Fai)
•     Won Best Director (Runner-up) - 2005 (Wong Kar-Wai)
•     Won Best Foreign Language Film - 2005
•     Won Best Picture (Runner-up) - 2005
•     Won Best Supporting Actress (Runner-up) - 2005 (Zhang Ziyi)

• New York Film Critics Circle

•     Won Best Cinematography - 2005 (Kwan Pun-leung, Christopher Doyle, Lai Yiu-Fai)
•     Won Best Foreign Film - 2005

• Online Film Critics Association

•     Nominated Best Cinematography - 2005 (Kwan Pun-leung, Christopher Doyle, Lai Yiu-Fai)
•     Nominated Best Foreign Language Film - 2005

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION:

• Cast:

  
       Tony Leung Chiu - Wai - Chow Mo-wan
       Gong Li - Su Lizhen
       Takuya Kimura - Tak
       Faye Wong - Wang Jingwen/wjw 1967
       Zhang Ziyi - Bai Ling
       Carina Lau - Lulu/Mimi
       Chang Cheng - Mimi cc 1966
       Wang Sum - Mr. Wang
       Wang Sum - Train Captain
       Lam Siu - ping - Ping
       Thongchai "Bird" McIntyre - Bird
       Dong Jie - Wang Jiewen
       Carina Lau

• Director:

  Wong Kar-Wai

• Producer:

  Wong Kar-Wai

• Screenwriter:

  Wong Kar-Wai

• Cinematographer:

  Christopher Doyle, Kwan Pun-leung, Lai Yiu-Fai

• Composer (Music Score):

  Peer Raben, Shigeru Umebayashi

• Editor:

  William Chang

• Production Designer:

  William Chang

• Art Director:

  Alfred Yau

• Co-producer:

  Eric Heumann, Marc Sillam, Amedeo Panaghi

• Costume Designer:

  William Chang

• Sound/Sound Designer:

  Claude Letessier, Tu Duu-chih

• Special Effects:

  BUF

REVIEW:

• Because it wasn't advertised as a sequel to In the Mood for Love ("sequel" being a pedestrian Hollywood term that wouldn't apply), Wong Kar-Wai's 2046 might frustrate confused viewers who weren't aware there was a crucial first chapter. But even those who saw Wong's beautiful and elegiac treatise on love will be a little frustrated by 2046, particularly literalists in search of narrative fluidity or character catharsis. It's not that much of a sci-fi movie; the title alludes to a hotel room number more than a year, although as a year, it has a secondary function that never quite crystallizes. But it's still in the same category as films like Steven Soderbergh's Solaris and Steven Spielberg's A.I. -- films whose existential agendas divided their audiences, enrapt devotees on one side, bitter detractors on the other. What's indisputable is that 2046 is the ultimate tone poem, and since Wong is a master of tone, it can be a transporting experience. The trio of cinematographers (including the acclaimed Christopher Doyle, reprising from Mood) brings a dreamy look to the film that's entrancing. The soft focus and slow wandering of the camera has the effect of making love to the actors and scenery, oozing in for private glimpses, from strange angles. The film is a technical masterpiece that perfectly underscores Wong's themes, and Tony Leung makes an effortlessly sympathetic guide, even when his character's actions seem amoral. It's the film's substance that will give pause to some viewers. The narrative is structured strangely, spending ample time on a woman (Zhang Ziyi) he doesn't care about, but skimping on the exposition with the two women he supposedly adores. Like the thematic cousins mentioned earlier, 2046 also comes dangerously close to pretentiousness -- which may be the defining difference from the sweet simplicity of In the Mood for Love. ~ Derek Armstrong, Rovi