Another achingly evocative, melancholy near-masterpiece from virtuoso writer-director Wong Kar-Wai, 2046 is a breathtakingly beautiful, narratively dense, and psychologically complex film, blessed with vivid performances. Its tender yet abrasive story catches up with Chow (Tony Leung Chiu Wai), one of the brokenhearted lovers from Wong's unforgettable In the Mood for Love, years after the affair that redefined his life has ended. Now a cold, slippery, charming, Brylcreemed playboy, newspaper hack, and pulp writer in 1960s Hong Kong, he seduces a string of beautiful women (Gong Li, Faye Wong, and Zhang Ziyi, among others) who become fodder for a highly symbolic plot-parallel sci-fi dime novel. Wong brings this future to life in stylized, slightly unreal CGI, but keeps the bulk of the film firmly grounded in the 1960s with his trademark simple yet sumptuous iconic imagery. Granted, time is loosely structured in 2046, but if you take in the film as you would a fine wine—letting it breathe, savoring it slowly on your cerebral palate—its intricate flavor becomes both richer and more lucid as its bouquet fills every heady inch of the screen. Highly recommended. [Note: DVD extras include a 37-minute behind-the-scenes documentary, interviews with writer-director Wong Kar Wai and costars Tony Leung and Ziyi Zhang (17 min.), two deleted scenes (10 min.), a seven-minute music montage, an “Anatomy of Memories” production design featurette (5 min.), “The Music of 2046” branching featurette, the “Numerology of 2046” on the meaning of the numbers, a brief alternate ending, a poster gallery, and trailers. Bottom line: a fine extras package for a fine foreign film.] (R. Blackwelder)
2046
Sony, 128 min., in Cantonese, Japanese, & Mandarin w/English subtitles, R, DVD: $29.99, Dec. 27 Volume 21, Issue 1
2046
Star Ratings
As of March 2022, Video Librarian has changed from a four-star rating system to a five-star one. This change allows our reviewers to have a wider range of critical viewpoints, as well as to synchronize with Google’s rating structure. This change affects all reviews from March 2022 onwards. All reviews from before this period will still retain their original rating. Future film submissions will be considered our new 1-5 star criteria.
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